Armed and Dangerous

We in America love our guns. It's part of our past, present and future. We could argue the merits of this thinking till the cows come home, but this obsession with weapons isn't changing in the near future.

This data tells a rather compelling story. America is by far the worlds most prominent country in terms of gun ownership (firearms per 100k capita), however we are not the worlds most dangerous country in term of fatalities by firearms. Also note the steady decline in firearm homicides over time. What's up with that? Are we becoming more civilized (or at a minimum, more tolerant)?

At the end of the day, gun ownership has such deep cultural roots that it'd be impossible to rid it. We are a gun society!