Obama: US gun murder rate 33 times higher than Israel's

The US president's comment comes four days after nine people were killed in a racist attack on a South Carolina church.

By JPOST.COM STAFF

JUNE 21, 2015 09:01

Updated: JUNE 21, 2015 11:12

US President Barack Obama (photo credit: REUTERS) — US President Barack Obama

(photo credit: REUTERS)

US President Barack Obama compared US gun violence rates to that of Israel's on Twitter on Sunday.

"Here are the stats: Per population, we kill each other with guns at a rate 297x more than Japan, 49x more than France, 33x more than Israel," Obama wrote in his tweet on Sunday.

Moments later he wrote in a separate tweet that "expressions of sympathy are not enough."

Here are the stats: Per population, we kill each other with guns at a rate 297x more than Japan, 49x more than France, 33x more than Israel.
— President Obama (@POTUS) June 21, 2015

The comment came four days after nine people were killed by gunfire at Emanuel African Methodist Church in downtown Charleston, South Carolina in a racist attack.

According to the 2014 United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 66 percent of homicides in both North and South America were committed with firearms. In Asia, that same rate was 28%, while in Europe the rate was 13%.

The UN report also said that in 2012, the last year available, there were 134 intentional homicides per 100,000 people in Israel, or a 1.8% rate, while in the US for the same year, the count was 14,827, or a 4.7% rate.