What can be done about Americans and their excessive need for guns and their excessive need for unnecessary violence?

[Anonymous]

There are other countries that though a smaller population the ratio of people who carry guns is equal to the US. By this I mean if hypothetically 70% of American population has guns, so does 70% of the population in these other countries.

The difference is, is in these other countries the gun carriers aren't shooting people like dogs like Americans do.

So why is this?

Why can other countries have high numbers of gun carriers but less gun-related crimes?

Why is it in America pointless shootings, acts of violence, etc. are so common?

.

Is it proof that Americans lack morals? Is it proof that Americans lack ethics?

Is it proof that Americans are weak-kneed with their laws?

Is it proof that the law is too lack on what Americans can do?

Is it proof that Americans are uneducated and ignorant?

.

Like said you can go to other countries were the same ratio of the population carries guns and don't have to worry about being shot for no reason.

While in the US that occurrence is so common it may come to a time when the only day someone isn't shot, is to be extremely blunt the day everyone's dead in the US.

.

[WhiteSteve]

It’s honestly wild. I’m not walking around worrying about being shot, necessarily, but it makes me a little nervous as a guy who settles his problems with his fists when absolutely necessary that I could be defeated by a gun. That should never happen in the world, that defies nature. You can either take me or you can’t, but we’ll walk away afterwards with most likely only minor, and certainly not fatal, injuries.

I’ve realized we’re dealing with an addiction problem, to the power that guns give people. That’s what people want, this feeling that no one could ever mess with you, no matter how big or tough, because you can just wave your gun around and scare people off. That’s fine if someone else is packing a weapon, but that’s absolutely the antithesis of natural life to meet natural defense systems with unnatural defense systems. Plus you have to account for the fact that everyone is the hero in their own story, or at least justified in their own minds, so it’s not like we can just count on two guys pulling out on each other, and then one going “welp…dammit, I’m the one who’s wrong, so I’ll back down and defuse this situation. My bad, bro.” No, egos will be involved, so everyone thinks their correct in drawing their gun and maybe using it. This simply an insane environment to live in, when I think about it. And then I hear people in other countries being like “yo…. what’s up with you guys over there with the guns?”, so I know it’s not just me thinking this is crazy. And right on cue, some “bUt MuH cOnStItUtIoN” idiot will come in with most elementary school bullshit insults, basically like “well you people are STUPID!”, and it’s just “holy fuck, bro…. these CANNOT be the actual people I live amongst, can it?” It’s not even the guns that bother me as much as the fake-tough-guy attitude. “fUcK aRoUnD AnD fInD oUt!!!”….. ok, Clint Eastwood😂😂😂😂😂😂

[WhiteSteve]

*everyone thinks THEY’RE correct (I hate when I do that🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️)

[zeitgeist057]

It's always the little bitch-ass scaredy cats who go to pull out weapons or join a gang of like-minded feeble little punks, bc they're scared about getting their asses beat in a fair fight.

[WhiteSteve]

@zeitgeist057 💯💯💯

[BUTIMRIGHTTHO]

@zeitgeist057 No. The difference between you clowns and a killer is they don't care about playing fair. If they want to hurt you, they want to kill you. They aren't going to make a game out of it like little boys do. And the other half of real men won't even engage in fighting because it is stupid and animalistic. Wake up guys. Think.

[zeitgeist057]

@BUTIMRIGHTTHO nah. It's pretty obvious people with guns are just scared. That's why they got the guns in the first place. Whether they are thugs, scared homemakers buying them "for protection", or douchebags trying to show off, the basis for all of them is fear. When thugs pull guns and say "respect me", what they are really saying is "Fear me. Cos' inside I'm the one who's afraid".

Your naive idea about "killers" is also based on fear. There are a certain percentage of true killers and sociopaths in our society, those who are predators among humans, but it's a very low percentage. Most people who hurt or kill others are just full of fear.

[zeitgeist057]

Somewhat related, and a great documentary giving some insight into the minds of gangsters:
documentaryheaven.com/.../

[Lliam]

The number of firearm related homicides hoovered around 16,000 for several years. The number jumped up to around 20,000 in 2020.

Using the nice round number of 20,000, the FBI says that 80% of firearm related homicides are gang related. That means that 4,000 are non-gang related. 4,000 out of over 80 million lawful gun owners, 330 million citizens, and 450 million people in the country at one time.

The best way to avoid getting shot is to stay out of gang areas, especially at night.

So the obvious question is, how do we stop gang violence? How do we restrict their access to firearms? Seems like an impossible task. And I don't see how restricting access to guns by law abiding citizens will help.

More guns in the hands of honest citizens does not lead to more violence. In fact, the opposite is true. All one has to do is look at the facts. Cities that have the strictest gun law have the most gun violence. When gun sales increase, gun violence does not. Mass shootings always occur in "gun free zones". Average estimates indicate that defensive gun use (DGU) occurs about 1.5 million times annually. How much rape, robbery, brutality and murder is prevented by armed citizens? The media doesn't like to talk about that.

The police can't be everywhere. Some people feel safer having the ability to defend themselves. Some people feel safer with a fire extinguisher in the house, too, even though they hope they will never have to use it.

[Smoke-n-Growls]

Americans just love guns, gun violence, and shooting people more than they love... Well... People.

Where other countries and cultures have history, practices, and established traditions; Americans have Republicans of all stripes fighting to regress human rights, glorified statues of historical national traitors and slavers, and the belief that "a good guy with a gun" could save whole schools of children.

Americans aren't really set up to be safe or healthy people in general, either. For decades, their cities have been built to the specifications of oil and gas oligarchs to force people into car-centric lifestyles. Suburban food desserts are real in America (a concept I'm lucky I've never been able to experience).

For decades, their politics has been a game of corporate pawns speaking platitudes to an increasingly uneducated and exhausted public.

Americans can't even get paid parental leave. Of course they're not going to be able to control gun violence.

Not to mention the NRA and GOP spend hundreds of thousands on advertisements and placing guns and violence front and centre in the peoples minds.

And the GOP, and specifically the fascist cult behind Trump, generally benefits from more gun owners.

Most American gun owners - legal and illegal - are going to be people prone to wanting to use guns. Those people? Majority Republicans, alt-right wingers, meal team six wannabes, and mentally unstable people.

Gun violence is just gonna get worse in America until a good guy with a gavel makes gun controls a reality.

[goaded]

"the belief that "a good guy with a gun" could save whole schools of children." Even when 400 of them couldn't.

[TitsMcGee16]

That is such horse manure. I live in Canada and i don't feel that safe now. It seems that the street gangs, biker gangs and the mafia have taken total control of our streets. There is on average one shootout per day now and at least one victim per day. In Canada you do not have the right to carry a firearm but the criminals sure do have that right.

[Anonymous]

You can't help mindless stupidity.

[ethanallen]

If citizens don't exercise their rights, the government will strip them away. I applaud individuals who push the government to arrest them for constitutionally protected activity. Just watch youtube videos of first and second amendment auditors and see how police violate citizen's rights. These people in the picture are modern day freedom fighters just like George Washington in the American Revolution, William Tecumseh Sherman in the Civil War and General Colin Powell in the First Gulf War. Soldiers fight overseas to protect our rights from foreign terrorists. Auditors fight at home to protect our rights from state sponsored terrorists in blue uniforms with badges.

[OlderAndWiser]

So brave to post this anon! Is it proof that, where you come from, people are all cowards?

[Avicenna]

No doubt it's one of those arrogant Europeans who can't be bothered to defend themselves.

[OlderAndWiser]

@Avicenna 10-4!

[Screenwriter]

Rational Male blocked my responses to him about black life in America that was trying to elucidate. Clearly, he didn't want to know the reality of black peoples' struggles. It's very sad. No one is blaming him unless he is closed to thoughtful discussion..

[Avicenna]

@Screenwriter; Lots of people have struggles. In America, it's not unique to blacks.

[Screenwriter]

@Avicenna Was only talking about the historic fact of being brought in as slaves and how that has disadvantaged generations of African Americans. There are also white Americans in the Appalachians and West Virginia who are historically disadvantaged if they stay there. But white skin still holds privileges that other colors do not in America. That so many people don't realize these privileges or the disadvantages is telling.

[Avicenna]

@Screenwriter: No one has been a slave in the US for 157 years. White skin holds zero privilege in the US, zero, and for some people is a disadvantage.

One of my grandfathers was enslaved by the Nazis a lot more recently than anyone‘s been enslaved in the US.

[OlderAndWiser]

@Avicenna And there are more white people living in federally subsidized housing than black people.

[Avicenna]

That doesn't surprise me. All the propaganda and gaslighting about this mythical "white privilege" is about grifting and doesn't have any basis in reality.

[OlderAndWiser]

@Avicenna I have ancestors - GGG grandfather Roberts - who owner slaves. The "privilege didn't last very long. My mother - maiden name Roberts - grew up in a cabin in the woods with no electricity and running water until she was about 14 years old.

[Avicenna]

That's something you never hear about in the "white-privilege- obsessed media.

[Screenwriter]

@Avicenna Of course there are more white people in subsidized housing. There are more white people period and hispanic people are Caucasians unless they're African and Hispanic. The fact is institutions are controlled by white Americans who hire people who look like them and are from similar backgrounds more often than people who are different. The same holds true for male privilege. Men hire men like themselves. The proverbial glass ceiling for women.

If you have not experienced being passed over repeatedly after training people to do a job that you should've been promoted to and all those people were white when you were not, you cannot speak to this experience.

Though people were enslaved during WWII by the Nazis, and were racially/ethnically discriminated against, and some killed, this was not from 400 years of slavery. There is this denial of the impact of such an extreme length of being held down in every way: no freedom, the inability to vote, defend oneself through the legal system (there was a limited ability according to where you lived), move ahead educationally, financially and socially.

I hope you folk have read John Hope Franklin's classic "From Slavery to Freedom," and "From Plantation to Ghetto," two central, early tomes. And some excerpts from collections of critical race theory.

If you have not lived as a person who has suffered racial slights and experienced them 157 years after Emancipation, of course you'll say there is no white privilege. I haven't experienced it. Living in subsidized housing is not living in inferior housing in a ghetto in a high crime area. It is not being unable to live in an area BECAUSE you are black, suffering REDLINING.

Have any of you watched "Eyes on the Prize" -- a documentary about the history of the Negro and black struggles in the United States?

Walk a mile in those shoes and tell me there's no white privilege. We're all working on a level playing field.

[OlderAndWiser]

@Screenwriter "Nobody knows the troubles I've seen!" But of course your troubles are worse than anyone elses, because that serves your purpose.

[Screenwriter]

I'm not talking about MY personal troubles. I'm talking of the people I know and have known. Some of them are dead. That doesn't mean this has stopped happening. I hear and see it. Not ALL the time. But regularly enough to know this institutional sexism and racism is still alive and well.

Clearly, you have not suffered it, not know people, many people who have. I'm happy for you. Just remember, just because you have privilege doesn't make you guilty of anything. But to deny it exists means you have your head in the sand. Just as male privilege and other privileges exist for a phalanx of people who've gotten ahead because of said advantages.

To be angry about someone pointing this out is wasteful. To be AWARE is useful. Means you and others around you can change it for the better. Regards.

[Avicenna]

@Screenwriter: You have a very outdated and inaccurate view of US society. There are lots of non-whites in managerial and leadership positions and whites hire non-whites as well as whites. Guess what? Some of those nonwhites discriminate!

And you minimize the extent of white poverty in the US with a bunch of semantic word games. Furthermore, discrimination against Jews in Germany (my grandfather was Jewish) went on a lot longer than 400 years, although at varying degrees of intensity. Jews also didn't become German citizens until 1878. Sound familiar?

There are plenty of neighborhoods where it isn't safe to live as a white person even though it would be less expensive to do so. I guess that is de facto redlining. You also didn't mention the much greater incidence of violent crime by blacks against whites than vice versa.

Whites living not only in Appalachia but working dirty industrial jobs prior to the rise of the middle class in the US would have laughed at the bizarre notion of "white privilege". These people were poor and exploited as well.

You also shouldn't assume only blacks have faced racial discrimination just because someone isn't running around screaming about it. I've actually faced some discrimination from blacks (thankfully not much).

The problem with parroting leftist talking points is that they do not accurate reflect reality since the leftists are interested in using narratives to get more leftists in power and in bureaucratic positions were decisions and enforcement occur.

[Screenwriter]

@Avicenna I am in the workforce and I've seen it today and yesterday and six months ago. Granted, I'm not in every job. But in academia, the supposedly most liberal bastion, there are few black faces except in historically black institutions. And I am sure there are brown, black and immigrant faces everywhere. What's the percentage of women running Fortune 5s? Less than 7 percent. CEOs nationwide, women? 1 percent. Brown and black faces? I'm sure about half of those percentages fewer, if' you hazard a guess.

I am not dismissing any long-term discrimination such as that of the Jews, who killed Christ... as has been said for so long and so sadly as reason for hating the group... And who were enslaved by the Egyptians and under the thumbs of the Romans, then most recently the Nazis and have been looked askance at because of high levels of education, business acumen and that many were handling the monies of nations and were resented because of this. Also high numbers were in the arts. They were discriminated against because of JEALOUSY and ENVY.

Sure, some of the same "less than human" descriptions were attached to Jews. But Jews, though a RELIGIOUS minority, were CAUCASIANS. They were educated, businessmen, artists and writers in those 1900 years. And it's taken THAT long to ameliorate this age-old prejudice, though it is still at play in sections of the world where Jews and Muslims conflict, such as Israel and Palestine.

[Screenwriter]

Where ever differences can be made, they are: sexual, sexual orientation, gender choice, racial, religious, political. In this country the big one was race and it remains an institutionalized wall. Though a few people of other races, religions etc are in a few places of power, they remain exceptions. Same goes for women in the workplace. There are few in power. And there are myriad reasons other then who's on top in addition to the basic ones.

But please read From Slavery to Freedom and From Plantation to Ghetto. Get a critical race theory reader from the library. There are several excellent ones. They clarify what has happened. The why is clear. WHy would anyone who is in power relinquish it? Why share? And why give up an incredible free source of labor. I'd make up an incredible phalanx of lies about the inferiority of a group of people who were enriching me too!

But to ignore the history of an enslaved people who were not freed upon the Emancipation Proclamation except on paper. Reconstruction was the only time black people were allowed to participate in society legally and after the army was removed to enforce its tenets, then came the Ku Klux Klan and the lynchings. Do you know what years there was the most lynchings of black men and women in the nation? 1919-23. And what about Jim Crow laws. None of these affected American Jews or any other ethnic minorities as they did black Americans.

B

[Screenwriter]

Blacks couldn't shop, eat or enter places that white Americans frequented. There were even separate water fountains and bathrooms, as IF black people were, again, not human. I remember these as a young girl.

So don't say slavery ended 157 years ago. It was alive and well 60 years ago. Just in another form of discrimination. And that discrimination lingers in new forms that anyone who is not black or another minority has never experienced on a regular basis. If it has happened to you a few times, count yourself as lucky. It has happened to black Americans too many times to count. Happened to me in my last job which I held onto for six months because I needed the money.

But one thing I can say about this manager, she treated just about all of the black people working for her terribly. It wasn't just me. And she had a club of white women who licked her boots and took breaks with her daily. However, I balked about this and took it to a higher up. But you don't want to FIGHT and be tense every day you work, do you? Luckily, I've found a better situation with better people.

This has happened to me more than a dozen times in jobs and college. And it's happened to every relative I know or have known to the present. Young and older.

You've been insulated from this because of who you are. THAT is the privilege. It might not be a GREAT privilege. It might not work ALL the time, but it works more often than not.

As I said, you've had no control over how you were born or what skin color you ended up with. You didn't set up the system that's in place. But to DENY that this IS the system and that it still disadvantages a host of people is another matter.

[Avicenna]

@Screenwriter: Uh, Jesus was Jewish and it was the Romans who killed him. But nice of you to bring up that ancient blood libel.

Academia is your proof? Seriously? If so, you're calling white leftists white supremacists since white leftists dominate academia. And that's a really huge number of people.

So how do you explain the federal workforce being 18 percent black? Google, Microsoft and Twitter having "brown" CEOs?

[Avicenna]

You can keep your Critical Race Theory indoctrination. I 'm well aware of history in the US, including nuances you don't mention, but you've presented a very one-sided and inaccurate version.

[Screenwriter]

@Avicenna I was simply repeating the" idea" for hating Jews. I know the facts behind the story. Pilate washing his hands allowing a mob to vote Jesus' death. It's a ridiculous argument.

And I'm not arguing about ANY companies who have black or brown executives. I'm simply reporting the numbers. There are single digit numbers. More than 90 percent are white, hetero, males. Playing field is not level, it's barely open. But there's been progress since the 20th century.

All progress is good. Academia is simply ONE example. And it is an example of supposed liberals. This is my case in point. It doesn't matter liberal, conservative, MOR, all institutions are hampered by bias, prejudice and isms.

The Army and the federal workforce have worked very hard to bring diversity into their folds. That explains that. And you're right, there are a huge number of people who've benefitted and moved into the middle class since WWII. But again, these are isolated from the general workforce.

There is more upward mobility than there has been in the past. I'm not arguing that there isn't. But there is entrenched bias, resentment, anger.

[Screenwriter]

I'll close with this. A woman in her 40s was on a first date with a man her age who spent the dinner date complaining about how he had to compete with college librarians who were women for a job he wanted. And that the workplace he wanted to be hired into would be preferring to hire a minority woman over him and how this was unfair.

This was unfair after all the years of college libraries hiring men over women and other minorities? See, this is what I'm talking about. This man was clueless that he'd had an advantage ALL of his work life. And he also wasn't considering what a minority woman might BRING to the table that he didn't offer in his life experiences. Of course interviews and personalities count heavily.

She did NOT want a second date, because he never asked her how many times SHE didn't get a job and who was hired instead of her...

I understand there are a conglomerate of factors that add up to someone who you want to hire. Just as there are college freshman that you want on your campus. How do you help create diversity without LOSING something in the process?

This is the rub. Regards.

[Screenwriter]

Only about 30% of people in the U. S. are gun owners. Nothing like 70%.

And of that 30%, only a fraction cause gun-violence-related crimes. However, a lot of journalistic energy is lasered on high-profile, high-violence crimes because they are sensational. They get people's attention.

It's true, this is a new country, founded on wild-ass hunters, trappers, mountain people who made their livings with guns, carving through the wilderness.

Our Westernmost outposts in the 19th century were forts, peopled by armed cavalry.

And the start of the United States was as a colonial outpost of England that split off because of political differences and distance.

Our Second Amendment specifically outlines the right to create a home militia to prevent being overtaken by a despot (poor old King George). It does NOT guarantee the right to have or own guns, as many who do not understand the amendment believe. It guarantees citizens the right to form a militia, which means the militia MEMBERS have the right to bear arms for protection against being overthrown by a despotic government. I so wish this amendment was clarified.

The only "militias" that exist are the National Guard and some private groups that call themselves "militias." But we also have not had despots in our 246-year history. A few substandard presidents, but that's all.

Reasonable, rational Americans do not have an "excessive need" for guns. Fear fuels some gun-buying.

Studies have shown that average citizens meeting criminals who are also armed end up being wounded or killed because criminals will kill to GET AWAY with a crime, and have no compunction about doing so.

Regular people THINK before pulling a trigger. Do I want/need to kill this person because they're stealing my car/purse/bike? And in THAT amount of time, a criminal's only thought is, "I'm facing a felony and prison time. If I KILL the only witness, I'm home free!"

The other side of this coin is the broad financial inequities and lack of health care in America. There are endemically poor people in a country that is the richest in the world. Some of the poor are addicted, alcoholic, mentally ill, or combinations of all three, living in tent cities with no family or government safety nets. Institutional care was officially ended in the Reagan years. Tent cities are the fallout of this in concert with no national health. And charitable agencies are overwhelmed with the need that government used to attend to. There are not enough social workers, therapists or ACCESS to these people. This is how the misnamed "defund" the police movement started. It's NOT about taking money from police, it's about ADDING mental health professionals as police aides.

And speaking of cops. Ask one that you know how many times they've used THEIR gun? In a lifetime of police work, most cops have used deadly force one to three times. I mean in 20 to 30 years as an officer. So there IS no excessive need.

What there is are A FEW LUNATICS and chaos operators terrifying people who aren't thoughtful about these incidents. In addition, think of the internet and how news is gathered today. There is so much more access to MINUTIAE!!! Instagram, Twitter, Whatsapp, Facebook, cell phones, email. 24 hours a day, 365 a year.

Used to be you put a newspaper TO BED. There is NO OFF TIME for news. So agencies seek the scariest, craziest shit... This stuff happened before on a much smaller scale and there were also far fewer people. And there is WORLD NEWS ACCESS like never before. Consider all these factors, and you get the news stew that makes these events loom far larger than they are.

[Aerissa_Jade]

What makes someone want to randomly go shoot people is always my question too, the gun, or tool isn't the problem it is something in society, maybe too much pressure making people snap? too much peer pressure or probably gang violence.

I live in rural America with almost no gangs and everyone carries, open or concealed or both and we have zero gun violence here. Those that say more guns makes more crime has never been to Rural America.

Not saying there isn't gun deaths, we do get them but they are idiots who don't think about where a bullet will end up when target shooting and sometimes it hits someone... so accidental deaths, not intentional from fools who think a bullet always stops at the target and goes no further.

Our biggest crime problem is burglary and its pretty low.

When I lived in Las Vegas though for a few years, my place and my car were both shot up over night, the police didn't even bother to collect evidence, bullets or anything to try and track down who did it. They filled out the report, gave it to me and said they hope I had insurance to contact them to get things taken care of.

Children and innocent people would often be hit by stray bullets too from gang warfare. Every night, all night... could hear shots being fired. Always wondered if cities like that should have bullet proof walls in their building codes, cause I feared a bullet coming through the dry wall and hitting me.

[20yearsolder]

Well just so you know, I carry everyday. You have any idea how many people I've shot? Absolutely zero. Maybe you should look into mental health between the two countries. You will never take firearms away from criminals so that leaves the everyday person defenseless. That's not going to happen in this country. If they would outlaw guns then I guess I will be coming out law because I will still have a firearm for protection for myself and my family. I'm not batshit crazy like these fucking idiots to go into a mall or a school and shoot up innocent people. Like I said they're batshit crazy. Fuck their families even know that they are off their meds, that they shouldn't possess a firearm.

[Asker]

Has nothing to do with mental health per se - though you Americans definitely have little to no understanding of it. Why else close asylums and mental health hospitals only because your country is run by idiots voted into power by even stupider people.

[20yearsolder]

You have to be mentally ill to go into a school or shopping mall and open fire on unsuspecting people. I agree, there's no money in a politician's pocket from the mentally ill. They're not going to focus on it. Let's ban guns instead. And if you don't think the criminals and the mentally ill will still get their hands on firearms your batshit crazy yourself. The majority of these people are being watched very loosely by government agencies because they know that they're Looney

[ethanallen]

This is Kyle Rittenhouse. He is a teenager who was able to defend himself against three attackers who tried to kill him during a race riot. If he had not be carry his AR-15, Kyle would be dead today. This is why every American wants his or her guns.

In the following states, you can buy a guy, strap it into a concealed holster and never need a permit. Alaska (residents only), Arizona, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, Vermont (does not issue permits), West Virginia (residents only), and Wyoming. If you get the gun at a gun show, you can avoid background checks. This is the last vestige of freedom in America

[Pterodon]

Oklahoma too

[Subarugirl]

…. amend the contusion…. if you look at who does the grand majority of the shootings in the united states it points to a very specific demographic and it proves that there is something very wrong.

The majority of mass shooters are white men in their early 30s. Younger shooters are more likely to target schools. Familicides represent the most common form of mass murder and are principally defined by a close victim-offender relationship. Perpetrators are typically White, middle-aged males who target their spouse or intimate partner, children, and other relatives.

[Kiran_Yagami]

"What can be done about Americans and their excessive need for guns..."

We have a right to guns, whether there is a "need" for them or not. The only thing you can do about that is pry them from our cold, dead fingers.

"and their excessive need for unnecessary violence?"

A more complex question, but first you'd have to answer what drives the rising violence in the country. I'd argue that it's a lack of consequence when violence is committed. Why is it that mobs can burn down entire neighborhoods and call it a "protest" and no one is arrested for it? What kind of precedent does that set? What message does it send? Why would people not be violent if you give them what they want when they are violent?

[Anonymous]

Do you think Ukrainians wish they had tougher gun regulations now? I doubt it.

https://thefederalist.com/2022/03/04/ukraine-shows-the-world-why-gun-rights-are-human-rights/

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-06-21/ukraine-gun-laws-top-official-calls-for-looser-restrictions-after-war

Think what happened in Ukraine could never happen in the US? Don't be a fool.

[ElementoP]

As far as the violence goes, that's not Americans, that's humans in general. Violence has been a part of human nature since before the current human race even existes. It's been A LOT worse in the past and it's still a lot worse in other parts of the world

As far as guns go, if I have to explain that to you, you wouldn't understand

[Asker]

ROFL. I just explained guns to you and it went sailing so far above your head you'd think I explained how the sun works.

[exitseven]

guns and violence are baked into out DNA. America is a relatively young country and it took a lot of guts to settle it and there was a lot of violence that went with it. Our culture admires rugged individualism and popular entertainment reinforces this.

Make my day.

[SiberFox]

How many citizens have guns in central or south america?
Also what do you think happens when you remove the big five cities of the US in terms of crime? Your arguments are BS and you have no idea what you're talking about.

[goaded]

What does happen "when you remove the big five cities of the US in terms of crime?"

[SiberFox]

The US becomes one of the least violent countries on the planet in terms of gun crimes

[Asker]

Who said central & south America? ROFL. I'm talking of another country most Americans wouldn't survive in 12 hours.

[SiberFox]

You did in a reply to another opinion. And which americans are we talking about, inner city americans or country/suburb americans.

[goaded]

"The US becomes one of the least violent countries on the planet in terms of gun crimes", if "you remove the big five cities of the US in terms of crime"? Funny.

The state with the lowest murder rate is New Hampshire, which is level with the rate in Australia, Portugal, Syria, and Tajikistan, at around place 37. The sixth worst state, Arkansas, would be at place 157 (out of 195), if it were a country.

en.wikipedia.org/.../List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_intentional_homicide_rate
en.wikipedia.org/.../List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate

[zagor]

There are a LOT of countries with higher murder rates than the US, some with much stricter gun laws (f'rinstance, just south of the border...). Much of Africa and South America have higher murder rates, but for some reason many people prefer to compare us to Denmark.

[BeMuse]

You can’t do a damn thing. We have our rights. You want to take them from us? You willing to die for it?

[BeMuse]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67QxbFjmqcQ

[TitsMcGee16]

That is a very stupid question. I live in Canada and there are so many laws against guns and yet we still have a ton of gun violence each day over here. The real question is how are you going to get rid of the corrupt cops and all the street gangs and the mafias, etc? They have weapons ILLEGALLY. Good law abiding citizens need guns to defend themselves against these criminals ffs.

[RationalMale]

Simple problem is African americans commit the majority of homicides in the USA and are 13% of the population. The caucasian population of the USA has tons of guns and their homicide rate fits fine into European statistics.

[Screenwriter]

"In the United States, the relationship between race and crime has been a topic of public controversy and scholarly debate for more than a century.[1] Crime rates vary significantly between racial groups. Academic research indicates that the over-representation of some racial minorities in the criminal justice system can in part be explained by socioeconomic factors, such as poverty, exposure to poor neighborhoods, poor access to public education, poor access to early childhood education, and exposure to harmful chemicals (such as lead) and pollution.[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] Racial housing segregation has also been linked to racial disparities in crime rates, as Blacks have historically and to the present been prevented from moving into prosperous low-crime areas through actions of the government (such as redlining) and private actors.[12][13][14] Various explanations within criminology have been proposed for racial disparities in crime rates, including conflict theory, strain theory, general strain theory, social disorganization theory, macrostructural opportunity theory, social control theory, and subcultural theory."

The history of African-Americans in this country and their lack of opportunity ties in directly to their long-term problems with crime and punishment.

[RationalMale]

@Screenwriter I love claims that housing segregation causes crime. Because that boils down to "See, we have too many African Americans in this area, so crime is skyrocketing. We need to spread them out among more European America neighborhoods so there's less hotspots of crime." Somehow you never hear "this area has too many white people, so crime is skyrocketing."

You know, University of California Berkley actually looked at 1.1 million applicants from 1994-2011 and found that the single most influential factor on what an applicant's SAT score would be is now race? it's not the education level of the parents, or how wealthy the family is.

[Screenwriter]

That you don't understand how long-term racism, disadvantage, lack of educational and financial opportunity is directly related to these issues is rather shocking. When your family can't live in good housing, get good jobs, attend highly valued schools and financial advancement, of course there is more turning to underground methods of getting cash when there is no other simple way. White wealth comes from a legacy of simply BEING WHITE! And of passing on those advantages to generation after generation of children.

If white people had been slaves in America in the same manner as blacks, we'd be talking about their disadvantages and the enduring legacy of slavery and endemic institutional racism. You need to read a bit more about this issue.

[RationalMale]

@Screenwriter lMAOOO "white wealth comes from being white"? You literally sound insane.

[Rangers]

Deport democrats since the violent crime rate in red areas of Texas is 80 per 100k wheras its 580 per 100k in blue areas

[EarthRealm]

Drop an atomic bomb and then move all the Africans to American I’m sure violence will be at an all time low if Nothing but black Africans and Saudi Arabians lived in America

[peedy]

First thing stop watching CNN
2nd thing do a little more research on what you call violence you may find that its the government behind it, to use the false flag to push an agenda

[peedy]

If you allow the government to break the law in time of emergency the government will create emergencies in order to break the law

Never underestimate the power of propaganda

[Asker]

Mental case

[peedy]

That is what the powers that be say about everyone who tell the truth

[jasco]

Lack of several things along with drugs, and stuff that is causing us lots of problems. But most of our issues can be trace back to having a poor community and lack of closeness

[jshm2]

More guns.

No one kills more Americans, than other Americans.

[Anonymous]

Culturally we are not a single country but many dying countries increasingly at war with each other.

[Anonymous]

It's thug life in the USA. Switzerland, for example doesn't have urban thug life as the US does, which is where most of those deaths are coming from.

[Anonymous]

We have more crack head and more cartel member here and multi racial gang than anywhere else. We need it

[Asker]

ROFL. Harder drugs and more violent gangs can be found in many other places. Many of you North Americans wouldn't survive 24 hours in central or south America.

[MiseriaCantareAFI]

Unfortunately, nothing. Republicucks will cry "second amendment", not understanding what it really says

[Pterodon]

We know what it really says

[MiseriaCantareAFI]

You don't, you really don't, and you never have, never will

[Pterodon]

Yeah I do and so does the SCOTUS. You’re the one that doesn’t

[maximumpower]

You live here?

You ever been on the receiving end of criminal violence?

If not, sit down and shut your yap.

[joeldalton]

I don't think we need any outside person's help.

[Anonymous]

When you tear others down, it's usually a result of your own insecurities. Sounds like you have an inferiority complex, like Trump. Trump tears down people, you tear down people, specifically the American people.

[anylolone]

The ones who love legal gun aren't the ones who love unnecessary violence.

[noohair]

When you post as Anonymous, you opinion lacks value.

[Anonymous]

Pretty dumb question. People want guns to defend themselves, generally. There is no "need" for unnecessary violence, nobody is asking for it. America's crime rates are just climbing.

[Adronicus]

The media whipping people into a fervor.

[Jamie05rhs]

Stop letting your kids play violent video games.

[demonics]

Number of brown people in those countries?

[Anonymous]

They want, they can, so they shall.

[SmokinAces2000]

Nothing at this point

[Anonymous]

You should read some history books.