Quote:
Originally Posted by DonQuigleone
Guns are not a precise weapon. Let's not forget that trained soldiers have trouble keeping down "collateral damage", and they have years of training and experience. Put a CCW holder in a large crowd with a single gunman, and they might not do better. They might even panic and "spray and pray".
Also, for what it's worth, there is no western industrialized country in the world with a higher homicide rate then the USA.
Having spent substantial amounts of time on both sides of the Atlantic, the only difference I can perceive between the US and Europe (besides the US having nicer restaurant service) is the gun laws. Otherwise, Europe has just as much crazy people, minorities, gangs, drug use, video games, poverty...
I mean people underestimate how similar America and Europe are. I mean many of the sins people put at the feet of America, are similarly bad in Europe. (For instance, Europe has almost as much wealth inequality as the USA, we have just as many mega corporations...)
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DQ, if you want an honest comparison you have to view US as being equal to Europe as a whole, meaing the US is more like the EU because it is a union of 50 states/nations, each with its own government and laws.
So a more realistic comparison is as follows:
If we compare the US murder rate to Europe as a whole, we find something rather interesting (EU crime statistics 2010).
Land Mass:
Europe- 10,180,000 Sq/KM
US- 9,826,675 Sq/KM
Population:
Europe- 836,398,000
US- 309,496,000
Murder Rate:
Europe- 4.83 per 100,000
US- 4.58 per 100,000
Gun Ownership:
Europe- 12,000 per 100,000
US- 90,000 per 100,000
Europe's murder rate of 4.83 per 100,000 is higher than that of the United States' 4.58 per 100,000, but has only 14% the civilian gun ownership of the U.S.
Conversely, the U.S. has 7.33 times the civilian gun ownership of Europe, but a lower murder rate.
That's an accurate comparison, not this UK verses US bullshit.