Originally Posted by anticipation (Post 1211195)

Yeah but you have to look at this in context. All of these states have relatively small populations that artificially inflate their murder rate, with the exception of Georgia, that most big cities in the U.S. surpass in terms of people murdered or injured by gun violence. In this country, places like Chicago, Baltimore, and D.C. have more people killed due to gun violence than most of those states will in total. So far, the city of Chicago has had over twice as many people killed (228) this year alone than the entire state of Alaska had in 2011, yet the murder rate in the latter is nearly 3 times higher. Chicago has some of the strictest gun laws in the country, with handgun bans and automatic/semi-automatic bans in place for the better part of the last decade. So then why do we consistently rank among the most violent cities in the country? People will kill each other regardless of whether the laws are strict or lax. There already is a huge illegal gun market, and further restricting the supply only serves to fuel that market. It's kind of like you're damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Originally Posted by Janszoon (Post 1211158)

I think that probably depends on how you frame the statistics I guess, because the state with the highest murder rate in the US is Louisiana, which also happens to be a conservative state with loose law guns. In fact if you look at the top ten with the highest murder rates...

1. Louisiana
2. Maryland
3. Missouri
4. Mississippi
5. New Mexico
6. Arizona
7. South Carolina
8. Nevada
9. Georgia
10. Alabama

Originally Posted by Unknown Soldier (Post 1211221)

I've noticed that 50% of those states mentioned are southern states, so the socio-economic situation in those states could be the main reason for gun crime, regardless of whether they are conservative or liberal controlled states.

Originally Posted by Janszoon (Post 1211224)

Yeah, it's hard to say really. There are obviously a lot of factors at work. For me that list doesn't so much confirm a correlation between crime and conservatism as it does refute the notion that liberalism or stricter gun laws somehow lead to more crime. If you look back, I was posting the list in response to someone claiming that conservative states had lower crime rates.

Originally Posted by Unknown Soldier (Post 1211227)

Also some of the other states on that list are what I think of as either frontier type states or back waters. The only state that stands out on the list is Maryland (its the odd man out)

Originally Posted by Unknown Soldier (Post 1211227)

Now what are the safest states to live in?

Originally Posted by Janszoon (Post 1211239)

In what sense does Maryland stand out to you? Level of income?


According to the source I used for the other list, the states with the lowest murder rates are:

1. New Hampshire
2. Vermont
3. Iowa
4. Idaho
5. Wyoming
6. North Dakota
7. Minnesota
8. Hawaii
9. Maine
10. Utah

Kind of a mixed bag. The safest state is a true swing state, New Hampshire, neither liberal nor conservative. Vermont, Iowa, Minnesota and Hawaii are all pretty liberal. Idaho, Wyoming, North Dakota and Utah are all fairly conservative. Maine is a bit like New Hampshire, though it tends to lean liberal.

Another interesting thing is that, while the states with the highest murder rates tended to be some of the poorest states in the union, the states with the lowest murder rates aren't the necessarily the richest.

Originally Posted by duga (Post 1211240)

Singapore (VERY strict gun laws)... Deaths per 100,000 due to gun violence... 0.17.

Chicago (the US city with the closest population and population density)... Deaths per 100,000 due to gun violence... 15.6.

Courtesy US crime statistics (just search for the website... It's easy to find).

I'll let those numbers speak for themselves.

Originally Posted by Janszoon (Post 1211239)

Originally Posted by Unknown Soldier (Post 1211253)

Maryland because its not a southern state or a frontier type state. That's why I think it stands out.

Originally Posted by Unknown Soldier (Post 1211253)

The two states at the top of your list are New England states, all I'm trying to do is find some kind of pattern. Its not obvious but I'm sure there is a pattern in all this somewhere.

Originally Posted by Janszoon (Post 1211257)

Maryland actually is a southern state, technically, because it was south of the Mason-Dixon line. But Michigan, which is also on the list, is neither a southern nor "frontier-type" state.


Two New England states at the top and another, Maine, a little further down. Beyond that and the fact that there are no southern states on the list, there isn't much of a pattern. Iowa, North Dakota and Minnesota are all northern midwest states known for having bleak winters and a "let's all work together" kind of culture. Idaho and Wyoming definitely fall in your "frontier-type" category. Hawaii is obviously a pretty unique state so they're hard to group with anyone. And Utah actually has a lot in common with a couple of the states on the "worst" list.