Dartz Wrote:In 2007. 78 people were victims of homicide in Ireland. This includes 20 deaths due to dangerous driving. This includes 36 stabbings. This also includes 20 shootings. In a population somewhere between 4 and 5 million.Let's split the difference and call it 4.5 million, which gives a homicide rate of about 1.7 per 100,000.
I looked up crime rates for US states in 2007, and found that five US states had the same or lower homicide rates: Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Iowa, and New Hampshire. These states vary wildly in their laws, with Hawaii being one of the worst states and Montana being one of the better ones (or you could put it the other way around if you hate freedom). Vermont, which has been the most free state for decades, was 1.9.
Note that the crime rate in the US has been dropping since the 1980s, and is currently tied for lowest since 1900 (I haven't seen statistics further back than that). That's true across the country, including in the relatively high-crime states where only rich and powerful people are allowed the means to defend themselves. During that period there has been a wave of reform in concealed carry laws which has made it possible for people with clean records to legally defend themselves in most of the country. There have been various studies on the effect of those laws, with results ranging from inconclusive to drops in certain categories of crime. (It's understandably hard to study when crime rates where already dropping anyway.)
Also, a great deal of the violent crime that exists in the US is a direct result of the War on Agriculture, Chemistry, and Capitalism (excuse me, "Drugs"), which also leads to such charming statistics as the US locking up more people than all the rest of the world combined, and a homicide rate among black men more than ten times that for white men. When a government is effectively making war on large segments of its own population, that sort of thing is inevitable.