numberwang said:
pastro243 said:
I think it's more of a cultural thing, the gun issue
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Gun violence is highest in urban, densely populated areas and it overwhelmingly a gang problem.
The five most dangerous counties (all Democrats) have 68% of all murders. According to a 2013 PEW Research Center survey, the household gun ownership rate in rural areas was 2.11 times greater than in urban areas... Despite lower gun ownership, urban areas experience much higher murder rates.
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Okay, that is some very misleading data if I've ever sawn it. First of all, 5 counties != 5% of counties.. 5% of counties = 150 counties with highest *absolute number* of murders, here. Not murder rates. Important, because;
the 150 largest counties, of the US, also happen to have well over 50% of the US population.
On the other hand, 1881 out of 3242 US counties have a population of less than 20k, which means that by pure probability, it's unlikely for them to have a murder with a national homicide rate of 5/100k.
As a whole... this is just a chart of US population distribution. Congrats.
I definitely disagree with saying that the US isn't a developed country - it definitely is, by almost all metrics, economic, but also education, as well as socially, even if the OP would deny it. But, as a such, it really shouldn't put it's aims at besting Mexico in any statistics.
Among all developed nations, the US stands out strikingly for its homicide rate. It's also definitely not a problem isolated to a select few locations, as you attempted to claim.
*ALL 50* US states have homicide rates higher than that of the EU (1.1) - the most obvious counterparts, worldwide. This is, actually, rather bizarre, as within those 50 states, it's possible to find high and low gun ownership, tighter or looser regulation, rural and urban populations, culturally diverse and uniform populations, etc... and yet, none of these factors usually blamed for criminality seem to be sufficient to push the homicide rate down to the expected level. My best guess would be a cultural issue, deeply ingrained within American identity. Canada, culturally, isn't too far off, which could explain its own rather high rate of 1.68 (still lower than the US - but definitely room for improvement).