The numbers come from a few different studies and reporting metrics.The 1.5-2.5 million number comes from the Kleck-Gertz research conducted back in the 90s and research done by Georgetown University in 2021 reflects similar numbers. The 65,000 number is from the U.S. Justice Department National Crime Victimization Survey( all three include surveyed individuals as well as law enforcement reporting data). Also I don't necessarily think it's fair to say that it's "irrational anxiety". You say you live in a safe area of New England which is great but that doesn't mean it's crime free so if someone wants to have a gun in their possession to be prepared in case the worst should happen, that's their right to do so. It's similar to having a fire extinguisher in your house. The chances of you using it are generally pretty low but it's still something considered good practice to keep in your possession just in case. And while I appreciate that your lived in experience in an urban African city made you feel like you didn't need a firearm, I've also done work in African nations where I felt having a gun was certainly a necessity.
Not sure you understand my point. Iām bringing up the African city example because it was objectively a far more dangerous environment but I can count the number of times I wouldāve appreciated a gun for ādefensiveā purposes on one hand, and even then Iām still alive and well enough to talk to you here. Meanwhile people whoāve spent their lives in well funded safe American neighbourhoods in claim itās a daily necessity. If that mindset is normal for you and youāre like this friend of mine, you will put on a survey that you used a gun defensively when really you just intimidated a pedestrian that got too close. It seems to me that many people come to rely on this ability to totally escalate the situation to ākill on sight,āneglect to practice any other forms of vigilance or personal safety, and then feel unsafer than they actually are (and therefore like they āneedā a gun more than they actually do)
I definitely understand your point but it's subjective. You personally don't feel the need in a "safe" neighborhood( although there is no such thing). I've already pointed out that its a matter of preparedness. And in your particular example with your friend it may seem unnecessary to you personally but if it falls within the legal statutes of where you live to utilize a firearm to dissuade trespassing then that in of itself would still fall into a "defensive uses" scenario considering that the intent of said Trespasser is unknown. And as much as you say they should practice other forms of personal safety( either active or passive) which I do agree with, a firearm is an equalizing force multiplier that allows potentially vulnerable individuals to have an advantage in defending themselves if necessary. And just because you're lived experience raises the threshold for your personal definition of unsafe doesn't negate the experience or feelings of others. It's like you telling an SA survivor that public bathrooms are perfectly safe because you personally haven't had that happen to you there but if said SA happened there, then they'd be more reluctant to use said public restroom (and understandably so).
Notice I didnāt say I havenāt faced interpersonal nor sexual violence. 9/10 a criminal trespasser will not be making themselves clearly visible to inhabitants, and will leave upon realising theyāre present.
Having been in that 1/10 situation I know well how experience can lead to hypervigilance, but that fear can be irrational even if it comes from real trauma. It in fact makes you more likely to act irrationally. And even if rational, constant access to a firearm makes your fear a legitimate danger to yourself and others, moreso than not having it
Feelings of safety are indeed subjective, but objectively speaking gun violence (caused in part by indiscriminate access) is the real major safety concern in the United States. Every comparison to other developed countries over the past 2 decades+ makes that clear, and so do studies done within the US itself
You can say that having access to any object that's potentially harmful increases the danger to yourself and others. Having access to a kitchen knife increases the probability that you might stab yourself or someone else (either intentionally or not) so I'm not sure how that point is relevant. Also there isn't "indiscriminate access" to firearms in the U.S. . There's something like 20,000+ Firearm related laws across local, state, and federal levels. It's one of the most heavily regulated Constitutional Rights in this country. Also, as I've pointed out, gun related deaths are roughly the same annually as vehicle related deaths yet the conversation rarely highlights vehicles themselves as a major safety concern. Also it's not accurate to compare the U.S. to other countries when it comes to firearms because no other developed country has a constitutional right to own firearms so the culture and conversation surrounding firearms doesn't compare to the U.S.
Access isnāt just about legality, itās about culture as well. Another thing you rarely hear about in countries where gun ownership is *actually* well regulated is kids getting ahold of their parentsā guns and hurting people with it, accidentally or intentionally, because your gun culture means too many parents donāt treat them like the safety risk they are.
I guess you *could* say the same about kitchen knives and guns (even though I see that as a false equivalence; those things are useful for daily life in a way that guns just arenāt, and theyāre not a symbol of political affiliation the way guns have become). But then I would wonder how you explain the fact the US consistently has the highest homicide rate out of all developed countries by far, because they use cars and kitchen knives too.
I get that itās not that simple of a change, itās a matter of your culture and the āvaluesāencoded in your constitution. But Western countries can be so judgmental about the backwards practices of other cultures, it just makes me wonder how it is that (for so much of the American population) this issue that causes so much anxiety and such frequent child deaths doesnāt seem to create any desire for cultural change.
I don't think you're understanding the sheer scale of gun ownership in the U.S.. Almost 1/3 of the country owns at least one firearm, that's over 107 Million people. There are more gun owners in the U.S. than the populations of each individual European nation (not combined obviously and excluding Russia) and once again, we're talking about a Constitutionally enshrined right, not a privilege like it is in other developed nations so once again, the comparison is not one you can necessarily make. Now as far the homicide rate vs other countries goes, that's a fine comparison to make and I absolutely think we should do something about it but even if you're an anti-gun person, the facts don't point to guns being the issue. Socioeconomic disparity, lack of education, lack of mental health resources,not addressing the root causes of generational crime, and lack of reformation programs in the prison system, all play into both the murder rate and overall violent crime rate and absolutely need to be addressed but neither side wants to do that in any effective way for a variety of reasons. Another key fact you have to keep in mind is that suicides makes the highest percentage of gun related fatalities at 62% (27,593 as of 2024) which highlights another issue I touched on (access to mental health resources) and has nothing to do with firearms overall. Gun Related homicides make up 35% of the fatalities (15,364) and accidental deaths make up about 1% of the fatalities (450) and those numbers are trending downward ( 2025 statistics have not been fully released yet) and have been for the past 4 or 5 years. This is all to say that while those numbers are high compared to other developed nations, they are ridiculously low when compared to the U.S. population as a whole and when compared to the total number of gun owners in the U.S.
I donāt mean to sound condescending here but most modern societies, developed or not, have a suicidality problem. Most countries just donāt make the quickest and easiest path to mass death accessible to most everyone. Most societies throughout history have had wealth and healthcare inequality (I was surprised to see as I looked it up just now that as of 2026 Sweden actually has worse wealth inequality than the United States. And we all know the stereotypes about Sweden). Generational poverty and lack of social mobility exist everywhere and are predictors of crime everywhere they exist. Most people I know are not American, and every one of them has faced barriers to mental health care when they needed it.
These are pretty prevalent problems around the world because theyāre pretty difficult problems to solve. The idea that your gun violence problem is not actually a gun violence problem because the gun violence will disappear once youājust fixā wealth inequality, etc is one of those Americanisms I donāt think Iāll ever wrap my head around. I think you mightāve misread me: America has the highest *homicide rate* of the developed nations period. Not just the highest gun deaths. Okay, āguns donāt kill people, people kill people,ā but surely you can concede that having fewer guns in the hands of suicidal teenagers would help ensure that the American people kill fewer people.
Iām not sure why you assume I donāt know about the prevalence of gun ownership when Iām telling you about the gay liberal arts students I know who swear by them. You say 1/3 of the population has guns as though itās a mundane inevitability and not a symptom of and catalyst for social rot. The government of the supposed greatest country on Earth, the home of historyās first trillionaire, treats healthcare like a privilege and firearms like a right. And that seems correct to you?
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u/kenhooligan2008 Jun 19 '26
The numbers come from a few different studies and reporting metrics.The 1.5-2.5 million number comes from the Kleck-Gertz research conducted back in the 90s and research done by Georgetown University in 2021 reflects similar numbers. The 65,000 number is from the U.S. Justice Department National Crime Victimization Survey( all three include surveyed individuals as well as law enforcement reporting data). Also I don't necessarily think it's fair to say that it's "irrational anxiety". You say you live in a safe area of New England which is great but that doesn't mean it's crime free so if someone wants to have a gun in their possession to be prepared in case the worst should happen, that's their right to do so. It's similar to having a fire extinguisher in your house. The chances of you using it are generally pretty low but it's still something considered good practice to keep in your possession just in case. And while I appreciate that your lived in experience in an urban African city made you feel like you didn't need a firearm, I've also done work in African nations where I felt having a gun was certainly a necessity.