Iceland: many guns per capita, but very little gun violence

[timmy]

Consider this article about Iceland, and the rarity of gun violence, compared to the relatively high gun ownership rates. It provides food for thought:

Why violent crime is so rare in Iceland

Police in Iceland have shot dead a gunman - the first time armed police have killed someone in the country. In a BBC News Magazine feature originally published on 16 May, 2013, US law student Andrew Clark asked why Iceland, awash with guns, has one of the lowest violent crime rates in the world.

Even though I grew up in New England, there was something novel about seeing an Icelandic blizzard. It was paralysing, with epic wind gusts that made snowflakes feel like razors.

As I dragged my bags along Reykjavik's snowy pavement, an older man in a Jeep pulled alongside me.

"You want to get in?" he asked.

It sounded crazy. Why would I ever get in a stranger's car?

Despite everything I was taught about riding in cars with strangers, I climbed in the backseat. And I knew nothing bad was going to happen to me.

After all, I was in Iceland for a week to study the nation's lack of crime, my second trip there in six months.

I had spent the last three years in Boston at Suffolk University Law School, where I was studying international law.

Before my first visit to Reykjavik in August 2012, my law school thesis was settled - a study of cyber warfare and the Geneva conventions.

But a week in Iceland changed my perspective. I was pleasantly flummoxed by what I saw.

Violent crime was virtually non-existent. People seemed relaxed about their safety and that of their children to the point where parents left their babies outside and unattended.

I'd spent time in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, but those countries now appeared plagued with crime by comparison.

Once I got back to America, I changed my thesis topic.

I wanted to know what Iceland was doing right.

Frankly, there is no perfect answer as to why Iceland has one of the lowest violent crime rates in the world.

According to the 2011 Global Study on Homicide by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Iceland's homicide rate between 1999-2009 never went above 1.8 per 100,000 population on any given year.

Many people have firearms, yet gun crime is rare

On the other hand, the US had homicide rates between 5.0 and 5.8 per 100,000 population during that same stretch.

After visits with professors, government officials, lawyers, journalists and citizens, the pie-chart breakdown became clear - though admittedly, it is impossible to determine how much each factor contributes.

First - and arguably foremost - there is virtually no difference among upper, middle and lower classes in Iceland. And with that, tension between economic classes is non-existent, a rare occurrence for any country.

A study of the Icelandic class system done by a University of Missouri master's student found only 1.1% of participants identified themselves as upper class, while 1.5% saw themselves as lower class.

The remaining 97% identified themselves as upper-middle class, lower-middle class, or working class.

On one of three visits to Althing, the Icelandic parliament, I met Bjorgvin Sigurdsson, former chairman of the parliamentary group of the Social Democratic Alliance. In his eyes - as well as those of many Icelanders I spoke with - equality was the biggest reason for the nation's relative lack of crime.

Continue reading the main story
Homicide count in 2009

Brazil 43,909
Denmark 47
Iceland 1
UK 724
US 15,241
Source: Global Study on Homicide (UN)

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

"Here you can have the tycoon's children go to school with everyone else," Sigurdsson says, adding that the country's social welfare and education systems promoted an egalitarian culture.

Crimes in Iceland - when they occur - usually do not involve firearms, though Icelanders own plenty of guns.

GunPolicy.org estimates there are approximately 90,000 guns in the country - in a country with just over 300,000 people.

The country ranks 15th in the world in terms of legal per capita gun ownership. However, acquiring a gun is not an easy process -steps to gun ownership include a medical examination and a written test.

Police are unarmed, too. The only officers permitted to carry firearms are on a special force called the Viking Squad, and they are seldom called out.

In addition, there are, comparatively speaking, few hard drugs in Iceland.

According to a 2012 UNODC report, use among 15-64-year-olds in Iceland of cocaine was 0.9%, of ecstasy 0.5%, and of amphetamines 0.7%.

There is also a tradition in Iceland of pre-empting crime issues before they arise, or stopping issues at the nascent stages before they can get worse.

Right now, police are cracking down on organised crime while members of the Icelandic parliament, Althingi, are considering laws that will aid in dismantling these networks.

When drugs seemed to be a burgeoning issue in the country, the parliament established a separate drug police and drug court. That was in 1973.

In the first 10 years of the court, roughly 90% of all cases were settled with a fine.

There's an inimitable make-up of Iceland which, ostensibly and ideally, could provide guidelines for people in other nations who are looking for solutions to their crime issues.

As I climbed into the back of that man's Jeep that morning, he smiled and asked if I needed help with my luggage. And even though I knew nothing about him, I felt safe.

From http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25201471

[skeetshot]

Thank You

Very informative

[andy_65_in]

Because they are COOL

[Oggie]

Great article. I'm from NZ - similar story with high rate per capita of firearms ownership and very low rates of firearm related crimes/violence etc. This is primarily due to high levels of education about firearms and safety, a lack of WOW that's a gun culture, a robust and detailed application process for licenses (detailed and robust but pretty easy to get as long as you're not a know criminal etc or have a tendency to be violent at home !), strict controls around availability and eligibility of handguns and a very strong social security (read benefits) system that means no one really needs to starve or be without shelter etc.

[Virendra S Rathore]

What to say of Indian Gun culture. I have seen Cops on TV with their fingers on the trigger while they lumber around at an incident site.
I couldn't even share my anguish, as my peers don't see what is so fundamentally wrong about the picture. It is disturbing.

[bennedose]

Indians seem to have developed the habit of imagining that people who like or own guns are dangerous people. I have friends and colleagues who believe that my interest in shooting results in my either being ready to shoot anyone who disagrees with me; another thinks that I am too scared to lead my life "normally" and need guns for that. A third is confused between American laws and Indian laws and worries whether it is OK to carry an air rifle in public.

I don't know the reason but India has made people with an interest in guns "bad" people.

In my personal view the only ONLY way of changing hearts and minds in India is to forcefully show that shooting is a sport and use the example of the great Indian shooters we have - who win medals for India while medals in most other sports are few and far between. I really worry about the enthusiasm with which people try to push for gun ownership for self defence in India. There is nothing wrong with that but I see it as a tactical blunder in a country where people think guns and people with guns are bad.

We need to highlight the good things about guns and shooters. In India I cannot use the example of a man who shot someone in self defence as an example of "good" use of guns. But there is much less difficulty in promoting shooting as a sport. Even here I see a problem where people think "sport shooting" means killing birds and animals. Everyone who sees my air rifles asks me "Oh - so what do you do, shoot birds?" I have to show them my shooting range to demonstrate what can be done. This mindset in India cannot be changed unless those of us who enjoy the sport make sure that ONLY the safe and fun side of shooting as done in India are highlighted and popularized. No killing. No blood. No hurting people and animals. The Indian public comes "pre-programmed" to connect guns and shooter with blood, injury and death. Amazing - in a country that worships icons like Arjuna.

[xl_target]

another thinks that I am too scared to lead my life "normally" and need guns for that

That reminds me of the anecdote posted by Briha about the elderly lady who was stopped by a cop who found numberous weapons in her car. He asked her what she was scared of.
She replied "Not very much".

One of the biggest shapers of popular opinion is the media. They, more than any other entity are responsible for the shift in opinions.
At the risk of offending members of the media on this forum (who I consider friends), I would have to say that most of them write articles or provide sound bites that are misinformed or deliberately misleading. To combat that, one has to challenge every bit of misinformation and misdirection. Do this by writing letters to the editor or commenting on their online articles. Be polite but try and correct the misinformation by providing facts. If not, you wont see your rebuttals in print.

[brihacharan]

another thinks that I am too scared to lead my life "normally" and need guns for that

That reminds me of the anecdote posted by Briha about the elderly lady who was stopped by a cop who found numberous weapons in her car. He asked her what she was scared of.
She replied "Not very much".

One of the biggest shapers of popular opinion is the media. They, more than any other entity are responsible for the shift in opinions.
At the risk of offending members of the media on this forum (who I consider friends), I would have to say that most of them write articles or provide sound bites that are misinformed or deliberately misleading. To combat that, one has to challenge every bit of misinformation and misdirection. Do this by writing letters to the editor or commenting on their online articles. Be polite but try and correct the misinformation by providing facts. If not, you wont see your rebuttals in print.

This reminds me of an old Zen aphorism...
" Give me the strength to change things I can...
Give me the courage to accept those I can't...
Give me the 'Wisdom' to know the difference"!!!
Briha

[timmy]

One of the biggest shapers of popular opinion is the media. They, more than any other entity are responsible for the shift in opinions.

History is replete with examples of this, and Goebbels one one of the most famous for wielding propaganda to further the acceptance of untruths.

Some people say, correctly, I think, that the media that is guilty of this is simply telling people what they want to hear: flattering them by telling the public that their preconceived notions are correct and playing on their fears by reinforcing them. Weak-minded people enjoy being lazy thinkers and having their half-baked ideas and prejudices reinforced, and they don't like their ideas being challenged. This often upsets their simple-minded view of the world.

It is always easy to play on the fears of the public by casting doubts on the character of minorities, ascribing evil intentions and nefarious plots to them. As gun owners, we need to dispel such notions, as XL says, and to be sure our conduct is becoming of responsible people, not a pack of gun-slinging cowboys who want to "draw" at the drop of a hat.

Because the news must walk the tightrope of challenging readers with the truth and making a profit to survive, it is easy for them to fall off into "the dark side," and the potential power they can obtain by toadying up to those in power is seductive, as well.

It is a difficult task, to turn the tide of public opinion toward our side.