2020 Saw Unprecedented Murder Spike in Major U.S. Cities

It's usually something people who are apt to do that do (I know almost self referential). But what I mean is, it's possible that people given to violence either didn't see the same deterrence so they acted, or as you are saying people who would be unlikely suspects were pushed over the edge and did this as a side-effect of the virus.

I can see that the increased stress would correlate to a small rise in domestic violence, but remember also that for the first half of thr lockdown, people in the lower income tiers were getting more in unemployment (due to the extra 600 / week bonus) than they had been getting from their actual jobs.

I happen to know someone in that position who wasn't stressed, just bored.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/283093/homicides-in-the-...

The most obvious explanation is also the simplest: American cities spent most of 2020 attacking their own police forces, psychologically and financially.

There is a recent shift of police and social resources away from "crime as usual" toward the handling of social unrest and crowds/mobs. Most departments try to anticipate such shifts, which strongly affect the size and allocation of manpower within the police department. A small police department can find itself unable to investigate serious crimes in times of social unrest. Anyone who is intelligent and who wants to commit a premeditated crime knows this and could be expected to take advantage of it.

>> When looting and vandalism are allowed to reign supreme, the atmosphere alone sets the stage for more violence.

>> Violence begets violence, whether it's committed by BLM protesters or a mob of Trump supporters.

Go look at a heat map of per-capita gun homicides in the US. This is not a "national" problem. Communicating this has been very challenging for people who live in Chicago in particular - everyone thinks the entire city is a killzone, when in fact there are perfectly safe neighborhoods, and other neighborhoods that are a warzone. But if you were to only see the citywide statistics for Chicago murders, you wouldn't even leave the airport.

It's a culture problem. America has a violent culture.

It's weird to me that we so often discuss firearm violence without also considering the prevalence of other forms of violence; these are symptoms of an underlaying concern.

By comparison, America has an estimated 353 million civilian guns, netting to just over each man, woman, & baby having a gun. Additionally, the laws are extremely lax meaning the government has poor records, enforcement, & a hodge-podge of laws across state lines around gun ownership.

The type of superficial comparison that’s always trotted out in this kind of discussion is always so frustratingly predictable and superficial. Studies have repeatedly shown that in American society, increased gun availability directly tracks with homicides & mass casualty events. You can either regulate guns more akin to the nations you hold up as “exemplars” or make gun ownership less common. All attempts to regulate this situation in any way, shape, or form is regularly fought by Republicans, even for “common sense” legislation that has broad bipartisan appeal across party lines. Heck, often times people thing the government already does background checks for gun ownership without realizing the huge loopholes & intentional castrating of the background check process render the entire process a joke.

https://fee.org/articles/the-myth-that-australias-gun-laws-r...