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this post was submitted on 05 Aug 2024
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collapse of the old society
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"universal guns for all
Government sponsored.....big titty goth girls
So vote for me!
Or else."
This is an easy question to answer, just visit any rural area of the USA. Everyone already has a gun in rural USA, and it's fine. Gun violence is rare and not normally anything to worry about. We are all in far more danger from car accidents, bathtub accidents, other similar accidents, and unhealthy diet-related illnesses like heart disease and cancer. Deaths by homicide using a firearm are not even in the to 10 causes of death in the USA.
Everyone already has a gun in rural USA, and it's fine.
It is not fine.
In the 2000s, I used to be able to visit my grandparents. Neighbors were friendly. There was racism, like "Oh who is that colored person", but it could go either way.
Today, those same neighbors default to shooting on sight. Every non-local to that small town is a threat. Fox News brain has created a atmosphere that everyone is out to get each other.
My family drove with out of state plates to visit grandparents and a sheriff pulled us over, gave us a lecture about how if we're looking to cause any problems, he'll be the last person we want to mess with. I had my kids in the car. Wtf.
So no, rural America is not fine. Especially if you're a person of color.
Accounting for suicides however paints a bleaker picture
Not that there wouldn't be higher rates in rural areas which are generally worse off economically regardless but the ease of access to a weapon also plays a role
The rate of suicide by any method among male handgun owners was three times as high as that among male nonowners (hazard ratio, 3.34; 95% confidence interval [CI], 3.13 to 3.56), and the corresponding rate among female handgun owners was seven times as high as that among female nonowners
The British Coal Gas Study ( https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC478945/ ) showed that removing a common means of suicide lowered the total suicide rate. This is consistent with subjective reports from survivors of suicide attempts who report that the urge to act was momentary.
The way that Americans act like life is cheap and there's an acceptable amount of death is weird to me. Here's some data to counter your point.
The United States has a significantly higher rate of gun-related deaths compared to the UK and Australia. Here's a breakdown:
- USA: Approximately 40,000 gun deaths annually (all causes)
- UK: Approximately 50 gun deaths annually (all causes)
- Australia: Approximately 250 gun deaths annually (all causes) Important Notes:
- These numbers represent deaths from all causes related to guns, including homicides, suicides, and accidents.
- The US has a population roughly five times that of the UK, and nearly fourteen times that of Australia.
- Australia enacted stricter gun control laws in 1996 following a mass shooting, which is believed to have contributed to a significant decrease in gun deaths.
Here's the table showing gun related deaths per capita (rate per 100,000 people) in the US, UK and Australia
Country Gun deaths per capita (per 100,000 people) USA 11.94% UK 0.07% Australia 0.95% United States has a significantly higher rate of gun-related deaths compared to the UK and Australia. As you can see, the US has a gun death rate of 11.94 per 100,000 people, whereas the UK and Australia have much lower rates of 0.07% and 0.95% per 100,000 people, respectively.
Ya, those are crisis actors. They died to create a false statistics. The only thing I care about and matters is me. I'm safe, so fuck em'.
I am a responsible gun owner… till I ain't. But then the responsible gun owners are going to dig deep into my history to cherry pick how it was obvious 10 years ago so they can keep flaunting their guns without a care in the sun. Rinse and repeat.
/yeehaw
None of what you said is related to what I said. I never acted like life is cheap or that there is an acceptable amount of deaths. I simply produced some facts for perspective.
The fact is that life is very safe in the USA, regardless of what you or anyone thinks about it, and gun violence is very rare overall. 99.99999% of Americans are never affected by gun violence, so you'll have to excuse me for not being worried about it.
Declining average life expectancy and gun deaths becoming the leading cause of death for teens and children suggest that your statement about life being safe is very inaccurate. Let’s not even get into the rates of death due to cars, another part of daily American life that is intrinsically unsafe.
OK then you can keep worrying about it but I will not. Have fun with that.
I simply produced some facts for perspective.
No, you threw some misinformation to justify the point you do not have
99.99999% of Americans are never affected by gun violence
Literally the #1 cause of death for youth in Murica, but sure NoBOdy iS affEctEd
I never acted like life is cheap or that there is an acceptable amount of deaths.
99.99999% of Americans are never affected by gun violence, so you'll have to excuse me for not being worried about it.
Yeah, what about it? Those are perfectly cromulent things that I said. Both are independently true and compatible with each other.
99.99999% of Americans are never affected by gun violence
34 Americans are affected by gun violence?
Dude, you blow through that budget with one particularly quiet afternoon in Detroit.
If things are stable at the current rate, 2.4% of Americans get killed or hospitalized by gunshots in their lifetime. Those affected includes everyone related to those people as well as everyone who is injured but not hospitalized and everyone who is merely physically coerced or intimidated by guns. And honestly it should even include those who are treated roughly by cops because those cops have to be emotionally and functionally ready to handle gun violence at all times, those who must severely change their lives to avoid the risk of gun violence, and those who live in justified fear without being directly personally affected.
A more realistic estimate would be that 75% of Americans are not deeply traumatized by gun violence, 30% of Americans don't suffer actively because of gun violence, and 1% of Americans don't spend their lives afraid of gun violence (including the toxic conservative bravado as pretty transparent "making yourself look intimidating to scare off the threat" behavior).