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Think about this event for 1 minute: He drove for -9- hours. NINE HOURS. Do you think it would take less than 9 hours to pour some diesel fuel on fertilizer an

Think about this event for 1 minute: He drove for -9- hours. NINE HOURS. Do you think it would take less than 9 hours to pour some diesel fuel on fertilizer and flatten the entire WalMart? People will just move on to other weapons: knives, bombs, etc. Norway has very restrictive gun laws. Breivik managed to get enough fertilizer to make a bomb that was mostly a distraction, but still sent 8 people to grave and injured hundreds. UK is having a knife problem: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-42749089 https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-42749089 https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-48186035 https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-48186035 You are at 10x higher chance of death by vehicle. The -only- reason it is seen as a tragedy because people feel those deaths were somehow avoidable.

millstone 7y ago
What's your prescription for reducing US homicide death to European levels?
- ebg13 7y ago
  Lithium in the water supply.
- internet_user 7y ago
  This wasn't run of the mill homicide.
- homonculus1 7y ago
  Legalize drugs and redirect the money spent on the police state and mass incarceration into social programs for the urban poor.
siidooloo 7y ago
Other countries with stricter gun laws have lower murder rates. So it doesn’t follow that people will necessarily just move on to other weapons. Also, knife crime in the UK is not higher than the US. Yes the deaths were avoidable. We know they were because every other first world country doesn’t have this problem in anywhere the same degree.
- internet_user 7y ago
  Are you going to cite anything about knife crime not being a problem in the UK? How do you explain much lower homicide rates in different US states, many on par or better than "every other first wolrd country? If you drill down deeper, by county level, or even more granular - the picture becomes much clearer still. You should research it, see what variables drive it, instead of arriving at conclusions without any data. Why do such discrepancies exist, sometimes literally across the street? The problem is much more complicated than "guns bad".
  - rsynnott 7y ago
    Which states and developed countries are you talking about? The EU28 homicide rate is ~1 per 100,000. NH sometimes hits that; no other US state does. There are about 6 US states <= to 2. The only EU states over 2 are Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Japan and South Korea are both under 1.
rsynnott 7y ago
The UK ‘knife crime’ thing is severely overhyped (in particular, most of the figures you’ll see include mere possession of a knife under certain circumstances). The UK’s intentional homicide rate is middling for Europe and about a fourth that of the US. Homicide rate has risen a little bit over the last few years.

millstone 7y ago

What's your prescription for reducing US homicide death to European levels?

ebg13 7y ago
Lithium in the water supply.
internet_user 7y ago
This wasn't run of the mill homicide.
homonculus1 7y ago
Legalize drugs and redirect the money spent on the police state and mass incarceration into social programs for the urban poor.

siidooloo 7y ago

Other countries with stricter gun laws have lower murder rates. So it doesn’t follow that people will necessarily just move on to other weapons. Also, knife crime in the UK is not higher than the US. Yes the deaths were avoidable. We know they were because every other first world country doesn’t have this problem in anywhere the same degree.

internet_user 7y ago
Are you going to cite anything about knife crime not being a problem in the UK? How do you explain much lower homicide rates in different US states, many on par or better than "every other first wolrd country? If you drill down deeper, by county level, or even more granular - the picture becomes much clearer still. You should research it, see what variables drive it, instead of arriving at conclusions without any data. Why do such discrepancies exist, sometimes literally across the street? The problem is much more complicated than "guns bad".
- rsynnott 7y ago
  Which states and developed countries are you talking about? The EU28 homicide rate is ~1 per 100,000. NH sometimes hits that; no other US state does. There are about 6 US states <= to 2. The only EU states over 2 are Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Japan and South Korea are both under 1.

rsynnott 7y ago

The UK ‘knife crime’ thing is severely overhyped (in particular, most of the figures you’ll see include mere possession of a knife under certain circumstances). The UK’s intentional homicide rate is middling for Europe and about a fourth that of the US. Homicide rate has risen a little bit over the last few years.