"The Geography of U.S. Gun Violence"

[SDGuy]

Ted King wrote:
...the incidence of deadly violence generally – and gun violence in particular – varies by region. It’s as if we live in separate countries...Reducing levels of deadly violence in the U.S. won’t be easy, but understanding the nature of the problem is an essential first step...

:agree:
That's part of the reason why I have to laugh at posters who look at the statistics of the United States as an aggregate. Given that this country is a republic of 50 separate States, each with its own laws and regulations (as well as cultures/demographics - as noted), trying to compare this entire country to smaller countries (that have population totals less than a single State of the U.S.) is pointless.

The wisdom of the republic system of government is that each State can craft laws suited to their region, and conditions within that region - given broad guidelines by the Constitution.

If we ignored local differences, and just blindly decided that what works in one place would work everywhere, then by that logic in order to minimize illegal killings (i.e. homicides), every State should just adopt the laws of New Hampshire verbatim (per the CDC; visualized here).

I have a feeling that many folks would have a problem with that, yet if you look at just the statistics, those laws demonstratably work, and work well (a homicide rate nearly half of the next nearest State, 0.90/100K vs 1.60/100K).