Dartz Wrote:If I recall correctly, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Iowa, and New Hampshire are mostly rural states? Perhaps that has a bearing on low murder rates?It's hard to say. What do you mean by "mostly rural," exactly? California and Texas could both be described that way if you're talking about land area used for agriculture. The statistic that people mostly seem to use is population density, and by that measure Hawaii is one of the more densely populated states, Montana is way down near the bottom, and the others are in the middle (as is Ireland's population density).
I was looking at the homicide rate, not the murder rate (as that's what you gave for Ireland), but looking up the 2007 murder rates for those states, I see that they're still towards the bottom and in the same order.
The militarization of police in the US is a very serious problem, but it's entirely due to the government being at war with the populace. They declared a "War on Drugs" and began equipping police as soldiers and training them to think and act like soldiers starting in the 1980s. The end result is that now the US is effectively a police state. Sure, there's a full inquiry when a cop shoots someone--conducted by the police, who nearly always conclude that under the rules they wrote for themselves, it was just fine. Also, cops in the US don't just shoot people--they routinely torture and kill using hands and feet, clubs, and electric shocks.
Added: Just out of curiosity, on those "license applications" you mentioned, is "I read history and England is right over there" considered a valid reason?