Why are firearm related deaths so much higher in the U.S. vs Canada?

First let me say... no... I do not want to take your guns away because IMO guns are not the problem. I think our culture is the problem.

I assume we all know that firearm related deaths in Canada are statistically far lower than in the U.S. Canadian citizens have access to almost all the same firearms as are allowed in the U.S. including the much maligned AR-15. Canadians watch all the same TV shows and movies... play all the same violent videogames... listen to the same music... in fact much of the entertainment we Americans love is produced in Canada. Ever watch Rambo? Rambo was filmed in a sleepy little town by the name of Hope in British Columbia. Like the videogame Deus Ex: Human revolution? If so then you can thank Eidos Montreal for developing it. Like the 80's Metal act Voivod? If so, they are out of Quebec. American and Canadian entertainment are blended into the same thread.

A difference here in Canada is that the Canadians have stricter gun laws... but IMO this would do nothing to stop a determined psychopath from massacring a bunch of people if he wanted to. So why is it that in America we have so much gun violence? To me it has to be cultural as nothing else makes sense.

 

Almost all the gun related deaths are due to gang violence, and almost all of those are in the large urban areas.

 

The suicides and the children shooting their siblings aren't worth worrying about, the excuse du jour is it's all "gangs"

 

I would agree with that, but here in British Columbia we have some serious gangs too. Most of the murders I see on the news are gang related. But it never gets to the levels that we see in many American cities. Which makes me wounder why?

 

Suicides and accidental shootings should be included. I should have broadened the OP to also include all gun related violence as many are shot but live.

 

OK good points, so one has to ask...what are the cultural differences that in your opinion causes more gun violence in the US verses Canada?

- - - Updated - - -

Nor the stabbings, beatings, bats, drugs...point noted

 

Canadians are considered nicer in general, but as I come from Boise Idaho where everyone is nice I really see no discernible difference in niceness here. Canadians are in general more tolerant... for example gay marriage is legal and women can go topless anywhere a man can... etc. So perhaps Canada is a more tolerant society... that is as good a guess as any... but that's all it is... a guess.

 

Again and in all seriousness good points but I might add that some of our states with high tolerance for divergent lifestyles and beliefs also have high violent crime rates. I think there is something more...and I'm not sure I can articulate what that is. Understand I am not calling you out, I am just trying to understand significance of your post as to the comparison of Canada to the US.
Thanks for your reply

 

We shoot better?

 

I think the bigger the city the more liberal it is in general. Even Boise Idaho has a large liberal minority in a city of 225k... at least the last time I checked which was a number of years ago. But I honestly do not correlate gun violence with a political party. Canada is very liberal when compared to the U.S. in general. Vancouver BC I dare say is one of the most liberal cities on the planet and had 6 homicides last year... the city has a population of around 600k.

So this again brings me back to culture, and if a political party is to take blame then I as a liberal blame both the Democrats and the Republicans.

- - - Updated - - -

I think we shoot more often.

 

I don't think you have gangs to our level. And the interesting thing....is that the gang violence seems to flourish under extremely strict gun laws.

 

I agree.

Examples? Are you talking in America only? Japan has one of the strictest gun laws and is one of the safest societies on the planet. But their culture is far different from ours.

 

I am talking America...the United States only. We have racial tension and clash of cultures here----and that is where much of the volume of death by guns is coming from. A destructive culture that stems from a hatred...the consequence of our slavery in the past.

 

A good point, but Canada is not without its own inequity. First Nation (Native North Americans) have been treated horrible for centuries here. Also there is a huge Asian and East Indian population here in the Vancouver area where the East Asians are often looked down on. So the seeds of hate are here also but never erupt to a point that is comparable with the U.S.

The slavery angle is an interesting argument as slavery ended in 1833 some three decades before Canada gained independence. So anger would have been towards the British Empire of the time and not the newly formed Canadian government of 1867.

 

We have our Indians here---and its just a different situation then what we find in gangs. And it depends on the tribes as to how they do...they all have different cultures.

 

It is not about the guns or the gun laws. I would urge you to compare non firearm related homicides when looking at the differences between the two countries. The US in general has way more committed by knives, hammers, fists, feet, blunt objects.... etc.

 

Between 2000 to 2010 the WSJ reports that there were over 111k firearm murders in the USA which is over twice the number of all other murders combined. http://projects.wsj.com/murderdata/#view=all

In 2010 the CDC reported that there were 16,259 homicides of which 11,078 were firearm related. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr61/nvsr61_04.pdf

In Canada the top two methods to kill is by knife and firearm and from year to year the top killing method can change. http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85-002-x/2012001/article/11738-eng.htm

 

There is something to be said for the cultural argument. The US states that border Canada are among the most peaceful. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:US_Violent_Crime_2004.svg

 

japan probably doesnt need strict gun laws.

they are kind of a weird people.

 

I been to Japan... Kobe, Osaka, and Nara... their violent crime rate is one of the lowest in the world. The Japanese are so different from Americans... in Japan the saying death before dishonor takes on an almost tangible meaning... and in days of old it was often a literal meaning.

 

I grew up loathing Japanese but in college I was sitting next to a Japanese lady.

So.... I decided to try to force myself to be nice and make friends. What a rewarding thing that was!

I've been to Japan too.

I think I like individual Japanese better than I like the nation / country as a whole.

Kind of like how I see the USA, too.

 

According to the CDC, accidental shootings only account for 2% of gun related deaths and injuries. Less than 1% of those involve children. I could think of a million other things more dangerous to children in our society. Suicide will happen regardless of the method, If you think guns are causing suicides, you must be insane.

 

United states has heavier drug trafficking due to drug cartels from Mexico. Although Canada has the same problems, it is not nearly to the scale as US cities.

 

The temperature. Most of the year it is too freaking cold in Canada

http://source.southuniversity.edu/as-weather-warms-up-so-do-opportunities-for-crime-35072.aspx

"...Tracy Siska, executive director at the Chicago Justice Project, says there is a correlation between rising temperatures and violent crimes.

“Violence increases, especially street violence, muggings, assaults, battery,” Siska says. “Across the boards most crimes increase.”

Siska speculates that the spike in crime may be due to the increase in the number of interactions that people have with one another during the warmer months. Warmer weather can bring together potential wrongdoers, victims, and belongings all in the same place.

Roger Humber, director of the Criminal Justice department at South University — Montgomery agrees that warmer temperatures alone may not be to blame for an increase in crime. Like Siska, he says the rise in social interactions may be a factor.

“A factor may be the heat, or it may just be that we are all active more during this time,” he says, adding that people may experience a form of heat aggravation in warm weather that causes them to lose their temper more easily...."

 

That's a good point. Most of the killings in the area I live (near Vancouver BC) are gang/drug related, but nowhere near to the levels we see in many major metro areas in the US.