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Supporting dragontamer's claim regarding number of firearms: According to a report[1] by Small Arms Survey in 2017, there were an estimated 120 civilian firmar

• freediver 4y ago
  This argument would be obvious if USA had say twice the number of school shootings as the next-closes nation but it has ~36x [1] What gives? https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/school-shootings-by-country https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/school-sh...
  • jka 4y ago
    A theory: the number of firearms (which translates into how accessible they are) isn't a linear scaling factor in the problem. Comparative population could be relevant, although also doesn't explain the statistics you reference. To try to prove/disprove the argument: has the prevalence (or nature) of bullying changed?
  • kelseyfrog 4y ago
    That would be true if we assume the effect is linear, but why should it be? Is there evidence of linearity?
    • chroma 4y ago
      If the relationship were superlinear, then we'd expect to see much higher rates of mass shootings in places like Montana or Wyoming (where >60% of households have guns) and lower rates in California (where ~20% of households have guns). This does not seem to be the case.
      • jka 4y ago
        There is a correlation chart[1] of gun ownership and gun deaths per state for 2013 in this article: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/07/gun-owners-study-one-in-three/ https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/07/gun-owners-stud... (correlation does not explain causation, but it may help to guide analysis) [1] - https://web.archive.org/web/20211204010352/https://www.motherjones.com/wp-content/uploads/gun-ownership-vs-gun-deaths_2.png https://web.archive.org/web/20211204010352/https://www.mothe...
        • chroma 4y ago
          That is gun deaths, not gun homicides or mass shootings. Around 2/3rds of gun deaths are suicides. A suicidal person will choose the most effective and painless method available to them, so if they have a gun around, they'll use it. This is a totally different problem than gun violence, but many activists will conflate the two.
          • dragontamer 4y ago
            Its not "conflation". Its recognition that background-checks, and delays, should reduce gun-violence AND cut back on suicides.
            • Ichthypresbyter 4y ago
              I'm not sure how much of an effect they would have on suicides. This may just be my stereotypical mental image, but I suspect that a lot of gun suicide victims have owned the gun in question for a long time, in which case a waiting period wouldn't help any more than a waiting period to buy a car would stop people driving off bridges. Are there any numbers on how many people commit suicide with guns they bought in the last 6 months of their life?
        • Acrobatic_Road 4y ago
          Because they are sneaking suicides into the numbers. If you split the data up between suicides and homicides, the correlation disappears.
    • kelseyfrog 4y ago
      On second thought it's kinda of a dumb comment. I'd retract it if I could.