If you look at firearms homicides for countries that report that information (many of the highest murder rate contries DON’T report firearm homicides separately) we’re STILL below the median of the countries reporting, at 27th.
Even among developed countries, we’re only 5th, with Chile being comparable to us, Russia being two and a half times the US rate, Mexico being nearly 5 times the US rate, and Brazil being OVER 5 times the US rate.
I strongly encourage you to read the article at the first link… the amount and scope of lies we allow the press to tell, every day, is mind boggling.
Save this link, download the article and charts (just in case), learn some stats. If we want to protect our rights, we have to bring some truth to what people believe. Challenge those who would manipulate and lie to us and to everyone else who votes.
These stats have been around for a long time. The anti-gunners are aware of them. That’s why they always put in caveats like “among developed countries” or “among high-income countries”. Unfortunately, no one reads past the headline so they never see the full body of data behind the summary.
That’s where we have to take up the work of challenging the narrative. One on one with people around us, and by letters to the editor, letters or conversations with our elected officials or whatever other means is available.
If we know these facts, and have the links or articles handy, were better able to address the overwhelming spin.
I have a liberal friend, who also is learning to shoot. She approa8it with mixed emotions because she believed the propaganda. This sort of infos beginning to shift her attitude and make her rethink what shes believed. Not only that, but shes starting to realize how much shes been lied to and manipulated, and its starting to piss her off. It may derail her “faith” in the liberal media, and then it’s a whole new world for her. She might never register Republican, but I see the possibility that she leaves the democratic fold.
Having stats handy when that teachable moment hits is gold.
It’s very difficult to compare stats across countries. The US is extremely unique in the number of firearms we have and having a long history and culture of firearms.
Other western countries (like England) that are maybe otherwise culturally similar just don’t have guns. So of course, if you compare gun crime rates they will be drastically different. But then, over there they just stab the ---- out of each other instead of shooting each other.
Then you have a country like Japan whose suicide rate crushes ours, but its not committed with guns because they essentially don’t have access to them.
Even among states in the US it’s hard to make an apples to apples comparison. There was a chart floating around the internet that should more gun control = less gun deaths. States like CA, MD, NJ, etc lead the way with less deaths. Traditionally gun friendly states like Wyoming, Alaska, Utah, etc have a higher gun death rate. It’s kinda true… from a certain viewpoint.
But if you dig a little deeper, and break down the deaths into suicides vs murders you see that the heavy gun control states fall way down the chart. Most of the gun control states have higher murder rates. Many of the gun friendly states do have a higher suicide rate, but those are also states with higher rates of veterans… and veterans have a very high suicide rate.
How much the press and politicians lied. Seems to be a common theme. I work with a man who spent his first 26 years in Cuba. He has told me on several occasions how during his first year here he realized how much the government and press did the same thing there. How different the rest of the world was than Castro let them believe.
