TIL: Gun Violence in the Deep South

Source: Nationhood Lab.

Today I learned something about gun violence. I didn't expect there to be such a marked difference in the rates of gun violence between New York City and the Deep South. And I didn't expect the difference to be in New York City's favor.

What I learned: The death rate from gun violence "varies wildly between regions. Of the larger regions, the Deep South is the most deadly with a smoothed rate of 15.6 per 100,000 residents, followed by Greater Appalachia at 13.5. On the other end of the spectrum, New Netherland – the Dutch-founded area around New York City – has a smoothed rate of just 3.8 per 100,000, a rate less than a quarter that of the Deep South."

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That's according to the Nationhood Lab at the Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy. Common wisdom, especially in the Deep South, is that it's New York City where gun violence is out of control. Recently, the Deep South Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene visited New York City and told Fox News, "There’s so much crime in the city. I can’t comprehend how people live there." That perception is wrong, at least for gun violence. In fact, the Deep South has the highest rate of gun violence in the nation and New York City (called New Amsterdam on that map) has the lowest.

So what about north Texas? North Texas falls in the region with the second highest rate of gun violence. Quibble: North Texas is part of what this map calls "Greater Appalachia." I don't consider Texas to be part of Appalachia. Maybe sociologically it is, but geographically it isn't. But whatever. The data is the same, even if we call the regions by different names.

This map prompts me to be open to a new appreciation for why the Deep South is so fanatical about owning guns. If everyone else is shooting at you, it's understandable if you want to shoot back. If you live in the Deep South, the statistics are kind of on your side. That's where gun violence is most out of control. So that's where support for owning and carrying guns is also strongest.

To me, it seems like common sense that more guns lead to more gun violence; the way to make society safer is to reduce the number of guns on the streets. But today I learned why many people in the Deep South (or in Greater Appalachia) might think differently than me. And differently than people in the rest of the country think. Gun violence is more out of control in the Deep South than elsewhere. Unfortunately, while this new data leads to an understanding why people in the Deep South might feel a need to own a gun, I still don't believe it makes society as a whole safer. Even if individuals feel driven to own guns, more guns still lead to more gun violence. It is unfortunate that a negative feedback loop might be at work. Fear of gun violence leads people to buy guns, which leads to more gun violence, which leads even more people to buy guns, and on and on until the country is awash in guns and gun violence.

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H/T to Andrew Laska.