Gun ownership around the world is not exactly what has been presented by the media and Facebook memes. For example, I recently was spirited a meme that talked about how Canada and Australia are gunfree, guns are illegal, the US should follow their lead because they don’t have mass shootings… But that simply isn’t the case.
- 30.8% of Canadians own a gun
- 24.1% of Australians own a gun
While that ratio in the US is 100%, the argument fails because there is no correlation that ‘more guns’ = ‘more shootings’, the correlation is much more complicated. For example; Mexico’s gun rate is 15% – but their murder rate is 6.34 per 100,000 population or nearly double that of the US. In Serbia nearly 38% of the population own guns, yet their homicide rate is .61, or 10% of Mexico’s. Iceland has a gun rate over 30% and no homicides by guns.
So what are these countries doing that is right and wrong? What other factors give rise to the problem? If we truly wanted a ‘solution’ wouldn’t it make sense to analyze their strategies instead of making a false correlation that has an obvious ‘agenda’?
In Iceland the recent introduction of foreign gangs has been the predominant driver of crime. As a result, the police and government routinely follow guidelines which include immediate deportation and the exclusion of visiting support elements such as friends and family members. But Iceland also has a relatively low to non-existent drug use problem, that is until more gangs began moving into town bringing with them prostitution and human trafficking as well. As such, the crime rate schematic has changed to reflect the growing menace of gang warfare.
With over 1.5 million gang members in the US, representing 33,000 different gangs, we have 32,990 more gangs than Iceland. In March 2017, Mexico had 2020 homicides – all gang/cartel related. Serbia has a history of Mafia gang connections involved in protection rackets, smuggling, drugs, burglaries and arms trafficking. But they don’t have ‘rival’ gangs.
When making statistical comparisons, it is important for the reporting country to be ‘honest’. In 2011, the German government claimed the murder rate was .8 per 100,000 when in fact the police department claimed it was 2.7. Germany routinely would seem to ‘manipulate statistics to provide a view that is a false narrative’. FYI: a recent poll purportedly shows Merkel’s advanced favoritism over Trump – when in fact her ratings are lower than Trump’s ever were in the US – below 30%!
In addition, the gangs in Germany are also predominantly Mafia related including; the Arab Mafia, composed of 7-9 Arab Families, the Albanian Mafia, which controls billions in banks and real estate, the Russian Mafia, which is mostly composed of Aussiedlers, ethnic Germans that were born in the Soviet Union, as well as Turkish organized crime, Middle Eastern Clans and a spattering of motorcycle gangs.
Many of these gangs are fairly new to Germany, specifically the rise of Turkish and Afghanistan populations dominant in Berlin, Hamburg and Bremen. According to Die Welt, Arab Families control most of the organized crime and solve disputes internally. As such the statistics of these Mafia’s are not includable in the government statistical accounting. Currently, most of these Mafioso gangs have established territories and disputes are not common, however, mass immigration is triggering a shift and bloody battles
According to Transparency International, political parties and businesses are the most corrupt institutions in Germany with 11% of respondents admitting to have been asked to pay bribes. So is Germany a false narrative of goodness?
Despite these numbers, in 2014 the German police identified only 9155 suspected gang members… or 1,490,845 less than we have in the US.
So while ‘gun related deaths’ is somehow the topic of choice, statistics reveal that in the US roughly 67% of gun related deaths are suicide, 72% of gun deaths were committed with a handgun, mass shooting in the US tripled during the Obama administration, and 60% of mass shooters identified in the US since 1900 were carried out by people diagnosed with a mental illness or who demonstrated significant mental illness prior to the shooting.
Is it a gun problem? Or is it a gang problem? Or is it a drug problem, a mental problem, a PTSD problem, a corruption problem, who killed Seth Rich problem… What we do know is that suicide tops the list, handguns are the weapon of choice, and a conflaguration of ailments contribute to the Fall.
So. Are we looking to find a solution? Because it would seem that the overwhelming evidence for homicide growth is always targeting – Gangs. Here, in Europe, in Iceland, in Australia, in Canada. What creates gangs? The desire for money with an absolute vacancy of ethic or morality. What creates a vacancy of ethic and morality? Values. Who should instill values? Parents. Who is instilling values? The state. The media. Hollywood.
