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Except for one thing. You have to separate the kind of gun fatalities and how they took place. If a person commits suicide, well, there you do. The violence is towards one's self. If the violence is murder related, then someone else is in danger.
Wyoming, Montana, both have low murder rate. However, I would gather that hunting accidents can occur here. Suicide can take place as well.
Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina have high murder rates. Alot of Black on Black murders, particularly in New Orleans. Oddly enough, Mississippi has one of the lowest Black murder rates in the nation. Louisiana has one of the highest.
Alaska, which ranks very high in suicide, once ranked #1 in the nation for murder, in 1982. Alaska is a very young state, and memories of the old pioneer days were not that distant up to the 1960s and 70s. Take into account the influx that took place during the oil boom, alot of single men with alot of expendable income and not much to do. Another factor is drinking. Going into some of the "bush" areas with large Native American populations, one major issue is alcoholism. Alot of violence related to drinking. Someone gets drunk, someone gets angry and assaults someone, even shoots them. Alot of domestic violence has taken place as well. Alot of suicide goes on in Alaska as well. Alaska also has a high male to female ratio. Men are more likely to commit suicide than women. Why? The way it's done. Men are more likely to do it quickly and be done with it. A gun isn't necessary to get it done. Suicide by stabbing, jumping off of a building, hanging, very violent ways. Women are more likely to attempt suicide by poison.
Vermont is a state with very libertine gun laws. Yet, it has one of the lowest murder rates in the nation. New Hampshire isn't known for be strict with guns either. Low murder rate there too. North Dakota isn't known for being strict either. Last year was the highest it ever saw with its murder rate, 4.5 murders per 100,000. This is most likely related to the oil boom. Single men with little to do and alot of aggression. Most years, North Dakota's murder rate has hovered around 1 per 100,000, or less. Seattle is a city where people have been able to take guns into city parks. Low murder rate. Baltimore and Newark, both in states with strict gun laws, rank in the top 10 cities for murders per 100,000 for cities with 250,000+ people.
Also when you look at cities there is a very strong correlation between murder rate and percentage of blacks. More so than poverty because there's poor Hispanic cities in Texas that have low murder rates.
Also when you look at cities there is a very strong correlation between murder rate and percentage of blacks. More so than poverty because there's poor Hispanic cities in Texas that have low murder rates.
A fact that our PC society doesn't want to speak of, it's just easier to try and band aid the problem.
Lithuania has the highest suicide rate in the world, among sovereign nations. 31 suicides per 100,000.
There is something else. I've found this out. Sweden has often been thought of as a nation with a high suicide rate. Truth is, the USA has a higher suicide rate than Sweden. Sweden's suicide rate is 11.1 per 100,000. USA's is 12 per 100,000. Sweden has strict gun laws. However, Switzerland, where every male over 18 has a gun, has a low murder rate and a suicide rate matching Sweden's, 11.1 per 100,000.
I feel like a better question is this. Why do people commit suicide? What is the mindset behind it?
Peoples reasons for suicide are, certainly, a bigger issue than how they do it. Still, suicide is not something that can be, fairly, included in "gun violence" stats. If someone really wants to check out, they will. Seems to me, a LOT of people go to the happy hunting grounds via drugs. Despite the most strict and punitive laws, to deny people drugs, they are easily and cheaply available.
Guns would be the same, should prohibition be tried. Trying to make the US like , say, Japan, is a pipe dream, and what's in the pipe ain't tobacco. American have never liked being told what we can and can't have. It in our DNA. The massive civil disobedience, that would come on the heels of a nationwide gun ban, would spin these grabbers heads.
Gun laws have zero affect on crime. Crime is always tied to poverty. It's why some states with lax gun laws have low crime, and others have high crime.
You don't understand that correlation does not equal causation.
A lot of shootings involve people with saggy pants and big rims. Do big rims cause murder?
I know correlation does not equal causation. I even mentioned that among the Black men who have committed murder, one major factor is being single and young. My point was this. Married men have more to lose, and more to root them. Young, single men with nothing to lose and too much anger, well, bad combination. Correlation does not equal causation. There are other factors to consider.
Also when you look at cities there is a very strong correlation between murder rate and percentage of blacks. More so than poverty because there's poor Hispanic cities in Texas that have low murder rates.
Stockton,CA has a large Hispanic population, and alot of murders. Blacks make up 11 percent of the population in Stockton, but Stockton is one of the most murderous cities in the USA. Oakland's Black population has dropped dramatically and its Hispanic population has become larger, but the murder rate is still high.
One thing about those cities with large Hispanic populations, is this. Consider the border. Mexican gangs will go across the border and commit murder over there. It doesn't count in the USA. One reason why El Paso, which is next to Juarez, has a markedly lower murder rate than Juarez, which is one of the most murderous cities in the world. Gangs can go across to Mexico and do their dirt. Blacks, however, can't do that. They are here.
And something else. Even poorer Hispanics have a higher likelihood of being employed than poor Blacks. Poor Blacks also suffer from high rates of unemployment. Rather, alot of the things that correlate with murder are suffered the most by Blacks. Hispanic men are less likely to be single than Black men. Higher rates of marriage, higher rates of employment, more likely to own their own businesses.
Something else. Hispanic is an ethnicity. Hispanics come in different nationalities. Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, Colombians, Dominicans, Venezuelans, Salvadoreans,etc. I would argue that Cubans might have a much lower murder rate than Salvadoreans(think about MS-13).
Gun laws have zero affect on crime. Crime is always tied to poverty. It's why some states with lax gun laws have low crime, and others have high crime.
Unemployment is another factor to consider. The mentality of the person is a major factor as well. An individual who has anger and hatred in one's mentality, a "I have nothing to lose mentality" combined with being unemployed and a "kill or be killed" mentality, that breeds alot of violence. Being poor correlates with it. Being of "get mine and forget the rest of the world" mentality plays into that as well.
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