America is the greatest country in the world

[TheMan]

I always laugh at those murder rate charts when they compare the United States to other countries. And they're always the same countries. Who picks these snowflake places??

A fair comparison to the United States would be Brazil. What's the murder rate in Brazil? Let's see that on the charts. Or how about in Africa?


Also, considering how vastly populated the US is in comparison to these other nations, then it's common sense why these numbers are higher.

[kennethgriffen]

the only things the united states is #1 in is

- military
- entertainment
- sports


for quality of life theres a ton of other countries way ahead

[HeatFanSince88]

Now compare America to countries with similar demographic percentages of blacks and see where it measures up.

[Long Duck Dong]

[Patrick Chewing]

What are you guys not getting about my comparison?

[Andrei89]

What's the difference? If you had a country the size of the United States in terms of population and had the same gun laws, the numbers would be the same.

But to compare the United States to France and Germany? Countries with strict gun laws and vastly lower populations than the United States is misleading and disingenuous.

Per 100.000 means that if the Netherlands had the population of the US theh would still have 4 times less murders.

[Andrei89]

What are you guys not getting about my comparison?

Are you serious dude?

You keep talking about how

[Patrick Chewing]

Per 100.000 means that if the Netherlands had the population of the US theh would still have 4 times less murders.

And again I reiterate, these countries have different gun laws than here in the United States. You are not allowed to carry a weapon in the Netherlands. Only the police can carry a weapon.

So they can have two or three times the population of the United States, it still would probably have less murders.

The correct comparison is to a country that has the exact same population with the exact or at least very similar interpretation of gun laws.

The Netherlands?? What a joke!

[fiddy]

And again I reiterate, these countries have different gun laws than here in the United States. You are not allowed to carry a weapon in the Netherlands. Only the police can carry a weapon.

So they can have two or three times the population of the United States, it still would probably have less murders.

The correct comparison is to a country that has the exact same population with the exact or at least very similar interpretation of gun laws.

The Netherlands?? What a joke!

Oh, the irony.
PS: I hope you're trolling.

[rufuspaul]

[QUOTE=Akrazotile]Yep. And another point worth mentioning is that it wasnt even specified

[Akrazotile]

Are you serious dude?

You keep talking about how “most vastly populated US is” and still don’t realize that has nothing to do with it.

It’s not a big deal.

People frequently cite stats on “gunshot deaths” in the US to push an agenda about violence, without pointing out most of those are suicides. There are tons of disingenuous arguments around these debates, when you look at the chart in the OP real quick you might not see the small “per 100,000 people” qualifier and could easily assume the chart is showing gross total. Since that’s often the kind of convolution people are used to seeing with these things.

In any case, it’s still quite fair to point out that our population size - AND our geographic size - in comparison to the countries listed invalidates the idea of calling them our “peers.” It’s much easier to keep legal and illegal weapons accounted for when your entire national border is the size of south dakota. Think about how much surface area on land and sea we have to account for. Think about how many people come and go on a daily basis.

These considerations make law enforcement a much greater challenge, and that definitely is a factor in a country’s safety statistics. Not saying it’s the predominant factor, but that, among other factors, makes our situation different. Pointing to Switzerland and saying “the US should operate just like they do!!! “

It’s embarrassing. It’s freshman-at-community-college type try harding.

[TheMan]

Not to mention that the quality of life enjoyed by Western Europe is due in large part to the military protection provided by the good ole US of A.

How so?

The US military keeping hordes of Mongols at bay or what

[rufuspaul]

How so?

The US military keeping hordes of Mongols at bay or what

Historically, defeating the Nazis, keeping the Russians at bay, etc.

[Akrazotile]

How so?

The US military keeping hordes of Mongols at bay or what

Keeps them from fighting each other. Having a top dog keeps everyone else in line. Hobbes theory of Leviathan.

We keep the peace. And we can continue to do so while eliminating waste and corruption in our military processes..

It

[Akrazotile]

Historically, defeating the Nazis, keeping the Russians at bay, etc.

Exactly. The US had to squash the beef twice, culminating in a nuclear bomb and Hiroshimo and Nagasaki.

Nobody in the developed world has tried to get cute since.