Pack your bags and your body armor before departing for some of the nations with the most strict gun control laws in the world: Honduras (64.8 per 100,000 firearm homicide rate) … or Jamaica (39.4 per 100,000) … or Brazil (18.1 per 100,000).
Better yet, have a stay-cation next year and tour the U.S.A. - the country with the highest rate of firearms ownership in the world - and a fairly low rate of firearms homicides, 2.97 per 100,000. To stay on the safest side, consider one of these states with a strong "gun culture". Perhaps Idaho (1.3 per 100,000), Iowa (1.2 per 100,000), Maine (1.8 per 100,000), Montana (2.1 per 100,000), North Dakota (1.3 per 100,000) or even Oregon (2.0 per 100,000).
If you must travel to a foreign country, may I suggest lovely Switzerland. Mountains, skiing (in Winter) clean air and the strongest "gun culture" outside the US. Virtually every home has firearms, soldiers can take their guns home and upon leaving the military can purchase their personal weapons (most do), and the government subsidizes both firing ranges and ammunition costs for any citizen who wishes to practice rifle marksmanship, as part of its' defense program. The Swiss firearms murder rate is .77 per 100,000, even though it has the 3rd highest rate of firearms ownership in the world. Finland has the 4th highest ownership rate and the firearms homicide rate is .45 per 100,000. (Yemen is #2 in firearms ownership, no homicide figures are available.) So the nations with the top three rates of legal firearms ownership in the world, actually have some of the lowest rates of firearms murders. What about other nations with high firearms ownership rates?
Safest Places to Vacation
Rank in Worldwide Legal Gun Ownership Firearms Murder Rate per 100,000
1st - Untied States ----------------------------------------- 2.97
3rd - Switzerland -------------------------------------------- .77
4th - Finland ------------------------------------------------- .45
5th - Serbia -------------------------------------------------- .46
6th - Cyprus ------------------------------------------------- .46
9th - Uruguay ----------------------------------------------- 2.8
10th - Sweden ---------------------------------------------- .41
11th - Norway ---------------------------------------------- .05
12th - France ----------------------------------------------- .06
13th - Canada --------------------------------------------- .51
Average firearms murder rate in the nations with the top 10 gun owning nations for which data is available - .894 per 100,000. Conclusion: A high rate of legal firearms ownership is a good predictor of safety.
Note: No homicide figures available for Yemen (2nd), Saudi Arabia (7th) or Iraq (8th)
Countries to Avoid
Rank in Worldwide Legal Gun Ownership Firearms Murder Rate per 100,000
88th - Honduras -------------------------------------------- 68.43
92nd - El Salvador ----------------------------------------- 39.9
74th - Jamaica ---------------------------------------------- 39.4
59th - Venezuela ------------------------------------------- 38.97
49th - Guatemala ------------------------------------------ 34.81
129th - Trinidad and Tobago --------------------------- 27.31
91st - Colombia -------------------------------------------- 27.09
62nd - Belize ----------------------------------------------- 21.82
75th - Brazil ------------------------------------------------ 18.1
50th - South Africa --------------------------------------- 17.03
Of the ten most dangerous countries on earth NOT ONE ranks higher than 50th in gun ownership. Conclusion: Strict gun laws and low rates of legal firearms ownership are not a reliable indicator of a nation's safety.
Sources:
http://www.calgunlaws.com/24892/
http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2012/jul/22/gun-homicides-ownership-world-list
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/nation/gun-homicides-ownership/table/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_violence_in_the_United_States_by_state
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