Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/01/26/american-cops-kill-more-americ.html
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Isn’t it sad that nothing can be done? Just keep those thoughts and prayers coming!
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o_0 that 2nd statistic is just a really odd one. Why not have percentage of population who are gun owners vs number of guns? It seems the number owners who own a tool is more important statistics than the number of tool out there.
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It conveys availability instead of ownership.
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Why not both?
I agree that the percentage of the population that own guns is relevant.
But it’s also relevant to know how many guns they own.
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I think the point it is making is that there are a lot of people with a lot of guns in the US.
I can’t find the 2007 survey they refer to but the 2002 survey is here:
That seems to be focussed on small arms numbers (and prices, well supply generally) because that is what governments were worrying about.
They make some statements about for example being able to gauge the volatility of the political situation or the desire for insurgency, etc. by the price of fire-arms in a region. If Columbian rebels are paying a fortune for AK-47s, they evidently want them quite badly. If they could buy more, for less - presumably they would use them more, etc. Arms prices in Afghanistan tell you how likely an upsurge in violence is and so on.
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Shoot first, ask questions later. Ok, got it…
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According to Killed by Police, 1220 people died because of US police in 2015. The deaths cataloged by Killed by Police are tallied using media reports of the deaths. In any given year, there are likely more killed that don’t make it into media reports due to the victim’s status in our society.
So far, US police are documented as having killed 91 people in 2018. The month’s not over, but at the current rate, police will kill approximately 1,277 people in the US this year.
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“America first”
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Well, since we’re dropped down to #8 in the list of great countries these days, we might as well be #1 in something.
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For some demographics (i.e. black men) in some areas, police are the number one cause of homicides. So we can’t even pretend it’s some sort of scaling problem (i.e. that there’s just more violence in the US, thus the cops are more violent).
I’m sure we can expect banner years under the Trump admin. He’s set the tone and made it clear the Justice Department won’t be holding anyone accountable, certainly.
That’s certainly a big part of it, and always has been…
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Is this the “American Carnage” Trump promised to end?
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I read that 20% of police are truly outstanding people who are truly devoted to making their communities safe and improving the lives of the residents. Another 60% are OK, but they just go along with the culture of the force where they serve. Finally, there are another 20% who are just horrible people.
But not really. Which is more “dangerous” 1 guy with 100 guns, or 10 guys with 1 gun?
Eh, it may be an interesting estimation, but not really sure if it is relevant. My dad owns over 2 dozen guns from over his 70+ years on earth. But due the types and capabilities, is that any more relevant than if he had only 2 or 3? One can’t really use more than one gun at a time.
Right, but I still think it is less relevant than number of owners. Like if you look at total GNP of the US one would think we are all doing well, when it the upper class are throwing number off.
But anyway…
If we are comparing to Japan, it’s important to account for the way in which the murder rate is kept so low.
This article offers one perspective:
“You can commit a perfect murder in Japan because the body is not likely to be examined,” says Hiromasa Saikawa, a former member of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police security and intelligence division.
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As long as the other 80% cover up and excuse that 20% then it is 100% are horrible people.
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We’re still #1 is incarceration. It doesn’t even matter if you’re talking about the % of people in prison, or the absolute number of people incarcerated. We win either way.
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Relevant:
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Perhaps it’s because the ownership of multiple guns indicates a degree of fetishisation, and so they’re citing the number owned as a psychological indicator?
(I am doubtful that’s why they presented the figures like that, but I do think it’s a relevant take-away)
That might be what some people want the take away to be, but I don’t know if there is any actual evidence of this. (Nor do I really think that was the intent of the info graphic either.) That would be like saying golfers who have more than one club do so because of “fetishsation”.
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