Guns do n't make a nation safer . That 's the conclusion of a study that found a strong correlation between gun ownership rates and the risk of death by firearms in more than a dozen developed countries . The United States and Japan were on opposite extremes of the scale of gun ownership , with 88.8 guns per 100 Americans and 0.6 guns per 100 Japanese . They were also on opposite extremes for firearm-related deaths -- 10.2 deaths per 100,000 people in the United States versus 0.06 per 100,000 in Japan . Britain 's death rate was also low , at 0.25 per 100,000 . `` This argues against the notion of more guns translating into less crime , '' said Dr. Sripal Bangalore , a cardiologist and director of the cardiovascular outcomes group at New York University School of Medicine , the lead author of the study . The study was based on data from the World Health Organization . The sole outlier was South Africa , which had 12.7 guns per 100 residents but nearly the same firearm fatality rate -- 9.41 per 100,000 residents -- as seen in the United States . The other countries were Australia , Austria , Belgium , Canada , Denmark , Finland , France , Germany , Greece , Iceland , Ireland , Israel , Italy , Luxembourg , Malta , Netherlands , New Zealand , Norway , Portugal , South Africa , Spain , Sweden , Switzerland and Turkey . The study , published in the current issue of The American Journal of Medicine , also correlated the incidence of mental illness with crime rates in each of the countries and found a weaker , but still significant , association . ( Crime rate data were obtained from the U.N . Surveys of Crime Trends and Operations of Criminal Justice Systems . ) `` The gun ownership rate was a strong and independent predictor of firearm-related death , whereas the predictive power of mental illness burden was of borderline significance , '' the investigators concluded . `` Regardless of exact cause and effect , the current study debunks the widely quoted hypothesis that guns make a nation safer . '' Bangalore noted that his study looked only at correlations . But a sharp reduction in gun deaths in Australia after its gun ownership laws were tightened proved a cause-and-effect relationship there , he said . `` I think it 's reasonable to expand it to the United States , '' he added . Still , Bangalore said he would not go so far as to recommend changes , based on his work , in gun ownership laws . `` We prefer not to go too political into this , but the evidence shows guns do n't make the nation safer , and mental illness is also a contributing factor , '' he said in a telephone interview . `` So something needs to be done . It is up to legislators and people who make policies to decide what that should be . '' Shootings in Aurora , Colorado ; Tucson , Arizona ; Oak Creek , Wisconsin ; and at Virginia Tech spurred them to look for a relationship between mental illness and access to guns . The National Rifle Association did not immediately respond to a request for reaction .
The United States and Japan are on opposite extremes of gun ownership rates . Comment: South Africa was the sole outlier in the 27-nation study .