OMG - have you seen the news?

People from the US aren't generally violent. They're just young and need to sow their wild oats.

Personally I'm not convinced that being a country with a slightly younger society than most (but not all) other countries from the top 30 HDI list alone explains the highest, several to ten times higher intentional homicide rate when compared to pretty much all of those countries.

Nature balances this with the twisted wildlife and hellish climate.

Need they? With every 8th US citizen being black, they're part of what defines the country and its current society. While you can explain higher crime rates with that link, you can't really rule them out of the equation, saying "It's not the Americans that are violent; it's the non-American black guys who just happen to live here and have our citizenship".

 

Well, you can look at countries with much lower median ages, and notice how the violent crime rate explodes - most crime is committed between the ages of 18-35. There's actually a sharp drop-off after 35 that corresponds with a lower statistic prevalence of violent crime in a population that's got more "old" people in it.

There's a link between age and likelihood of perpetrating a violent act such as murder, as well as crime in general and the relative development of any one area in a country. Low income localities have younger people living in them, and higher rates of crime.

Oddly enough, that's not the direction I was trying to go with that, but I didn't think to delete my post and add in the extra data I had found showing that crime rates between all skin tones are similar to each other regardless of geographic location, so long as they're in developed countries. The reason I tried to demonstrate that is other nations tend to be more homogeneous than the US.


Another thing I saw;

This. Norway's intentional homicide rate is .9. The average of the firearm death suicide to homicide comparison is .88. The US has a homicide rate of 3.7 and a suicide rate of 6.1 for firearms, with an average of 4.9, and that has actually gone down in the past few years, making 4.8 seem like a feasible average for those two numbers.

Since I'm not able to find reliable information regarding other types of murder, I find it odd that the averages I got were so close to the several nations I referenced.

 

I would point out that Oz is definitely not homogeneous. What with all the munchkins and flying monkeys, it's a real melting pot.

Also, as a tourist in the USA, I was struck by how deeply ingrained firearms are in the national identity. In Oz, the argument for gun ownership is usually dingos and snakes whereas in America it is tyrants and criminals. The guns are there for shooting other people.

Finally, Oz depends on a big brother in world politics, first the UK and then the US are our protectors if push ever came to pushing the button. In the US, it is generally beleived that you need to be ready to strike anywhere on the planet (!) at any time, or it will be anarchy. This national identity of the world's texas ranger must trickle down to the individual with his pistol to some degree.

The constitutional right to bear arms to fight tyrants could arguably be extended to the basic right of all nations to bear nuclear weapons so they can fight tyranical nations. It's crazy man.

 

Wow, comparing stuff here makes me really ashamed of my country, in my single city, 2012 had only 600 murders, most performed by people aged 11-25, so i guess crime's not that bad here, anyway i than the US for arming our criminals, or is that US army logo on their guns a mere fashion?
All sarcasm intended.

 

I jsut wanted to share my opiion on the matter.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTV_sAwlFcU[/youtube]

 

Re:

I wish you'd end all of your posts like that.

 

Why are there so many Aussies here? It's crazy, man.

 

I'm pretty sure I want to move now.