Cool chart showing the changing US murder rate over time

[SPC]

Still way to go to reach 1900 levels again (and therefore European levels).

A bit difficult to achieve when the United States lacks European demographics.

[SPC]

Still way to go to reach 1900 levels again (and therefore European levels).

A bit difficult to achieve when the United States lacks European demographics.

Please explain exactly what you mean by this

In order to minimize the influence of background variables (and consequently make a Type I error in favor of a misguided policy proposal), one should compare people of similar ethnic and socioeconomic background in both jurisdictions, and then determine which jurisdiction has lower homicide rates within each subgroup. One could have varying theories as to why these variations among subgroups exist (whether they be environmental consequences or, gasp, genetic), but to simply pretend they don't exist and persist in making a direct comparison of two disparate jurisdictions is deceitful.

[SPC]

Still way to go to reach 1900 levels again (and therefore European levels).

A bit difficult to achieve when the United States lacks European demographics.

Please explain exactly what you mean by this

In order to minimize the influence of background variables (and consequently make a Type I error in favor of a misguided policy proposal), one should compare people of similar ethnic and socioeconomic background in both jurisdictions, and then determine which jurisdiction has lower homicide rates within each subgroup.

And ethnic identity is important because...?

Again, one can have varying theories about why such a difference exists. Personally, I feel that the culture of dependency created by Great Society programs combined with disproportionate effects of the War on Drugs are far more responsible for such a disparity than intrinsic differences. However, to make a comparison with the implicit purpose of a policy recommendation without discussing the elephant in the room is nothing short of dishonest.

For the record, I looked up the homicide rates in France and Massachusetts, a European country and an American state that I figured would have similar demographics. Massachusetts turned out to have the higher homicide rate, despite it having both a whiter population and a higher per capita income, as I later found out. What do you make of this comparison, SPC?

Massachusetts is not exactly known as a haven for permissive gun laws, to say the least. In fact, it appears that France is actually more permissive in some areas, such as magazine restrictions and "assault weapons." Thus, I'm not quite sure what the point of your comparison is.

[SPC]

(2) European countries haven't been perfectly homogenous Buchananite fantasy lands for years. All Western European countries have sizable immigrant populations from Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Asia. And their immigrant groups are in many cases just as marginalized and discriminated against as blacks have been in America (with the added issue of differences in language and religion).

Africans, Middle Easterners, Eastern Europeans, and Asians aren't African-Americans. America has a populations of those minorities as well that could be compared to their European counterparts if one were truly interested in doing an apples-to-apples comparison. Simply trying to fit round ethnic groups in the square African-American hole because they both vaguely fit similar roles in one's preferred socioeconomic theory is a dubious methodology. Additionally, for all the talk of Europe being flooded from immigrants, virtually every European country is more ethnically homogeneous than the United States.

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You are making the straw-man argument of assuming that just because I do not endorse rendering minorities defenseless against criminals that I do not support correcting such problems. On the contrary, I already named the welfare mentality and drug prohibition as possible contributing factors to the disproportionately high crime rate among African-Americans.