Gun culture

Eight years ago it was estimated that there were at least 875 million guns in the world. Today, if you include antique and homemade guns, that number is probably greater, fed by gun and ammunition industries across more than 100 countries.

Police forces worldwide are said to have about 260 million firearms. Armies are thought to hold about 200 million. Civilians, though claim the rest and are by far the biggest owners of guns. About 12 billion bullets are produced every year, almost enough to kill every person on the planet - twice.

Estimates suggest there are about 600,000 violent deaths annually - 340,000 of these are thought to be at the end of a gun. If you take into account that, at a bare minimum, for each person shot and killed, three will survive, about 1,360,000 people are shot by someone else every year.

The WHO estimates that more than 800,000 kill themsleves each year, and one commonly used way is with a firearm.
Guardian