Gun Violence Is Worse in Red States. It’s Not Even Close.
politico.com
politico.com
Just to clarify a bit, over half of all gun deaths are due to suicide.
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2019/aug/21/jason-miya...
https://theconversation.com/54-of-firearm-deaths-in-the-us-a...
https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/26/politics/gun-violence-data-wh...
If you don't care to look at the statistics for suicide, look at the map that says "homicides" and not the maps that say "deaths" or "suicides".
To ignore suicides - which are the majority - in order to sensationalize the rest is not going to help anyone. And look where we are?
Yet this is what the media does. And the unaware masses follow along championing a false narrative. We need transparency in order to have the necessary discussions.
We can't have adult discussions when less than 50% of the data on gun related deaths is on the table.
Alas, when faced with facts that disagree with their beliefs, most people will immediately get busy finding plausible explanations that would allow them to continue believing the same things without losing face. "Surely there must be something wrong with these figures," they'll think.
It's human nature.
* From 2016 to 2020, the two U.S. counties to experience the most gun homicides per capita were rural* (see Figure 1); Phillips County, Arkansas: 55.45 age-adjusted homicides per 100,000 people; Lowndes County, Alabama: 48.36 age-adjusted homicides per 100,000 people*
* From 2016 to 2020, 13 of the 20 U.S. counties with the most gun homicides per capita were rural: (see Figure 1); 80 percent of these 20 counties are in states that received an “F” grade for their weak gun laws, according to Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence’s 2021 annual state scorecard rankings.
* In 2020, the total gun death rate for rural communities—when age-adjusted per 100,000 people—was 40 percent higher than it was for large metropolitan areas.
The Mark Twain quote concerning statistics would be pertinent here.
They also selectively choose between "gun deaths" and homicides, and also apply an "age-adjustment" fudge factor, so the numbers they present are not accurate representations of actual homicide rates. Homicide also includes justifiable homicides, like self-defense or justifiable use of force police shootings.
It's a pretty classic example of selective presentation and twisting of statistics to suit a pre-established narrative. Not really surprising given who paid for the piece.
I disagree.
I believe it implies that population density is correlated with gun deaths.
FWIW, I’m as pro-gun as a person can be. While I allow for the idea that restrictions may lead to greater gun violence (not “gun deaths”, but “gun violence”), the evidence I’ve seen for that seems to account for only a very small portion of the difference.
My (untested) belief is that people who are often on in a position where they cannot contact others for help develop a tendency to solve problems (real or perceived) themselves. In other words, independence breeds self-reliance. Contrast that with people who have possibly literally never been in a situation where if they screamed for help no one would be able to hear them. It makes total sense to me that “just call the police” would be their viewpoint; it’s consistent with their lived experience.
When you live somewhere police response is a half hour or more - even assuming you’re able to contact them - owning and carrying a firearm is far more reasonable.
> The reasons for these disparities go beyond modern policy differences and extend back to events that predate not only the American party system but the advent of shotguns, revolvers, ammunition cartridges, breach-loaded rifles and the American republic itself. The geography of gun violence — and public and elite ideas about how it should be addressed — is the result of differences at once regional, cultural and historical. Once you understand how the country was colonized — and by whom — a number of insights into the problem are revealed.
"There's a town in Georgia's got a law on the books Says if we all got guns then we won't have crooks Now what could make them think that way?"
and, on the same album:
"Violence rules, guns are cool and we've got guns, in our school"
The writing was on the wall. I was teaching at a small school in Arizona when Columbine happened. I probably did a face palm and kept teaching....