The FBI’s 2010 Uniform Crime Report showed that 56 percent of aggravated assaults in Richmond County ended in someone being shot. The national average is 18 percent; in Georgia, 25 percent.
The Richmond County percentage is actually down from previous years. In 2007 and 2008, more than 70 percent of aggravated assaults were shootings – four times the U.S. rate and nearly three times Georgia’s rate.
Of course the entire article presumes that all these incidents are done by criminals. That's just not the case. When two lawful gun owners have an argument and one of them commits a crime, from that moment on he's lumped in with the career criminals and the rest of the low-lifes.
It's deceptive and it's hard to identify how many of the offenders were formerly lawful gun owners. Naturally the rest of the lawful gun owners like to pretend this doesn't happen, that all the problems are due to criminals.
William Reese, a professor of criminal justice and sociology at Augusta State University, said the area’s high rate of gun violence could be attributed to two major factors: Augusta’s location and the culture of the South in general.What's your opinion? Do you agree that the availability of guns combined with the Neanderthal attitudes prevalent in Georgia explains this phenomenally high percentage of shootings?
“Here in the South, there’s a tendency to settle interpersonal disputes with violence instead of discussion or calling the police to intervene,” he said. “Firearms also carry prestige around here. It’s a symbol of status and kids want that reputation, that mark of manhood.”
“The availability of the guns is really all you need to know,” Reese said. “When the culture dictates that you solve those things with violence, shootings become statistically predictable.”
Is it something else?
Please leave a comment.
