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Comment by asoneth | Hacker News Reader

Agreed, that's why I said that while there is a basis for this concern, the overall gun homicide numbers don't tell the whole story with respect to tourist safety.

I couldn't find any specific numbers with regard to US tourist safety, though Australia's travel advisory does mention the high rates of gun crimes and about a month ago a couple Israeli tourists were shot in Miami Beach.

Again, gun violence would not be my primary concern if I were visiting the US as a tourist, I'm just pointing out that there exists a basis for this concern.

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It's vanishingly rare for tourists to be murdered in the US. Per FBI data 90+% of US murders are committed by an acquaintance of the victim. A large percentage of the remaining 10% is from altercations that escalate to shootings.

The European preoccupation with American gun violence as it relates to tourism is misplaced in my opinion as tourists are almost never involved. Compare that to the frequent truck/car ramming attacks in Germany which seemingly always kill tourists. Should I avoid visiting German Christmas markets?

> Should I avoid visiting German Christmas markets?

Yes. Glühwein can be enjoyed in more comfortable setups anyway. If that's your thing.

Is there anything else to marketing X-mas?

This really misses the point.

Wasn't meant to be. I almost 'commute' between the .us and .de , so I do know parts of both. Maybe I should have it marked as satire, but again, it just confirms what I cited.

What's the reason to drink that stuff there, for usually insane amounts of money, while not much else noteworthy is on offer there, for similar overblown prices, while feeling tense about all the possible shit which could happen, while doing so?

Right I just meant to contrast the relative danger of the benign sounding markets vs say visiting NYC.

> Compare that to the frequent truck/car ramming attacks in Germany which seemingly always kill tourists. Should I avoid visiting German Christmas markets?

Personally I would find such a risk acceptable just as I find the risk of traveling to countries with a high homicide rate acceptable.

But if a friend or family member expressed concern about visiting a German Christmas market due to prior cases of terrorists murdering tourists there I would not dismiss their concerns as irrational or unfounded as there exists a rational basis for this concern.

I meant to contrast those things, you could be run over by a truck at a German Christmas market because it has happened a lot(relative to the size of Germany) of times but almost no tourists to the US are ever shot by strangers. You only hear about one of these things in the context of travel danger.

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