(Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Thursday, for the first time in the country's history, that individual Americans have the right to own guns for personal use, and struck down a strict gun control law in the U.S. capital, Washington.
Following are some facts about the case.
* It marks the first time in nearly 70 years that the Supreme Court has taken up the meaning of the Second Amendment, the portion of the U.S. Constitution that addresses an individual's right to bear arms.
* The Supreme Court's previous review of the Second Amendment came in a five-page discussion in an opinion issued in 1939 that failed to definitively resolve the constitutional issue.
* At issue was the city's strict gun-control law -- a ban on private possession of handguns and requirement that any rifles or shotguns kept at home be unloaded and disassembled or bound by a trigger lock.
* The court's ruling could have a far-reaching impact on gun-control laws in the United States, which is estimated to have the world's highest civilian gun ownership rate. The ruling could become an issue in the November presidential election.
* During oral arguments in March, Justice Stephen Breyer cited statistics that between 80,000 and 100,000 people in the United States every year are killed or wounded in gun-related homicides or crimes, accidents or suicides. He said that in Washington, D.C., the number totals around 200 to 300 dead and between 1,500 to 2,000 people wounded.
* The arguments followed a string of mass shootings in the previous year -- multiple killings on at least three college campuses, two shopping centres and one Missouri town meeting.
* The case divided the Bush administration. Then-Solicitor General Paul Clement, the administration's lawyer before the Supreme Court, said individuals have a right to own a gun, but it is subject to reasonable government regulation. Vice President **** Cheney joined a group of U.S. House of Representatives and Senate members in urging a stronger stand in favour of gun rights.
(Writing by James Vicini and Paul Grant, editing by Patricia Zengerle)
More Americans Killed By Guns Than By War in the 20th Century
1.4 Million Known American Firearms Casualties Since 1933
Handgun Control Inc. news release, December 30, 1999
Washington, DC: Although the exact number of Americans killed by gun violence in the 20th century will never be known, it is now all but certain that it will, by any measure, vastly exceed the number of Americans shot and killed on battlefields since 1900. In fact, more Americans were killed with guns in the 18-year period between 1979 and 1997 (651,697), than were killed in battle in all wars since 1775 (650,858). And while a sharp drop in gun homicides has contributed to a decline in overall gun deaths since 1993, the 90's will likely exceed the death toll of the 1980s (327,173) and end up being the deadliest decade of the century. By the end of the 1990s, an estimated 350,000 Americans will have been killed in non-military-related firearm incidents during the decade.
Statistics on total U.S. gun deaths (including suicides and unintentional shootings), as compiled by the National Center for Health Statistics, have only been collected since 1979. But between 1979 and 1997, 651,697 Americans lost their lives to gun violence, including 334,870 suicides, 278,865 homicides, 28,964 unintentional shootings, and 8,998 from unknown causes.
National statistics on gun homicides have been collected since 1933. Between 1933 and 1997, 591,528 Americans were murdered with firearms. Even the number of gun homicides since 1933, taken by itself, exceeds the total number of Americans killed on the battlefield during this century. In 1933, the first year for which national statistics are available, 7,863 Americans were murdered with guns. While we will never know the exact number of people murdered with firearms in this century, the total would likely approach 1.5 million.
National statistics on unintentional shootings are available for every year from 1965 through 1998 and for selected years going back to 1933. The number of people unintentionally shot and killed every year has declined sharply over the past several decades. According to the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics (and its predecessor agencies) there were 3,014 fatal gun "accidents" in 1933, compared to 1,225 in 1995. Some experts caution, however, that the decline in "accidents" may not be as sharp as it appears, as earlier in this century many suicides were reported as "accidents."**
Totaling together the number for which national statistics are available, at least 1,417,902 Americans were killed from gun homicides, suicides, unintentional shootings and unknown causes in the last 67 years. The actual total for the century, however, given the large number of years for which no or limited information was reported, may be more than triple the number of Americans killed in battle.
"The 20th Century was truly the American Century," noted Sarah Brady, "and our nation has much to be proud of as it looks back at that past 100 years. But the level of gun violence was and remains at horribly unacceptable levels. As we look to a new century and a new millennium, we should renew our fight against this deadly epidemic. Too many Americans have paid the ultimate price for our failure to enact sensible gun laws and educate Americans about the dangers of firearms."
"Throughout our nation's history, Congress has sent American men and women abroad to fight wars - and die - to uphold American principles and to end world injustices. But this Congress has refused to fight another important battle here at home: the fight against gun violence in America. Instead of 'declaring war' on gun violence and passing stronger laws to help keep guns out of the hands of criminals and children, Congress has surrendered to the special interests of the National Rifle Association and the gun lobby," said Mrs. Brady.
"Since Congress refuses to pass tougher gun control laws to better protect American families, sadly, many Americans face more danger in the streets of their communities than our now-volunteer armed forces face on an average day," said Mrs. Brady. "Events just in the last two years demonstrate that schoolchildren, online brokers, Xerox repair workers and even small toddlers at day care centers can face the same threat our soldiers are trained to defeat."
* Because gun death rates are only available through 1997, the figure for the number gun deaths in the 1990s (350,000) was calculated by assuming a consistent 6% decrease in the gun death rate and assuming a 1% increase in population each year. The data for the years 1998 and 1999 were estimated to be 30,527 deaths in 1998 and 28,976 in 1999. So far in the 1990s, over 290,000 Americans were killed with firearms.
** Source: Kleck, Gary. Targeting Guns - Firearms and their Control. Aldine De Gruyter, Inc. New York, 1997.