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Originally Posted by Galaril
But how is our murder rate compared to other western countries? Low for us is I assume high for most others?
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Oh ya, it's much higher that most western countries. I'm just saying it's a misconception that gun violence, and violence is general, is rising in the U.S. There's studies show a majority of Americans overestimate how much crime and violence there is, and believe falsely that violent crime has increased in the last few decades.
The random mass shootings are a relatively new phenomenon, on this scale at least. And it makes sense that regular Americans would react more to that kind of thing than gang violence or domestic violence.
And that reality probably makes it harder for any kind of compromised gun legislation because there's no justification to do what the Dems agreed to do in the 90s to get the assault weapon ban (hire more police officers, increase penalties for drug offenders, limit federal review of state criminal convictions, etc.) A new "tough on crime" approach makes no sense when crime has fallen. So what chips can be offered?
Edit: It's kind of ironic though, that the assault weapon ban was justified by, and got through because of, the rising crime rates of the 80s and 90s even though those weapons weren't typically used in urban or domestic crimes. NOW we have an newer issue and type of violence that certainly does specifically relate to those types of weapons, but they're not banned.