After the Orlando shooting, you'd be forgiven for thinking that America is murderously out of control, but that's not true. According to FBI data, there are less homicides now than at any time since 1963, when there were 4.6 slayings per 100,000 people. As of 2014 there were 4.5.
The 1970s, '80s and '90s were far more deadly, as the above kill chart shows. So what's changed? At least two things; gun ownership and prison. As the US murder rate fell by 49% over the last 20 years, there was a 141% increase in the number of guns available to the public. By the anti-gun lobby's reckoning, America should be more violent now than ever, but no.
Prison is also a factor, with the last 30 years seeing a remarkable 790% increase in the federal prison population, from 25,000 to 219,000 inmates. It's presumably harder for violent people to go out and shoot someone when they're behind bars.
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| How Did You Get Here? |
That aside, something's changed, something which makes people feel less safe and more likely to get shot at work in San Bernardino or a nightclub in Orlando, or a concert in Paris, or an office building in New York, or... the list goes on.
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| Oh Look, Islam |
What's new here? Not more guns, statistics show that more of them don't add up to more shootings. Not jail time either, after all, you can't shoot up a club from the confines of your cell. So what's changed?
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| Like Buddhism, But Way More peaceful |
Surely it wouldn't have anything to do with Islam.
Kizmet,
LSP
