by Simon 25 Replies latest social current
Who'd-a-thunk-it?! You are twice as likely to be assaulted in certain commonwealth countries than in the good old US of A!
However, this was a telephone poll of victims ... I guess if you've been shot you wouldn't have answered the phone
Still ... quite interesting reading.
I wonder if that's from teasing the Scottish guys for wearing skirts....
Should I worry for LittleToe's safety?
It must be because we are living in the last days.
Thank you for posting this, Simon. See, Simon can be fair. And I get to make my 5000th post on the site owner's thread.
Thanks Simon, very interesting numbers.
Imagine...
"We are also reforming Scotland's drinking laws to help reduce the connection between alcohol and violent crime."
Should I worry for LittleToe's safety?
No, you should worry for us when he's down visiting
If you're reading this LT, hope you had a good trip back.
Before anything else is said about the matter, American statistics for murder are well out in front of any of the other developed countries - including Scotland.
However, the statistics for crimes such as burgalry and aggravated burgalry, as well as for assault; are also higher in countries like Australia, New Zealand, Scotland, England and Wales than in the USA.
A lot of this has to do with the high rate of firearm ownership in the US. If a would-be-attacker knows that his intended victim is probably armed, he is going to think twice - and even three times - about attempting to break into the house (despite the propaganda that the WTS dispenses on this subject!)
Of course, the high rate of firearm ownership (particularly handguns) is a major contributor to the high murder rate in the USA.
I would far rather have a high chance of being mugged than a high chance of being shot.
As for the link between high levels of gun ownership and a high murder rate... nah... but I used to think so too.
However, there ar4e countries with near-equal levels of gun ownership or access with murder rates a fraction of the US's, and those countries with medium rates of gun ownership don't plot on a straight line if you compare them to the USA, they normally have far lower deaths per gun.
Also, if you go back historically, say to 1905, you will find at a time when London and New York had virtually identical gun laws, NYC had a 5 x higher gun death rate.
The only countries which exceed the USA's murder rates are those with extreme social problems.
The inference for this is that the USA has a high murder rate due to social problems, and the stats on social inequality bear this out. However, when one compares the USA to developed countries with levels of poverty and social inequality as high or close to the US's (like the UK), then again one finds that the USA is far more murderous.
Basically trying to put high levels of gun deaths in the USA to any one cause (availability, soicial inequality, etc.) will fail as it is not as simple as that. It's a combination of factors, one of the strongest of which is the existence of a social underclass that TEND to come (but are not always) from a racial minority, and their disenfranchisement and alienation from mainstream society.
There is a definite link between a high rate of handgun ownership and a high murder rate:
- this is even borne out in the USA. There are some states with a high (even for America) rate of firearm ownership, but these being predominantly rifles and shotguns.The interesting thing about this is these states have a much lower murder rate than other states where the proportion of handgun ownership is much higher.
- I grew up in an environment where everyone owned a .22, a .303 and a shotgun. Ammunition was available without restriction to anyone of any age. The murder rate was very low (still is only a fraction of that of the USA)
- BUT ..... handguns were practically impossible to obtain.
Firearm laws are something else again. These only affect the law adiding citizen i.e. the one who is unlikely to use his weapon to commit a crime.
Where I am working at the moment, Papua New Guinea, there are certainly strict laws about firearm ownership. Legally, it is practically impossible to own one - and even harder to obtain the ammunition if you do own a gun.
However, illegally, it is not too difficult to get hold of anything from a handgun to a hand grenade:
- due to an abysmall lack of security in the police and in the defense force, together with widespread corruption.
