(January 6, 2013 at 3:42 pm)Rhythm Wrote: The US and the UK have fairly comparable definitions for assault, so that won't get you very far. You think your murder per capita rate is going to save the day on this one maybe, whats that number again? Well lets see, we have about 3.3 murders per 1ook, you have about 1.4 - so that's pretty nice. Less likely to be murdered by half, twice as likely to be assualted. "Safer" isn't exactly the word I'd use.
@Brake the statistics of oeverall gun owenership in the US are heavily skewed by subsets of the population just as heavily as murder rates by firearms are skewed. A useful observation.
Just to add, a lot of the assault statistics are skewed by violence on a night out on Fridays and Saturdays (I found figures a while back based on police areas in various English and welsh counties that saw 'violent crime' escalate massively on Fridays and Saturdays).
That is an issue that revolves around issues with the so-called 'drink culture' that exists in some areas around the country (I dispute this idea to a degree but it certainly is a problem in some areas)
Also, the figures (If I can find them, which I will attempt to do) would show violent crimes heavily centralised in some of the poorer inner city areas and in popular 'drinking' areas throughout various cities.
I think you'll agree, the last thing you want to do is add a gun to a scenario like that.
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