The U.S. is Not as Violent as You Think

Since the shooting in Newtown there has been hundreds of articles written about guns, gun control, and gun violence. Patrick Cahalan has written the best of the bunch:

Basically, you’re not very likely to be murdered in either [the U.S. or the U.K.

Really.

In fact, given that 10% of the murders in the U.S. are family-related, and given that 74% of murder defendants have a prior criminal record, and 44% of murder victims have a prior criminal record, and that 82% of non-family murder victims are male, and 53% of non-family murder victims are black, and 38.5% of non-family murder victims are between 20-29, and that half of murders involve alcohol… the actual odds that you’ll be the victim of a murder, if you’re a sober, law-abiding middle aged white person who doesn’t piss off your wife or your children… is actually probably pretty close to the general murder rate in the U.K.