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Cape Town - An online clip that depicts a New York City gun shop offering to help first time buyers has grabbed attention on YouTube.
Produced by activist group States United in a bid to prevent Gun Violence, the video depicts a gun shop in New York City offering help to first time gun buyers.
However, each gun on display is labelled with how the particular type of gun was involved in an accidental or mass shooting.
The US Centres for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that between 1950 and 1993, US children were more likely to be killed by guns than their counterparts in other countries.
"A firearm was reported to have been involved in the deaths of 1 107 children; 957 (86%) of those occurred in the United States. Of all firearm-related deaths, 55% were reported as homicides; 20%, as suicides; 22%, as unintentional; and 3%, as intention undetermined.
"The overall firearm-related death rate among US children aged less than 15 years was nearly 12 times higher than among children in the other 25 countries combined (1.66 compared with 0.14)," said the CDC.
Gun control laws
The US Psychological Association takes a strong line on the deaths of women as a result of partner violence.
"Seventy-four percent of all murder-suicides involved an intimate partner (spouse, common-law spouse, ex-spouse or boyfriend/girlfriend). Of these, 96% were women killed by their intimate partners," says the organisation.
US politicians have failed to act after 20 children and 6 adult staff members were gunned down by 20-year-old Adam Lanza at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012.
Despite this tragedy and a litany of shootings, gun control in the US has not resulted in a significant reduction of firearm deaths.
"The firearm-related homicide rate in the United States was nearly 16 times higher than that in all of the other countries combined (0.94 compared with 0.06); the firearm-related suicide rate was nearly 11 times higher (0.32 compared with 0.03); and the unintentional firearm-related death rate was nine times higher (0.36 compared with 0.04)," said the CDC.
In SA, despite strict laws on gun control, tragedies still occur.
On Valentine's Day 2013, track star Oscar Pistorius shot girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp through a toilet door thinking that she was a burglar.
People who want guns generally believe that weapons will make them safer, but States United said that a woman was 500% more likely to be killed by her intimate partner if he had a gun.
"What we know is that if a woman is going to be killed by a firearm, she's most likely to be killed by a current or former intimate partner," said Dr Deborah Azrael of the Harvard School of Public Health.
Watch the disturbing video that has had more than 3.5 million views on YouTube here:
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