> There are no comparable states with a comparable history, demography, economy, and culture.
To be fair, Canada and Australia are pretty comparable on all counts. The main thing that distinguishes the US from them is scale, and scale has qualitative consequences, among which are the incidence and effects of criminal activity.
As a poster above said, much of the gun-related violence in the US is connected with criminal gangs, particularly those involved in drugs. And the scale of the drug market in the US, combined with the aggressiveness employed by state and federal governments in fighting the 'drug war', accounts for a substantial portion of the gun violence that occurs here.
It's worth noting that despite stereotypes, Canada does have a high rate of gun ownership - ranked 13 in the world, compared to the US, ranked first [1] - and the level of violence there isn't proportional.
Good points, I agree that the drug war alone is responsible for a large percent of gun violence.
Also our massively larger per capita prison population probably has something to do with it. I doubt people are coming out of prison less violent.
Just a glance at the link you provided, I can't see a link between high gun ownership and murder rate at all.
>Canada and Australia are pretty comparable on all counts.
--comparable history, demography, economy, and culture.
Ignoring the economy, and population size.
Neither one had to deal with slavery on the scale America did.
Neither fought a war for independence or a civil war (the effect of the Civil War and the * massive* death toll can't be discounted. Not to mention the huge increase in gun ownership after the war).
The demographics of both are completely different.
Australians of European descent make up 93% of Australia, according to wikipedia.
As for Canada, they have more asians, who in the US commit less crimes and make more money than average. And they have significantly fewer blacks and hispanics, who in the US commit far more crimes and make less money than average.
To be fair, Canada and Australia are pretty comparable on all counts. The main thing that distinguishes the US from them is scale, and scale has qualitative consequences, among which are the incidence and effects of criminal activity.
As a poster above said, much of the gun-related violence in the US is connected with criminal gangs, particularly those involved in drugs. And the scale of the drug market in the US, combined with the aggressiveness employed by state and federal governments in fighting the 'drug war', accounts for a substantial portion of the gun violence that occurs here.
It's worth noting that despite stereotypes, Canada does have a high rate of gun ownership - ranked 13 in the world, compared to the US, ranked first [1] - and the level of violence there isn't proportional.
[1]: http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/fileadmin/docs/A-Yearbook/200... (PDF link)