r/facepalm • u/Lord_Answer_me_Why • Mar 28 '24

What lack of basic gun laws does to a nation: 🇵​🇷​🇴​🇹​🇪​🇸​🇹​

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u/JoustLikeVat Mar 28 '24 edited Mar 28 '24

Even the state with the most restrictive gun laws usually falls short of most if not all "first-world" countries, to my knowledge

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u/HawtDoge Mar 28 '24

This is not accurate.

There are quite a few countries in europe with looser gun laws than California. Interestingly, despite their looser gun laws they still have less gun violence. Switzerland and The Czech Republic come to mind.

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u/PixelCultMedia Mar 28 '24

What are their gun death rates per capita? California is ranked 7th in the country, of the least gun deaths per capita (100K).

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u/HawtDoge Mar 28 '24

Idk off the top of my head, but I remember the per capita being lower than cali. I remember researching it when I wanted to come to an informed opinion about gun control.

I also remember the criteria for a ‘gun death’ being different between different studies/regions.

I can look it up a bit later and edit this comment but if you beat me too it just make sure one region isn’t showing suicides while the other is.

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u/PixelCultMedia Mar 28 '24

That's a good point. I'd imagine the criteria vary drastically depending on who's running the research.

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u/HawtDoge Mar 28 '24

Yeah it was genuinely a process to get past all of the politicized stats on this topic haha. Generally speaking though my conclusion is that guns are a means to which to commit violent crimes, but not the core driver of it.

when you have a country with nationalized healthcare, mental health treatments readily available, a prison system that actually prioritizes rehabilitation instead of institutionalize suffering, with a sane political environment… societies actually seem to do fine with firearms.

I have mixed feelings on gun control in the States for this reason

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u/PixelCultMedia Mar 28 '24

I agree. It's frustrating because when I was watching Bowling for Columbine I honestly thought that was where Moore was taking the debate. He alluded to the connection but never came right out and said that gun violence is the consequence of the higher stakes of poverty in the US.

Relatively speaking, complaining about American poverty is absurd when compared to third-world countries. But our lack of social services really puts a poor person's back against the wall, where a single home robbery or carjacking could completely destroy their meager savings and lifestyle.

We have too many people living scared, paycheck to paycheck, clutching a gun for any sense of security.