General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: How Many People Have Been Shot Near You This Year? [View all]Igel
(35,296 posts)Mostly accidental if they're very nearby. Kids with guns in a neighborhood where stats keep telling me gun ownership should be very low. Mostly minority single-family residences. There's a spike not far from me in single-residence low-income public-assistance housing. I was surprised to see that the shooting rate was that high. I'm not going to share this with my wife.
This all tells me that the stats are probably really wrong--when you look at demographics about gun ownership, illegal firearms aren't always reported, those owned by teens and adult children at home aren't always acknowledged. Stats are only as good as their assumptions, and one assumption is honesty. We cite them, as do everybody else, uncritically when they support our already-held views.
A decent percentage were police shootings in a primarily minority area. Most of the time there are at least two deaths. One by the hands of the policeman. One by the hands of the guy (usually) the policeman killed. Most are black or Latino. Most are in apt. complexes or at bars/clubs. I keep waiting for a movement to protest their deaths, but that's internal and therefore it's inappropriate to mention the problem.
Houston is fairly racially and economically segregated. You cross a certain street lined with businesses and that map suddenly shows nearly no shootings, accidental, homicidal, or police. It shows some, but if you click on the tack to see the address you find that the address doesn't match the tack. Database error. One side is minority (black or Latino) with larger families, low-ed/low-income (the two are closely correlated, as are income and family size).