U.S. - Gun Violence Capital of the World?
The Financial Times published an article today titled "The US's Unique Problem with Mass Shootings - In Four Charts
The four charts show:
The U.S. makes up less than 5% of the world's population but almost 1/3rd of the world's mass shootings
The U.S. has more guns per capita than the rest of the world.
The U.S. public is narrowly divided on gun control.
A growing number of Republicans say it is critical to protect gun ownership.
Interestingly, the New York Times published an article of its own today, titled "Comparing the Las Vegas Gun Deaths with Daily Gun Deaths in American Cities. Stephen Paddock killed 58 people in a little over an hour. The NYT article points out that, counting backward from just before the Las Vegas Masscare, it took X number of days for the following cities to experience 58 gun deaths:
Chicago - 28 days
Baltimore - 68 days
St. Louis - 70 days
Philadelphia - 105 days
Kansas City, MO - 117 days
Houston - 118 days
Detroit - 121 days
Indianapolis - 122 days
Los Angeles - 125 days
New York City - 130 days
The list goes further but the point is clear. This is just 10 of the 28 cities on the list. In the 273 days before Paddock opened fire, 1,624 people were killed by guns in those 28 cities.
Clearly we must be the nation with the highest murder rate on Earth. Or are we:
If we look at murders in general, without specifying gun deaths, the United States has the 94th highest murder rate, according to data from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Our murder rate per 100,000 inhabitants is 4.88. The nation with the highest murder rate in the world is El Salvador with a rate of 108.64.
But if we examine murders by firearm, things change. The United States leaps from 94th place to 11th place and our rate per 100,000 inhabitants rises to 10.54. El Salvador falls to 3rd with a rate of 45.6 per 100,000 inhabitants.
* * *
We can spin these numbers in a lot of ways. One way is to consider that our nation's overall murder rate is more than four times higher than the following nations:
Australia
Austria
China
Denmark
Germany
Greece
Iceland
Italy
Japan
That frightens me. Seeing inaction by our elected leadership to try to reduce/end mass shootings frightens me. Seeing murders in a city over a weekend reported as statistics frightens me.
I am waiting for someone to offer a rational reason for civilians to own assault weapons. Worse yet, to stockpile them. I doubt I'll ever hear one.
The four charts show:
The U.S. makes up less than 5% of the world's population but almost 1/3rd of the world's mass shootings
The U.S. has more guns per capita than the rest of the world.
The U.S. public is narrowly divided on gun control.
A growing number of Republicans say it is critical to protect gun ownership.
Interestingly, the New York Times published an article of its own today, titled "Comparing the Las Vegas Gun Deaths with Daily Gun Deaths in American Cities. Stephen Paddock killed 58 people in a little over an hour. The NYT article points out that, counting backward from just before the Las Vegas Masscare, it took X number of days for the following cities to experience 58 gun deaths:
Chicago - 28 days
Baltimore - 68 days
St. Louis - 70 days
Philadelphia - 105 days
Kansas City, MO - 117 days
Houston - 118 days
Detroit - 121 days
Indianapolis - 122 days
Los Angeles - 125 days
New York City - 130 days
The list goes further but the point is clear. This is just 10 of the 28 cities on the list. In the 273 days before Paddock opened fire, 1,624 people were killed by guns in those 28 cities.
Clearly we must be the nation with the highest murder rate on Earth. Or are we:
If we look at murders in general, without specifying gun deaths, the United States has the 94th highest murder rate, according to data from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Our murder rate per 100,000 inhabitants is 4.88. The nation with the highest murder rate in the world is El Salvador with a rate of 108.64.
But if we examine murders by firearm, things change. The United States leaps from 94th place to 11th place and our rate per 100,000 inhabitants rises to 10.54. El Salvador falls to 3rd with a rate of 45.6 per 100,000 inhabitants.
* * *
We can spin these numbers in a lot of ways. One way is to consider that our nation's overall murder rate is more than four times higher than the following nations:
Australia
Austria
China
Denmark
Germany
Greece
Iceland
Italy
Japan
That frightens me. Seeing inaction by our elected leadership to try to reduce/end mass shootings frightens me. Seeing murders in a city over a weekend reported as statistics frightens me.
I am waiting for someone to offer a rational reason for civilians to own assault weapons. Worse yet, to stockpile them. I doubt I'll ever hear one.
posted by me at 12:53 PM
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