Actually, you are exactly right to be worried. I know because I spent 4 months researching small arms violence (for the Boulder future salon). The Small Arms Su

Actually, you are exactly right to be worried. I know because I spent 4 months researching small arms violence (for the Boulder future salon). The Small Arms Survey is an extensive series of research publications from a UN-funded research group in Geneva. And according to them, the single strongest predictor of small arms violence is wealth inequality. The #2 factor is poverty, in absolute terms. My take on this is that inequality creates resentment, and poverty in absolute terms (going hungry) creates desperation. Desperation+resentment is a deadly combination. After that, social attitudes about violence play a big role (For example, Japan since WWII has developed cultural attitudes that inhibit violence, but Latin America hasn't.) Another predictive factor is males ages 15 to 30 who are "unemployed and not in school." Drug trafficking is also a strong correlate with small arms violence. In some parts of Mexico today (cities like Juárez that directly border the US) you can see all these factors at work: higher inequality than the US, higher poverty in absolute terms, weaker cultural attitudes inhibiting violence, and serious drug trafficking, with young unemployed male sicarios.