FireArm Friday: America Doesn't Have a Gun Problem! - #2A
TWO PERCENT of American Counties Have a Violence Problem...
TWO PERCENT of American Counties Have a Violence Problem...
And guess what Party controls those counties… - DD
(Caleb Voelker) - In the wake of every high-profile shooting, as families grieve and communities mourn, an all too familiar political response unfolds. Politicians sprint to the media, declaring “America is in the midst of a gun violence epidemic,” demanding nationwide restrictions and sweeping policy alterations to curb Second Amendment protections. Media outlets leap at the opportunity to wade into the waters of debate, signaling their moral outrage by proclaiming: “more guns mean more deaths,” while demanding immediate, comprehensive federal action.
But what if the data told a completely different story?
Here’s a statistic that should fundamentally change how we discuss gun violence in America: 54% of U.S. counties had zero murders in 2014. Not even one. Meanwhile, 2% of counties account for 51% of all murders nationwide. More than half of American counties, spanning vast stretches of rural and suburban communities where gun ownership rates are highest, did not experience one single murder. The worst 1% of counties, containing just 19% of the population, account for 37% of all murders.
The only rationally derived conclusion drawn from these data is that there is no national crisis. What we have is a hyper-localized problem concentrated in specific cities, specific neighborhoods, even specific blocks within certain urban areas. The implication of the data here is staggering: politicians are demanding that we restrict Constitutional rights for 98% of the country to address problems that exist in 2% of counties. Applying this logic, it would be reasonable to demand nationwide swimming pool bans because a handful of communities have drowning problems.
Here is where another uncomfortable truth emerges. Let’s examine who is pulling these triggers. They aren’t your neighbors, and they are not law-abiding gun owners who suddenly snap. They’re career criminals cycling through a broken…
Happy we don’t have any counties
Great analysis 🩷👊‼️