mrken30

Poor people

mrken30

The other thing, neighborhoods can change quickly. NE Portland used to be a definite no go area 15 years ago. Now it is one of the most expensive places in the area, $600k for 2 bed , 1 bath house where you can touch the neighbors both sides.15 years ago, you would have been lucky to get $50k

ABD79

It says this thread has been removed yet I can see who has replied still so I'm hoping someone might see this and let me know if they can see this? No idea why a serious question about gun crime would be removed - surely that's a topic that's vital when travelling to the states???

civilservant

It's not showing me that it's been moved - although this probably more appropriate for the trailer park.

ABD79

Oh I don't know - from first hand accounts it seems this subject affects all lives. From at work, to innocent children, families in home invasions...as well as gangs and trailer parks. I'd say it was quite relevant :-/

civilservant

My point is it's not actually specifically immigration related.

To put it bluntly, it's something you have to get used to, or have to learn to live with. It's not going away, probably ever, and as I mentioned before a large proportion of America believe that it is their birthright to own a firearm - oppression is how this county came into being in the first place, and the idea of it coming back is what leads to the sentence 'you can take my gun out of my cold dead hands'

If you can't handle that, don't move here. And CERTAINLY not to Texas. You have to realize that the Southern states are almost universally pro-gun.

I own 4, and I practice weekly. Before I moved to the US I said I would never own one.

Then again, I also said that trucks were oversized gas-guzzlers, and now it's my daily driver.

christmasoompa

It's not in the immi section of the forum though (don't think it ever was, although perhaps it's been moved from there, although that's not showing for me). So it's in the right place.

Pulaski

It might be a serious question, but it hasn't been discussed in a particularly serious way as your concerns have, IMO, overstepped the line between "concerns" and "paranoia". Despite numerous posts by people with very different stances on American gun laws, mostly reporting that exposure to gun crime over many years is low to non-existent, your stance doesn't appear to have moved an inch.

vulcan

I live in south Texas. Of the people I know, more have guns than don't. Those that do have guns often have more than one. The norm seems to be at least one at home and probably one in the vehicle. No licence required.

I don't feel any more at risk of violent crime here than I did in the UK. However as they say here in Texas 'it's no good taking a knife to a gun fight'.

A close friend, a senior exec in a F500 company has an extensive collection of hand and long guns. A stockpile of ammunition. Each room of his large house has a hand gun readily available.

Lion in Winter

Nothing showing as either moved or removed.

I am someone who thinks this country/culture needs some serious disarming as they do not appear to be able to handle the weapons they have at all well. Compare and contrast the Swiss, for example.

However, to suggest that this should be a primary worry when visiting or moving to the States is a gross exaggeration unless you are very poor and will be moving to an urban ghetto. Other than that, common sense will take care of it unless you are very unlucky indeed.

Pulaski

I don't entirely agree with these points. It is fairly well documented that serial killers are a much more common phenomenon in the US than other countries - the Wikipedia page on serial killers lists 49 individuals having killed 16-30 people, of which 19 (39%) were in the US, despite the US comprising less than 5% of the world's population. That said serial killers, in the US at least (through probably globally) generally kill people with high risk lifestyles - most commonly prostitutes, itinerants, and promiscuous homosexuals.

The US also imprisons massively more of its population than other countries, in recent years up to 1% of its population, whereas the UK, which imprisons a higher percentage of its population than any country in Europe, only around 1/8th of 1%. Even if you dismiss a majority of the people imprisoned in the US as being caught up in the US's overzealous "war on drugs" (and I am not sure that "most" is correct), the US still imprison several times the per capita number of people that even the UK does.

All that said, violent crime in the US is both geographically and socially highly compartmentalized, so the risk to the typical resident of the US is still extremely low.

mrken30

You have to remember, the US , I believe, is the only Christian faith country that tried to outlaw alcohol.

The US has very different views on some things and it can vary a lot State by State, and even County by County within a State.

Pulaski

Do you think there are many inmates still serving time for crimes against the 18th amendment to the Constitution (prohibition)?

mrken30

No, but there are people in jail for possession of a fragment of cannabis, where in other States it is openly legal.

Most other things that happen in the US have happened in European countries at some point in time. I was just trying to show that there is a very Puritan thread that runs through American culture.

chawkins99

These statistics are based on published and freely available (to Wikipedia) data. The problem with it is many areas of the world don't have the publicity and access to the data that the US provides.

I'm sure there are cases of prolific serial killers in China, Russia, Africa, South America, which haven't been publicized in the way they would in the US. So to say US accounts for 39% of serial killers worldwide when the data may only account for 20% (wild guess) of the world's population is perhaps distorting the facts.