Firearm and crime stats from the FBI.

**Scrapper** · Posted On: 12/10/2012 2:20pm

Going over the data, the general trend is:

"If you have low poverty AND low urbanization, you are likely to have low murder rates."

individually, low poverty or low urbanization are not that strongly correlated, but when both are present, it almost always means low murder rate.

That seems to be a big part of it, anyway.

**TEA** · Posted On: 12/13/2012 4:01pm

Thanks for posting this. I haven't had time to crunch the numbers, but doesn't it look as if the US has more murders just from people killing each other with their bare hands than many other countries in our peer group's overall murder rate?

**DCS** · Posted On: 12/14/2012 1:44pm

Sad news:

Multiple Fatalities Reported in Shooting at Connecticut Elementary School

Poor people.

**Scrapper** · Posted On: 12/14/2012 3:26pm

Yup. Was one if the teacher's son. This story is going to be bad.

**danno** · Posted On: 12/15/2012 10:09am

I think It's a good idea to make guns harder to get. If you make people jump through hoops and wait a month or two for their license, it tends to reduce the number of people who commit suicide - the one statistic in Australia that actually changed significantly after the new laws came into effect in the mid-90s. No other crime statistics changed as far as I know. We haven't had any mass shootings since then either, but it's hard to draw a strong correlation with something that happens so rarely. It is extremely difficult to get something like an assault rifle here.

I think it would be a good idea for you to get stats from other western developed nations for comparison. If you're correct, shouldn't you be able to show a trend that strict gun control doesn't necessarily affect the overall homicide rate? I'd be interested to know.

Now, I have a question - if terrorism kills very few people in the USA every year, does that mean you shouldn't do anything about it? It'd save a lot of money.

**Scrapper** · Posted On: 12/15/2012 10:29am

The problem with comparing to other countries is isolating the variables. America is 85 in murders, globally, but that had nothing to do with firearms when compared to a central African republic or a south american drug hub.

Britain's has far fewer murders, but 4 times the violent crime rate of the US. It would take a university staff to slog through it all. It might be a worthwhile project for bullshido though.

**danno** · Posted On: 12/15/2012 10:40am

Well, with all the time people spend debating this, it's crazy that someone hasn't tried to do it already. I think the history of a country and how it evolved culturally is probably very important too.

We also have a lower homicide rate than the US I think, but higher violent crime from what I recall. More fights, assaults and so on. Would look it up, but couldn't be bothered right now.

**Joz** · Posted On: 12/18/2012 8:56am

Originally Posted by Swollen Elf Goon

Poverty rates, by state in 2010...

Rank State Poverty Rate People in Poverty
(by Household Income) by Household Income
(in thousands)
- United States 12.60% 45,950
1 New Hampshire 5.60% 73
2 New Jersey 6.80% 592
3 Vermont 7.60% 47
4 Minnesota 8.10% 412
5....

Do these figures in anyway take into account local cost of living or are they just pure income? Northern states residents have far higher heating expenses through the winter and while Vermonts property taxes are very high New Hampshires are supposedly astronomical as there is no state income tax...

**Scrapper** · Posted On: 12/18/2012 8:32pm

Stars are for people living below federal poverty line. So no.

I believe its 18500 per household annually, so I still consider that pretty poor in any state.