Rates are expressed as number of murders per 100,000 population. Here are a few interesting facts I just dug up. "Gun restriction proponents point to the case in Brazil, where gun access was restricted and the murder rate dropped. Proponents for gun ownership point to the case in Venezuela, where gun access was denied, guns were taken away, and the murder rate increased." "Honduras has the world's highest murder rate, with 90.4 homicides per 100,000 people. Venezuela has the second highest murder rate in the world. The country loses 53.7 people per 100,000 each year to homicide. Note Honduras almost double the next highest. The United States Virgin Islands are more well-known for being a tourist destination than they are for their high murder rate. However, the territory of the United States has one of the highest murder rates in the world. 53 per 100,000. Belize, 45. El Salvador, 41. Guatamala, 40. Jamaica, 39. Lesotho (southern Africa), 38. St. Kits and Nevis, 34. U.S.A. is 111th. on the list by country, at 5 per 100,000. Monaco ties with Liechtenstein, 216 and 215 on the list, with murder rate = zero. Singapore 214, has 0.4. This info comes from a rather comprehensive article seemingly not slanted towards cause, but rather toward solutions, since crime is in many places increasing. https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/murder-rates-by-country.html
Fascinating Frank. Take note how many of the Top 100 are Third World countries. America is pretty well positioned. Australia sitting at the back of the field. That does not surprise me. Often hear migrants say they settled in Australia as it is a relatively safe place to raise a family.
@Frank Sanoica Based on all your threads, you've done so much research on this, you should contemplate writing a book or starting a podcast. Good job!!!
@Bess Barber Good thought, but I am convinced of two things: Books are all but obsolete, and I don't know WTH "podcast" means!
Podcast is like writing a blog, but you make a video of you saying it, instead of writing it as an article you post online. After you have the video made, you put it on YouTube. If enough people watch it and enjoy what you are saying and how you say it, then YouTube sends you money for the views and subscribers you get. Lots of people have YouTube channels doing many different things, but when you to a podcast, it's more like a talk show. @Ken Anderson has a thread on here with Podcast in the title.
I was just reading an article that the LTC (License to Carry) classes in El Paso are jammed with people this week. The instructor said that classes that were normally 7 people are now 50. Also the Walmart where the shooting happened sold 2 guns the day of the tragedy.
@Beth Gallagher The point being that presumably folks previously not licensed are doing so to protect themselves while shopping? Many stores forbid "carry" within. As far as I'm concerned, I'd carry licensed or not, and no one need know until I retrieve my weapon. At that point in time, hell breaks loose, maybe, and I'd hope for understanding on the part of prosecutors. Either way, if carry is forbidden by the business, they themselves would prosecute. Lawyers win. Frank
Blog is shortened from weblog, which stood for web log. The first blogs were largely online diaries, and some people still keep blogs for that purpose. Like everything else online, however, they soon became monetized, so there are now a log of professional blogs. The main thing that differentiates a blog from any other website is that posts are published with the most recent first, and most of them use software (like WordPress or Blogger) that is specifically made for blogs. But this isn't about blogs. It is about murder rates. Like any other statistic, murder rates can be made to seem to prove whatever it is that someone wants to prove.
The point being that the tragedy in El Paso didn't cause people to demand more gun control; apparently it caused them to want to arm themselves.
@Beth Gallagher But we cannot with "hasty generalization" make that statement, as MAYBE equal numbers are demanding more gun control, or at least wanting it without making comment. Frank
The Midland and Odessa shootings today are hitting closer to home for me. My daughter just moved from there in May. Odessa is a vile place anyway according to her and freinds. One of those killed today was a crew man from one of her freinds business. Becoming more apparent that at some point each one of us will know or have someone close to us die by mass shooting.
That would be MY response to the shootings as well. I have no idea why people think if they have a big gun control law that by magic, all the guns will disappear out of the hands of the criminals who have already proven they don't give a crap about the law anyway. The ONLY way we can survive it all, is to make them as scared of us as we are of them. If a big enough percentage of criminals would have their face blown off while trying to break into someone's window, they would think twice about it. Without guns, Americans would turn into a bunch of schmucks with nothing to defend themselves with.
There is no answer. No law is going to change things. Pro gun, anti gun, nothing is gonna make a bit of difference. Y'all need to start payin real close attention to your friends,relatives and acquaintances. Before you say,"I don't know any of those kind of people", just remember, neither did any of the shooters people before they committed their atrocity.