Another school shooting

What are we coming to that we are killing helpless children? Sometimes I grow so weary of this world. The guy picked the people least able to defend themselves, too. The Amish don't beleive in guns. As someone else pointed out, since his victims were tied up anyway, he could have used a knife or strangled them with his bear hands. He could have thrown a homemade bomb into the classroom.

The problem is not gun ownership. In Finland, 50% of all households own at least one gun, and their gun related homicide rate is only .87%. By contrast, the US with a mere 42% of all households owning guns has a gun related homicide rate of something like 6.7%.

Finland has a free press, too; so its not Maggie's liberal media which is responsible for this disparity. US society has some deep problems, in case no one has noticed.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by marichiko

The Amish don't beleive in guns.

I don't believe that to be true for the Lancaster, County, PA Amish. It's my understanding that they hunt.

[wolf]

Originally Posted by marichiko

The problem is not gun ownership. In Finland, 50% of all households own at least one gun, and their gun related homicide rate is only .87%. By contrast, the US with a mere 42% of all households owning guns has a gun related homicide rate of something like 6.7%.

Finland has a free press, too; so its not Maggie's liberal media which is responsible for this disparity. US society has some deep problems, in case no one has noticed.

The United States problems include the drug trade, lack of family structure, and unlike Finland, we do not have a homogenous population.

I do wonder what the homicide statistics would look like if you removed all drug-related shootings ... probably a lot closer to Finland's number.

[WabUfvot5]

Originally Posted by wolf

The United States problems include the drug trade, lack of family structure, and unlike Finland, we do not have a homogenous population.

I do wonder what the homicide statistics would look like if you removed all drug-related shootings ... probably a lot closer to Finland's number.

There are some interesting stats gleaned from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime:

Drug offences:
Norway = 987.1 per 100,000 people
United States = 560.1 per 100,000 people
Finland = 259.7 per 100,000 people
United Kingdom = 214.3 per 100,000 people

I can't imagine Norway or Finland more adept and providing their own drugs than the USA. So the drugs have to be getting there somehow.

Now look at murders with firearms per capita:

Colombia = 0.509801 per 1,000 people (it's safe to say that's largely drug related)
United States = 0.0279271 per 1,000 people
Canada = 0.00502972 per 1,000 people

Finland does not even make the list. Either it's statistically insignificant or they don't differentiate by murder tool. They do however have 0.0283362 murders per 1,000 people. Yes, their total murders per capita is only slightly higher than the firearm murders per capita of the USA. Total murders per capita in USA is 0.042802 per 1,000 people. Norway 0.0106684 per 1,000 people. Drugs trade looks a very unspecioius claim in light of those facts.

Canada certainly isn't more homogenous. From the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development we learn that in the year 2000 the USA ranks #6 in immigration with 10.4% its populations immigrants. Canada has 17.4%.

[Hippikos]

Drug offences:
Norway = 987.1 per 100,000 people
United States = 560.1 per 100,000 people
Finland = 259.7 per 100,000 people
United Kingdom = 214.3 per 100,000 people

Interesting stats indeed. Never realised that Norway was on top of the list.

Interesting also to see that our little "drug liberal" country (or narcotic state as Mr.Chirac once claimed) is #20 on the list with 47 per 100,000 people. Less than a 10th of the US, which is always lecturing us how to deal with drugs...

PS and what about Switzerland!!

[WabUfvot5]

Originally Posted by marichiko

US society has some deep problems, in case no one has noticed.

Michael Moore did but people would rather focus on his weight or liberal bias