I just did a wiki search on murder rate, guns notwithstanding, and world gun laws.  Very interesting data.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_laws

The world average for murders per 100,000 people is somewhere between 6.9 and 7.6.  While the US has liberal gun laws by world standards, the United States comes in at 4.2.  Switzerland, which requires every male to have a fully automatic weapon in the house, the murder rate is .7. 

This map shows the hot spots in the world for murder.



Darker is worse.  Russia is 10.2 and has very restrictive gun laws.  Mexico is 7.9.  Brazil is 21.0 in spite of strict gun laws. Africa is mostly in double digits.  South Africa is 31.8 in spite of:

In South Africa, owning a gun is conditional on a competency test and several other factors, including background checking of the applicant, inspection of an owner's premises, and licensing of the weapon by the police introduced in July 2004. The process is currently undergoing review,^[1] as the police are at present, not able to adequately or within reasonable time, process either competency certification, new licenses or renewal of existing licenses. Minimum waiting period frequently exceeds 2 years from date of application.^[2]  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_politics_in_South_Africa

So competency testing, background check, inspection of owner's premises, licensing of all weapons, and 2 year waiting period, and their murder rate is almost 8 times worse than the US.

So murder rates are much worse in many places in the world that have strict gun control laws.  It appears to me that gun ownership has little to do with the murder rate.  I would suggest that the murder rate is largely a result of living conditions.  Jamaica, with one of the worst murder rates in the world at 52.2, has probably one of the most strict gun laws in the world.  Registration of a gun in Jamaica requires a $6,000 fee, ANNUALLY.

So liberal countries like the US and Switzerland have murder rates far below the world average, and countries with extremely strict gun laws have high murder rates.  The map is quite interesting, no?  It appears that just banning guns has little to do with murder rates.  Personally, I would submit that environment is more important than gun control.  Prohibition was a perfect example, gangs and drive-by shootings that went away when alcohol was legalized.  We have the same situation today whereby the government has made marijuana illegal, which creates an underground market requiring more gangs and more cops to fight the gangs.  Simply legalizing drugs would save many more lives than banning guns, which doesn't seem to have a positive effect.

Anyway, I haven't done an in depth study, just crunching numbers today.  Fascinating data, no?  What is your opinion?