Comment on US demands access to tourists' social media histories
kazerniel@lemmy.world 5 days agoMass shootings are still proportionally a lot more common than in similar countries:
There were 109 public mass shootings in the United States and 35 public mass shootings in 35 other economically and politically comparative countries between 2000 and 2022. The United States makes up 33 percent of the combined population of these 36 countries; however, it also accounts for 76 percent of public mass shooting incidents and 70 percent of victim fatalities in these countries. (source)
The USA has about 5 times the general (non-suicide) homicide rate compared to the UK.
Add to that the 20 times higher gun ownership rate between USA and Scotland, plus the mental health crisis and extreme political polarisation, and I would rather just not be there, you know 🤷
wizardbeard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 days ago
Perfectly valid, and thanks for not just jumping on the US bad dogpile and instead citing some stuff.
I’m just speaking up because I’ve seen a lot of people online from outside the US running with this idea that gun violence is like, a daily occurence that every US citizen deals with regularly, when that’s so fucking far from the reality.
Yeah, things are a powder keg over here lately and the accessibility of firearms doesn’t help, but I’ve met only one person in my almost 35 years of life who’s ever been held at gunpoint and they’re the only person I know who has ever been through any form of gun violence.
There’s plenty of reasons to avoid this place for a good long while unfortunately, but I feel like the gun danger has been overblown.
kazerniel@lemmy.world 4 days ago
Thanks for sharing your experiences, it’s definitely good to hear daily life is not as scary as it may seem from news coverage.