Nobodyās denying the US has an abnormally high mass killing rate. For some reason posters such as yourself canāt distinguish between these major mass killings and routine homicides, which vastly outnumber mass killings. The facts are that outside of the black community the homicide rate (including mass killings) in the US is in the range of other developed countries. On the high side, about 3 per 100,000 compared to 1.5 - 2 in Western Europe.
Major mass killings like Vegas have nothing in common with routine homicides. They are rare and are carried out by mentally deranged psychopaths. What drives them to do it is a question for psychology, most likely self loathing in a society which overly craves fame and celebrity.
No mention of the huge disparity between gun violence in the black community versus other ethnic groups, but wouldnāt expect a leftie equivalent of Fox News to mention it.
**When economist Richard Florida took a look at gun deaths and other social indicators, he found that higher populations, more stress, more immigrants, and more mental illness didnāt correlate with more gun deaths. But he did find one telling correlation: States with tighter gun control laws have fewer gun-related deaths. (Read more at Floridaās āThe Geography of Gun Deaths.ā)
**It is commonly assumed that mental illness or stress levels trigger gun violence. But thatās not borne out at the state level. We found no statistical association between gun deaths and mental illness or stress levels. We also found no association between gun violence and the proportion of neurotic personalities.
Images of drug-crazed gunmen are a commonplace: Guns and drug abuse are presumed to go together. But, again, that was not the case in our state-level analysis. We found no association between illegal drug use and death from gun violence at the state level.
Some might think gun violence would be higher in states with higher levels of unemployment and higher levels of inequality. But, again, we found no evidence of any such association with either of these variables.**
This is backed by other research: A 2016 review of 130 studies in 10 countries, published in Epidemiologic Reviews, found that new legal restrictions on owning and purchasing guns tended to be followed by a drop in gun violence ā a strong indicator that restricting access to guns can save lives**
Iām not arguing against that point, I agree with stricter gun laws.
Gun laws apply to everyone, regardless of race or ethnicity. Why are gun crimes and homicides in the black community in the US at 8x the rate of the white community? Blacks are just over 10% of the population, why do they commit almost 50% of homicides. Washington DC which is 50% black has some of the strictest gun laws in the country but has a homicide rate of 18.5 compared to 4.8 for the rest of the country.
Are you spotting a trend yet? Donāt you think itās a little misleading for all these studies to completely ignore the vast differences in gun violence and homicides between different ethnic groups?
Okay, so hereās the earlier table I put together on 10 worst states for gun laws. With their rank for % of the population that is black added in. 51 being the lowest (DC is included in the table I used, 2010 census) & 1 the highest amount of black people by % of population.
Arizona. 37. 36.
Alaska. 50. 35.
Wyoming. 46. 43.
Louisiana. 49. 3.
Montana. 45. 51.
Arkansas. 44. 13.
Virginia. 18. 10.
Kentucky. 35. 25.
Florida. 31. 12.
Nevada. 36. 24.
Of the ten worst states, one is in the top 10 for number of black people (Louisiana).
Montana with the 5th worst gun death by population has 4,000 black people (0.67%) according to the 2010 census.
Arizona, Alaska, Wyoming are all also in the bottom 15 for % of black people. In other words there is absolutely zero signs that the % of black people in a state affects the number of gun deaths. You were looking for proof of causation not correlation earlier, you donāt even have correlation.
The argument about black people committing a higher % of murders may be true, BUT in states where gun laws are tighter it doesnāt matter how many black people live there, because even if they are committing a higher % of murders, itās a % of a smaller overall number.
Deaths by gun are lower overall if laws are stricter. End of.
Happy to rubbish your next bit of whataboutery whenever you read it off some NRA fed journalist.
Mom: Adamās been really moody lately. He hasnāt left his room in months.
Dad: Iām sure heās fine, honey. You know what guys that age are like. Probably smoking too much waccy baccy or whacking off to Playboy.
Mom: No, honey. I think this might be more serious. I think heās going to go to an elementary school and massacre a load of children. Thatās the next logical step for somebody who wonāt come out of their room.
Dad: Well ok, honey if you think so. Letās take him off to get his brain scanned so.
Mom: Do you think maybe we should take his AK-47s and RPGs and M-16s away from him too?
Slap.
Mom, quivering: Iām sorry honey I didnāt mean to say that.
Dad: Goddamn it woman, why do you make me do that. Donāt you ever disrespect freedom in this house again.
Mom: Iām sorry honey I really am. In fact when I go out later to get milk Iāll pick Adam up a pump action shotgun and 500 rounds of ammunition in Walmart in case he feels like going sport shooting after his brain scan.
Dad: Thatās more like it woman, goddarn it. Now letās get this scan done.
And that wouldāve prevented Sandy Hook and the Lanzas wouldāve lived happily ever after. Why canāt American legislators see the bleeding obvious?
That table is for 2010 if you read the fine print.
There were 38 murders here last year apparently, 10 linked to Kinahan Hutch fued.
Actually scratch that 0.8 figure. There were less murders here in 2016 than 2010. That 2010 figure is just gun murders. No breakdown of how many of the 38 in 2016 were gun murders.
Do you honestly think that no one has ever looked into the class divide in the US?!! Seriously?!
None of that changes the fact that a private citizen was facilitated in easily committing mass murder (58 people, 527 injured) by legally obtaining and using weapons which have no other purpose but to commit mass murder. It doesnāt take a genius to realise that such a gateway should be immediately closed down and that should be the priority. The very fact that those in power in the US will not allow that to happen is simply a damning indictment of the US people who elected these clowns. But it is not surprising alas.
