After Graz
Three Nations, Three Paths:
How Austria, China, and the U.S. tackle Guns and Violence
Austria’s tranquility was shattered on June 10th in Graz, when a former student killed 10 others and himself using legally obtained weapons. In terms of gun violence, as well as gun ownership and its regulation, how does Austria (and the European Union) compare with the two other countries I have called home the longest: the People’s Republic of China and the United States of America? The answers may surprise you.
Comparative Analysis of Gun-Related Deaths:
Austria, China, EU, and US Gun death rates per 100,000 people demonstrate dramatic comparative differences. The US has 4.42 deaths per 100,000 annually, while Austria maintains a rate of just 0.19 deaths per 100,000 people, China records an exceptionally low 0.02 deaths per 100,000 people, and the EU average stands at approximately 1.5 deaths per 100,000 people.
The ratios reveal the disproportionate nature of gun violence in the US: American gun death rates are 23.3 times higher than Austria per 100,000 people. And given China’s strict controls on civilian gun ownership, it should come as no surprise that the US gun death rate is 221 times higher than China’s.
Statistical Overview: Gun Ownership and Mortality Rates
The comparative data reveals extraordinary disparities in both gun ownership and gun-related deaths across these regions. Gun ownership rates per 100 people show the US leading with 120.5 civilian firearms per 100 residents, followed by Austria at 30.0, the EU average at 15.7, and China at approximately 3.5 firearms per 100 people.
Absolute numbers further underscore these disparities. The US experiences an estimated 14,763 gun-related deaths annually based on current rates, while Austria records approximately 17 deaths per year despite having a substantial civilian gun ownership rate that ranks among the highest in Europe. China, with its population of 1.4 billion, reported only 29 gun crimes in all of 2024, demonstrating the effectiveness of strict firearms control.
Styrian Apples vs. Mandarin Oranges
Comparing Austria and China is akin to comparing Styrian apples to Mandarin oranges. Their political systems are different and so are the ways that their citizens think and act.
As effective as it is, Chinese-style gun control is out of the question for Austria. Comparing Austria and the US is a much more fruitful exercise.
The Sound of Music vs The Terminator
With as big a global cultural footprint Austria has, its population of 9.2 million is 1/37 to that of the 340.1 million in US. In this case, size doesn’t always matter and less is more.
Both countries are relatively comparable with western-style democracies with a European heritage and mindset. The devil, however, is in the details and not only are the contrasts significant, but the conclusions are that Austria is on the right track and the US in the midst of an historic ongoing
derailment.
Austria’s gun regulations succeed where US fails because they operate in different cultural and political frameworks. One is built on pragmatic public safety, the other on myth and ideological extremism. The stark contrasts show why Austria’s comprehensive regulatory approach works while the US patchwork system, hobbled by historical mythology and political capture, cannot.
Austria’s gun laws have demonstrated that civilian firearm ownership and effective regulation can coexist. Austria’s success is rooted in its systematic approach to regulation. Case in point: when Austria tightened its gun laws in 1997 because of EU directives, gun-related suicides dropped from 3.96 per 100,000 to 2.67 per 100,000 by 2005.
Austrian law categorizes firearms into different groups with escalating requirements. Category C weapons (rifles and shotguns) require buyers to be at least 18 years old, submit to a three-day background check, and provide a sound basis for ownership such as hunting, self-defense or sport shooting. Category B weapons (handguns and semi-automatics) demand more stringent licensing, requiring applicants to be 21, pass psychological evaluations, complete safety courses, with initial ownership limited to two firearms. This graduated system helps ensure that more dangerous weapons face stricter controls while preserving access for legitimate purposes.
By contrast, US gun regulation failures are rooted in deep structural problems that make meaningful reform impossible. Although recently weakened by internal corruption, the National Rifle Association had become the most powerful US lobbying organization, with lawmakers ranking it as the top lobbying force three consecutive years. In 2016 alone, the NRA spent over $366 million on political activities, including $30 million to elect Donald Trump. This financial
dominance at the local, state and federal levels allows the NRA to veto meaningful reform.
The Wild West mythology that permeates American gun culture creates an additional obstacle. This romantic vision of armed individualism, originally created by gun manufacturers to sell firearms, bears no resemblance to reality. Contrary to the movies, frontier towns like Tombstone, Arizona had strict gun control laws, requiring visitors to check their firearms upon entering. Yet this mythologized version of the past has become the delusional foundational of a macho US gun culture, making evidence-based policy discussions a rarity.
The US federal system makes these problems worse by allowing states with weak gun laws to undermine stricter neighbors. The result is a system where comprehensive reforms are blocked nationally, and where state and local efforts are undermined by interstate gun trafficking.
Unlike Austria, which implemented effective reforms as part of EU harmonization, the US faces insurmountable political and cultural barriers. For example in 2008 the US Supreme Court overturned seven decades of precedents to allow guns in the home, and to carry concealed weapons in public.
The contrast with Austria is clear. The school shooting in Graz, prompted serious policy discussions about further tightening already strict laws. In US, mass shooting which occur at a rate of more than one a day, barely register politically and the usual response of the NRA and its followers is to not address the issue, but simply to call for prayer and reflection until the next tragedy when they call for more of the same.
The fundamental difference is that Austria treats gun violence as a public health problem to be solved, while the US treats it as an acceptable cost of ideological purity.
America’s gun regulations simply won’t work because they’re designed to fail. Built on mythology rather than evidence, captured by industry interests rather than guided by public health, and fragmented by federalism rather than unified by national purpose, the US system will never achieve what Austria has accomplished.
While Austria demonstrates that gun ownership and safety can coexist through smart regulation, America remains trapped by its own contradictions—leaving its citizens to pay the deadly price in blood and treasure.
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© Privat Harvey Dzodin |
DR HARVEY DZODIN IS NONRESIDENT SENIOR FELLOW OF THE CENTER FOR CHINA AND GLOBALIZATION. HE IS A VIENNA-BASED INTERNATIONAL COMMENTATOR IN VARIOUS MEDIA AND WAS VICE PRESIDENT OF THE ABC TV NETWORK, AND LEGAL COUNSEL IN THE CARTER ADMINISTRATION’S WHITE HOUSE CONFERENCE ON FAMILIES. ■
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