Aim64C
Anbu Operative 🎭
- Joined
- Dec 18, 2012
- Messages
- 3,681
- Reaction score
- 608
Honestly, I don't know why I bother, anymore.
Depends upon how you classify "victim" (of firearm violence).
Classic anti-2nd amendment lobbies like to quote the firearm related death statistic (about 30,000 annually - slightly lower than the average number of motor-vehicle related deaths) and throw it around as if this is how many people are shooting each other.
The truth is a little less glamorous. For the past four years, the annual firearm -homicide- in the U.S. has been under 10,000 individuals. The other 20,000 are suicides.
Now, that sounds like "a lot" of people - and it is. However, the U.S. also has a population of over 380,000,000. Per capita - our homicides are only marginally larger than those of most European nations. Which means that the relative percentage of people who manage to kill another person is not that much greater here than it is in many other parts of the world.
But there is, however, something of a "secret:"
To quote:
"Dr. Lott: No. Europe has a lot of multiple victim shootings. If you look at a per capita rate, the rate of multiple-victim public shootings in Europe and the United States over the last 10 years have been fairly similar to each other. A couple of years ago you had a couple of big shootings in Finland. About two-and-a-half years ago you had a big shooting in the U.K., 12 people were killed.
You had Norway last year [where 77 died]. Two years ago, you had the shooting in Austria at a Sikh Temple. There have been several multiple-victim public shootings in France over the last couple of years. Over the last decade, you’ve had a couple of big school shootings in Germany. Germany in terms of modern incidents has two of the four worst public-school shootings, and they have very strict gun-control laws. The one common feature of all of those shootings in Europe is that they all take place in gun-free zones, in places where guns are supposed to be banned."
Of course, how are these reported in those nations?
Events like these are not documented the same in Europe as they are in the U.S. These are not "firearm homicides" but "casualties of terrorism."
Which is not an inaccurate term - it's just that they are excluded from the statistics people are most frequently exposed to and concerned about.
Which highlights a cultural difference between the U.S. and many European nations: Politically motivated violence is, ironically enough, far more common in Europe. Europe is the scene of church denominations literally at war with each other (something Americans cannot conceive - our "denominational warfare" is changing our hymnal around to not include any songs the baptists are singing). Individuals committing violent acts often assign them to some political cause or another (and there's no shortage of opinionated groups to affiliate with).
Which is why they get reported as being part of domestic terrorism.
Another example:
This is nothing new in Europe with its much longer and more fragmented history and deeper-running grudges (that make the south vs north rivalries in the U.S. look like a civil discussion).
You know... 33,000 people died this year because you wanted to drive yourself 3 miles to work.
If people would just use public transport and get off this selfish high-horse of "I deserve a motor vehicle to drive" - perhaps we would have fewer deaths.
Or - and here's a fun one...
"(Alcohol Mortality 2009) "In 2009, a total of 24,518 persons died of alcohol-induced causes in the United States (Tables 10, 12, and 13). This category includes deaths from dependent and nondependent use of alcohol, and also includes accidental poisoning by alcohol. It excludes unintentional injuries, homicides, and other causes indirectly related to alcohol use, as well as deaths due to fetal alcohol syndrome (for a list of alcohol-induced causes, see ‘‘Technical Notes’’)."
Alcohol is single-handedly responsible for more deaths (from overdose, alone) than firearm suicide.
And, as the note so kindly states... that doesn't include "induced" deaths (drunk behavior causing people to get killed or FAS).
Which is why I sneer with soul-crushing contempt at the way our society idolizes drinking and alcohol consumption. It's one thing to use it in moderation - but it's obviously not being used in moderation.
And, yet, 'guns are the problem.'
.... I cannot believe creatures supposedly sharing substantial portions of my genetic code worship a substance responsible for killing them by the millions each year.
It is unfortunate that there is not a bath strong enough to purge my blood line of this species' failure.
Depends upon how you classify "victim" (of firearm violence).
Classic anti-2nd amendment lobbies like to quote the firearm related death statistic (about 30,000 annually - slightly lower than the average number of motor-vehicle related deaths) and throw it around as if this is how many people are shooting each other.
The truth is a little less glamorous. For the past four years, the annual firearm -homicide- in the U.S. has been under 10,000 individuals. The other 20,000 are suicides.
Now, that sounds like "a lot" of people - and it is. However, the U.S. also has a population of over 380,000,000. Per capita - our homicides are only marginally larger than those of most European nations. Which means that the relative percentage of people who manage to kill another person is not that much greater here than it is in many other parts of the world.
But there is, however, something of a "secret:"
You must be registered for see links
To quote:
"Dr. Lott: No. Europe has a lot of multiple victim shootings. If you look at a per capita rate, the rate of multiple-victim public shootings in Europe and the United States over the last 10 years have been fairly similar to each other. A couple of years ago you had a couple of big shootings in Finland. About two-and-a-half years ago you had a big shooting in the U.K., 12 people were killed.
You had Norway last year [where 77 died]. Two years ago, you had the shooting in Austria at a Sikh Temple. There have been several multiple-victim public shootings in France over the last couple of years. Over the last decade, you’ve had a couple of big school shootings in Germany. Germany in terms of modern incidents has two of the four worst public-school shootings, and they have very strict gun-control laws. The one common feature of all of those shootings in Europe is that they all take place in gun-free zones, in places where guns are supposed to be banned."
Of course, how are these reported in those nations?
You must be registered for see links
Events like these are not documented the same in Europe as they are in the U.S. These are not "firearm homicides" but "casualties of terrorism."
Which is not an inaccurate term - it's just that they are excluded from the statistics people are most frequently exposed to and concerned about.
Which highlights a cultural difference between the U.S. and many European nations: Politically motivated violence is, ironically enough, far more common in Europe. Europe is the scene of church denominations literally at war with each other (something Americans cannot conceive - our "denominational warfare" is changing our hymnal around to not include any songs the baptists are singing). Individuals committing violent acts often assign them to some political cause or another (and there's no shortage of opinionated groups to affiliate with).
Which is why they get reported as being part of domestic terrorism.
Another example:
You must be registered for see links
This is nothing new in Europe with its much longer and more fragmented history and deeper-running grudges (that make the south vs north rivalries in the U.S. look like a civil discussion).
You know... 33,000 people died this year because you wanted to drive yourself 3 miles to work.
If people would just use public transport and get off this selfish high-horse of "I deserve a motor vehicle to drive" - perhaps we would have fewer deaths.
Or - and here's a fun one...
You must be registered for see links
"(Alcohol Mortality 2009) "In 2009, a total of 24,518 persons died of alcohol-induced causes in the United States (Tables 10, 12, and 13). This category includes deaths from dependent and nondependent use of alcohol, and also includes accidental poisoning by alcohol. It excludes unintentional injuries, homicides, and other causes indirectly related to alcohol use, as well as deaths due to fetal alcohol syndrome (for a list of alcohol-induced causes, see ‘‘Technical Notes’’)."
Alcohol is single-handedly responsible for more deaths (from overdose, alone) than firearm suicide.
And, as the note so kindly states... that doesn't include "induced" deaths (drunk behavior causing people to get killed or FAS).
Which is why I sneer with soul-crushing contempt at the way our society idolizes drinking and alcohol consumption. It's one thing to use it in moderation - but it's obviously not being used in moderation.
And, yet, 'guns are the problem.'
You must be registered for see links
.... I cannot believe creatures supposedly sharing substantial portions of my genetic code worship a substance responsible for killing them by the millions each year.
It is unfortunate that there is not a bath strong enough to purge my blood line of this species' failure.
