Why does the US has above average gun violence?

[freddy]

I own plenty of guns. Shotguns, rifles, pistols. Target shooting, trap, hunting, collecting, self defense. Yes, I recognize the ability to distort reality with statistics. But when I read about and speak to people from Iceland or Switzerland or even Japan - the only explanation that I can come up with for our higher level of gun violence is that our culture is the root cause. The present day American culture is, on average, simply more violent than most others. All of us here know it ain't the guns. They are merely inanimate objects. What happened to make us so nasty to each other? Too much TV and Big Macs? Singular superpower hubris?

Latest example: www.bbc.com/news/magazine-38365729

 

[Podmonkey]

Cause Chicago. Also:

 

[GOPerfect]

Make up of people in this Country is a big one.

We are not a unified people compared to many other Nations.

I could go on and on about this all night.....

We have many, many more single mothers, especially in the inner cities; while the Moms are doing what they do, the kids are running the streets. Too many fathers are in jail. The street gangs end up raising so many kids. They are not raising them correctly.

We have a welfare system that is out of control. We have a VERY large portion Americans who are sucking off of a system that they NEVER pay into. They just keep taking and taking. The more they take, the more they feel entitled to stuff. They do not care where they get the stuff; the Government, stealing it makes no difference too so many.

We have so many in the US that have no work ethic, very low morals and suck in general. Many of these nations that you speak of have a population that is proud; they are proud of what they are and of their personal successes.

We have a justice system that is broken. We have very, very confusing laws. We have 50 individual States filled with laws, most other Country's, one nation, one set of laws.

Our “extravagant diversity” is also to blame. So many Americans want to be this or they want to be that. For example:
In Japan, most people are just, Japanese.
In Germany, most consider themselves to be, Just German.

And so on...

Here in the US, everyone has a label:
African American,
Gay-American,
Trans-American,
Hispanic-American,
Mexican-American,
Jewish-American,
And the list goes on and on.

We are a people not of one but many.

 

[Dr. Evil]

I am always intrigued when other countries try to tell us in the US how we should live. I particularly found this quote to be quite pathetic. "Henrietta Moore of the Institute for Global Prosperity at University College London applauds the Japanese for not viewing gun ownership as "a civil liberty", and rejecting the idea of firearms as "something you use to defend your property against others". Break down of the family unit and lack of personal responsibility are it for me.

 

[BerettaGuy]

Answer:

Bigoted Democrats that devised a scheme to contain the Black population in concentrated areas and keep them fed and clothed so they don't have to come out of those areas. And with help from the media, get that same population to thank them for being so benevolent.

But really, the answer is that the United States is just that, 50 states that in many cases are as big as other countries.
So to say that the United States has more gun crime than France is a true statement. To the average snowflake who has received a trophy for just being there they don't grasp the economy of scale. A better comparison would be add up the population of other countries until the total matches the population of the USA. Then run the stats and them make your claim. Woot! Nothing to see here, move along.

Figures don't lie! Unfortunately, liars figure.

 

[Podmonkey]

We have less gun crime than many west European countries do, despite having more guns per capita the any nation in the world.

 

[UltraT]

The statistics are so skewed it's laughable. Don't believe the comparisons of violence.

"For example, homicides in England and Wales are not counted the same as in other countries. Their homicide numbers typically “exclude any cases which do not result in conviction, or where the person is not prosecuted on grounds of self defence or otherwise” (Report to Parliament)."
- Break -
"While this adjustment reduces overall homicides by about 15 percent, it has a larger impact on firearm homicides because those tend to be the ones most likely to involve gang fights that are much more difficult to solve. The problem isn’t just that it reduces the recorded homicide rate in England and Wales, but there would be a sizable reduction in the reported US homicide rate if this approach were used here."

COMPARING MURDER RATES AND GUN OWNERSHIP ACROSS COUNTRIES
from Crime Prevention Research Center

Comparing murder rates and gun ownership across countries - Crime Prevention Research Center

 

[Uninformed and Compliant]

with for our higher level of gun violence

Complete fallacy, friend. You got hoodwinked. Please consider:

You've scoped the question down to magical unicorns that only exist here. The reason is your phrasing intentionally ignores violence that doesn't suit the gun-banning goal. "Why are there more lake drownings in freshwater states than Nevada and Arizona? New York needs to copy Nevada! Why do so many people fall off cliffs in Colorado, and never in Florida? Colorado needs to be like Florida!" Such questions are nonsense, and they are designed to beg a false premise.

Overall violence, and forced crimes, are typically higher in those countries we're compared to. Wanna get chain raped? Move to Australia, the rate of contact crimes went through the freakin roof after the ban, and stayed there. No "gun crime", though. Wanna get stabbed to death? London! The murder rate went right the f*ck up after the ban - and it wasn't due to "that one guy"; deduct him, and it's still way up. No "gun crime", though. Wanna get beaten to death, or be cut in half? Move to Japan! No "gun crime", though.

The question being asked insists that being robbed by knife, or murdered by fist, or being fed into a tree chipper is somehow better than if killed by gun. Or, suicide by jumping is somehow "better" than suicide by shooting. The entire premise of the question is deliberate utter nonsense, for the single purpose of begging a conclusion. Violent crime is violent crime, and suicide is suicide. Japan does not have a "better" suicide rate because none of them involve guns. Being murdered in Britain isn't "better" because it involved a tanto edge.

Then, add UltraT's post to it, as even another dynamic.

Off topic, keep the following bullshit detector handy - when they say a ban reduced this, or slowed that, they will normally cite a percentage change from the starting date of the ban. Stats beginning at that specific date is a tip that you're dealing with bullshit, because the "change" likely existed long before the ban. Demand they show the rates for the 10 years prior; it is quite common that the ban actually hurt the benefit they're taking credit for, and showing it will trainwreck their narrative.

"The murder rate has fallen 2% per year since the ban!"
"Uh, the murder rate was falling 4% per year for the entire decade before the ban. Your stupid ban INCREASED the number of people killed."
...of course, they'll then try to shift the narrative to "gun murders" to save face... because gun murders are bad, but an overall increase in murder is ok. Because not gun, or something.

Cheers, sir!

 

[meketrefe]

If you go to the FBIs and drill down by district / metropolitan area you will see 90% of the violence goes to
areas run by gangs and cartels. It is like having several caracas (venezuela) inside the usa.

 

[Criticalt]

The people of our county here in WNY have more guns than the people in Chicago....
However we have no murders.....
You do the math

 

[Acer-m14]

we all buy the dumb guns that don't load them selves , aim , and shoot on there own ..
only Chicago, Florida and California sell Smart guns that just jump up and shoot people ..

 

[Cooolone]

I own plenty of guns. Shotguns, rifles, pistols. Target shooting, trap, hunting, collecting, self defense. Yes, I recognize the ability to distort reality with statistics. But when I read about and speak to people from Iceland or Switzerland or even Japan - the only explanation that I can come up with for our higher level of gun violence is that our culture is the root cause. The present day American culture is, on average, simply more violent than most others. All of us here know it ain't the guns. They are merely inanimate objects. What happened to make us so nasty to each other? Too much TV and Big Macs? Singular superpower hubris?

Latest example: www.bbc.com/news/magazine-38365729

Buffoonery! Plain and simple...

You cannot take one aspect of a societies 'culture's on a comparative of the 'whole' while dismissing all the rest and then lay cause to that one aspect of study.

Want to talk about the 'submissive' culture of Japan, it's never acceptance of guns into its warrior culture, even Yakuza! Want to talk about the prisons there and how they process criminals? Want to talk about their economy? Education system? Welfare? You need to... Don't just take guns and say or this or that, cause then it's all just BS! I can pick apart the argument that has manifest itself from time to time along these lines, but I'm tired of it, it's old.

Bottom line is, we are a Democratic Republic, and in our Republic we have this funny little thing called the Constitution along with the Bill of Rights which guarantees certain things. Come good or bad, hell or high water, it doesn't matter what is going on in another country because it has no relevance at all. Best I love is when the snowflakes want to use Australia as an example!

I actually read that article when it published and it's just some same old garbage they regurgitate from time to time. Want to talk about edged Blade assaults in the U.K.? How about club violence at football matches? Want to talk about Ireland? Lol... They got no cause to be throwing stones!

As for our so called higher level of gun violence, compared to what? Truck bombs in market places, or at police academy's? Hanging people for stealing bread in public squares on cherry pickers? Gimme a break!

Our culture is ours... And it shouldn't suffer scrutiny from those not living in it. They have no basis to judge.

Now, being that "we" live in it...

Read Moynihan's papers, tell me what has changed in 4 decades? Want to talk about culture, we can, but there are certain demographics which won't take kindly to it, so the PC world scrubs it from the surface! To find the truth, you have to dig and discover it all on your own.

: )

 

[Saltwater60]

Here's my take.
Many other countries are more violent than USA we just kill more.
We don't parent or punish our kids anymore.
We have a larger addictive drug problem. Other countries do weed, exstecy, and coke. We use heroin, crack, and meth. Makes people desperate and leads to violent crimes
Our gangs are larger and more deadly. Most murders are gang murders
Our murder solve rate is low 20% in most high crime areas
Our district attoneries plea cases down so we don't punish criminals for the proper crimes
And let's face it some Ffl' do a bad job. Something like 5% of Ffl's contribute 90% of guns found at crimes. They should loose thier Ffl.

 

[Drinkthekoolaid]

Compare Switzerland and America. I chose to pick on the Swiss because they have the most comparable rates of private firearm ownership.

The swiss, are proudly Swiss. Period. They all buy into the notion they are alike, share similar values, have similar goals etc... They are proud of their country and culture, generally speaking there is low poverty, above average wealth per capita and a high standard of living.

Now in america, the progressive socialists have been spending decades getting Americans to hate and revile each other. Their attempts to skew history and cause anger through their divide and conquer mentality to gain increased power has damaged this country. The democrats benefit when they attract new angry voters that have been told the rich white people have been keeping them down this time etc... There are too many fractured homes. Too many non parent, parents. Too many single mothers. Blame feminism (another epic liberal failure of unintended consequences). Blame the war on drugs and a convoluted legal system. Blame Americans losing their common culture and fracturing into various ethnic, socio, religious and other cultural subsets who all get told the others are screwing them. Blame the great society for literally creating an entire class of people that is now generations removed from knowing how to provide for themselves and taking care of themselves without government assistance. Blame a loss of self pride and self betterment. Blame a loss of traditional Christian values.

I could go on and on.

 

[Catskillkid]

In short, because just about everyone above me who posted did an excellent analysis, is that the rates of violence are high because the statistics are skewed but also because our culture has radically changed within the last 40-50 years. No personal responsibility, do what feels good, everyone gets a trophy, morals are relative. Look what post-modernism leads to.

 

[GOPerfect]

Saltwater is very correct in the statement of most killings in the US are gang related. Take away all of those and we look all that better.

Look at what kinds of people make up these gangs...

 

[Phauxtoe]

Instead of per capita, what is the rate per gun?
Bet the US might be near the bottom of that list!

 

[gun_slinger_boy]

The Russians.

 

[prambo]

In short, because just about everyone above me who posted did an excellent analysis, is that the rates of violence are high because the statistics are skewed but also because our culture has radically changed within the last 40-50 years. No personal responsibility, do what feels good, everyone gets a trophy, morals are relative. Look what post-modernism leads to.

IMHO, the change that has influenced the "gun violence narrative" the most is the rise of the left wing/statist MSM, with a plummeting of objectivity.

They're nothing but a bunch of lying motherfuckers in the pay of Soros-$$$$ fueled politicians. Their goal is disarmament of the average law abiding American. Without that, "they" will not succeed.

 

[Drinkthekoolaid]

Saltwater is very correct in the statement of most killings in the US are gang related. Take away all of those and we look all that better.

Look at what kinds of people make up these gangs...

Excellent point.

The average law abiding american, and the average law abiding European probably have similar risks of being victims of random crimes.

Now throw in gang related violence and the scales dramatically tip against American gun violence.

For an average citizen who isn't involved in gang activity I can't imagine it would be much higher here than other western countries.

America has over 300 million people and the geographic land mass of more than western Europe combined. Its tough to compare and paint a picture with a broad brush

 

[Deplorable Me]

Numbers are manipulated to bastardize the truth. How come suicide by gun is considered "violence" and suicide by other means is not? How can one tell if a drug overdose is accidental or suicide? IIRC there were 30,000 opioid overdoses in the US last year. In contrast there were 30,000 gun deaths of which 2/3 were suicide and mental health related.

Personally in my school district last year we had 3 youth overdose deaths by drugs and zero firearm related.

 

[freddy]

Saltwater is very correct in the statement of most killings in the US are gang related. Take away all of those and we look all that better.

Look at what kinds of people make up these gangs...

What kind of people...Americans?

 

[freddy]

Cause Chicago. Also:

Pretty good video. But, correlation does not equal causation. Also, I think comparing third world countries stats to the US is a bit weak.

 

[freddy]

because our culture has radically changed within the last 40-50 years.

Yes, I agree.

 

[freddy]

Blame a loss of self pride and self betterment.

Agreed.

 

[freddy]

If you go to the FBIs and drill down by district / metropolitan area you will see 90% of the violence goes to
areas run by gangs and cartels. It is like having several caracas (venezuela) inside the usa.

Still Amerika though.

 

[freddy]

Buffoonery! Plain and simple...

As for our so called higher level of gun violence, compared to what?

Here in the US every few weeks/days we have a mass shooting. Not the case 50 years ago when I was a kid.

This is just not reality as compared to other 1st world countries.

 

[freddy]

And let's face it some Ffl' do a bad job. Something like 5% of Ffl's contribute 90% of guns found at crimes. They should loose thier Ffl.

Interesting, I did not know this.

 

[freddy]

The statistics are so skewed it's laughable. Don't believe the comparisons of violence.

Other 1st world countries simply do not have monthly school/mass shootings. Reading the international daily newspapers for the last 20 years bears this out. We are markedly different.

 

[GOPerfect]

What kind of people...Americans?

No, not all the time. Take a look at gangs like MS13 for example. Almost none of them are US citizens at all.

Your redicoulous question spews ignorance and assumptions.

What was going through your mind when asking what I see is a really dumb question?