> Nonetheless, Atlanta has a homicide rate 5-10 times higher than Delhi ....
Estimated number of civilian firearms per 100 people:
- U.S.: 120.5
- India: 5.3
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estimated_number_of_civilian_g...
Estimated number of civilian firearms per 100 people:
- U.S.: 120.5
- India: 5.3
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estimated_number_of_civilian_g...
Despite having more guns, Idaho has a homicide rate of 2.2 per 100,000, which is only a little higher than Belgium, and about the same as Canada, and a little lower than India.
By contrast, Puerto Rico had fewer guns than India, but a homicide rate of 19 per 100,000, more than six times higher than India. Disarmed Puerto Rico has a homicide rate eight times higher than heavily armed Idaho.
Clinging to the belief that it’s guns rather than social factors is just willful denial.
That's a false dichotomy — sure, social factors play an important role, but it's a multi-variate phenomenon, and you seem to want to deny that gun-ownership rates have anything to do with it.
- Idaho: 22.3 (44th out of 50 states) [0]
- Puerto Rico: 952 [1]
- India: 1,244 [2]
[0] https://www.gethealthy.dhw.idaho.gov/overview-of-idaho
[1] https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/puerto-rico-p...
[2] https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/india-populat...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_firearm-r...
Estimated number of civilian firearms per 100 people and gun deaths per 100000:
- El Salvador: 5.8, 78.52
- Brazil: 8.6, 23.93
- Colombia: 10.10, 20.38
- U.S.: 120.5, 12.21
- Mexico: 15, 11.55
If anything it seems like proximity to cartels is the most likely predictor of gun homicide rates
Meanwhile Switzerland has 27.6 guns per 100 civilians and 2.64 gun homicides per 100,000. So not sure what to conclude about gun ownership and homicides. Note that gun deaths not equal to gun homicides since deaths includes suicide and the CDC reports these items combined. If you wanted to discuss gun suicides that's fine but note this was about homicide.
Another data point: Switzerland has strict gun laws that mostly ban the kind of military-grade firearms we see used in mass murders in the U.S. (and yes, some Latin American countries), and smaller guns require permits. [0]
More: "Switzerland has a stunningly high rate of gun ownership — here's why it doesn't have mass shootings ... Unlike the US, Switzerland has mandatory military service for men. The government gives all men between the ages of 18 and 34 deemed 'fit for service' a pistol or a rifle and training on how to use them. After they've finished their service, the men can typically buy and keep their service weapons, but they have to get a permit for them." [1]
[0] https://www.ch.ch/en/safety-and-justice/owning-a-weapon-in-s... (scan down for a useful chart)
[1] https://www.businessinsider.com/switzerland-gun-laws-rates-o...
This is completely, verifiably false. It even contradicts the rest of your comment, where you quote:
> After they've finished their service, the men can typically buy and keep their service weapons
The “service weapon” here means literally the one that they used in military, which, as I presume, is “military grade”.
The first link in my post is to an official Swiss government site. If you want to quibble about what constitutes a "military-grade" firearm, that's certainly your privilege.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Paddock#Las_Vegas_shoo...
BTW, did you also overlook the part about Switzerland requiring military training and service for (essentially) all able-bodied men in a certain age range? Whereas in the U.S., pretty much any untrained bozo who never served can buy high-powered weaponry and strut around cosplaying in camo and body armor, ostentatiously toting the weaponry and shouting belligerent slogans. (It's been my untutored conjecture that most such folks are trying to compensate for deep-seated fears that they don't really measure up in the masculinity department, although there also seems to be a certain percentage of sociopaths in the mix as well.)
> Switzerland has strict gun laws that mostly ban the kind of military-grade firearms we see used in mass murders in the U.S.
And this is clearly false: you have not shown a single “military grade firearm” that we see used in mass murders in the US, but which is banned in Switzerland. All mass murders in US that I know of have used normal capacity magazines, and these are not banned in Switzerland. Your best argument here is that there might have been some mass murder in the US that used some weapon banned in Switzerland, but this is very far cry from your original goalpost, which is that Switzerland mostly bans guns used in mass murders in US: it overwhelmingly does not.
> BTW, did you also overlook the part about Switzerland requiring military training and service for (essentially) all able-bodied men in a certain age range?
Not sure what it has to do with the discussion, which was about clearly and explicitly false claim you made and apparently continue to hold on to, despite utter lack of evidence. Military service is not a prerequisite for gun ownership in Switzerland in general (it is for some guns, though).
> although there also seems to be a certain percentage of sociopaths in the mix as well
If we are playing armchair psychologist here, well, I could say something here about social orientation of people knowingly spreading verifiable falsehoods on the internet to further their ideology and agenda.
"Utter lack of evidence"? As the hoary old chestnut goes: Denial is more than just a river in Egypt.
I'm done trying to argue with you — you clearly see only what you want to see.
And nice try with the "some unrelated contemporary political drama" — it's all of a piece, with far-right Republicans trying to do a Cardassian "there are five lights" routine (from ST:TNG).