The study compared the U.S. to results in 25 other countries and we don't come out too well. The homicide rate for U.S. children younger than 15 years old was five times higher than the combined average for children in the other 25 countries (2.57 per 100,000 compared with 0.51). Could this be because:
- the United States is the second lowest in percentage of total expenditure spent on social security, welfare, housing, and amenities,
- the United States also has the highest divorce rate of the 26 countries included in the study,
- its population is composed of more ethnic-linguistic groups than most of the other developed countries,
- compared with the other countries included in the study for which information is available, the United States has the largest gap between the rich and poor, the highest rate of children living in poverty, and the highest rate of firearm ownership.
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While all those factors you mention play a part, the real cause stares Americans in the face, yet they cannot grasp it because they've never lived in a country where firearms are simply unavailable. Until they do grasp it - and God alone knows when that will be - these figures will continue to rise. I hear so many excuses why America can't have gun control laws similar to Europe, even from gun control advocates: "Well, there's just too many guns..." is one of the most frequent. Yes, and there always will be until you make a start at depleting the numbers. It'll take a long time, so the sooner it begins the better. I despair of this country ever becoming sufficiently mature to face up to its internal problems and do something about them. It seems to me that for Americans, the freedom to kill is yet another of those Constitutional virtues carried to absurd excess.
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