A common narrative is that homicide rates are driven by poverty and guns.
We often hear if we could just do something about poverty and limit the ownership of guns that we would not see the homicide rates we do in cities like Washington, D.C., New Orleans, Memphis and Chicago.
That makes a good talking point until you consider the state of West Virginia.
Just look at West Virginia to test that premise.
West Virginia is one of the poorest states in the union.
The poverty rate of 16.7% is the third highest in the nation.
Only Mississippi, Louisiana and New Mexico have more people living in poverty.
West Virginia is also in the top 3 states for gun ownership.
60% of households own a firearm.
What does West Virginia not have a lot of?
Young people.
The median age of the population of West Virginia is 43.
Only Maine has an older median age.
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| Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/C4OqATAtmZO/ |
West Virginia also has one the lowest percentages of African Americans in the nation.
Only 3.6% of the population is Black.
West Virginia also has one of the lowest rates of gun related deaths in the nation despite its high poverty rate and its levels of gun ownership.
West Virginia's rate of firearms deaths is about 1/7 of the District of Columbia and 1/5 of Louisiana and Mississippi.
It has far fewer gun related deaths than all southern states.
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| Source: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/mapped-gun-related-deaths-by-state/ |
When you simply look at the state of West Virginia the argument that poverty and guns drive homicides and gun violence starts to fall apart rather quickly.
I guess it will remain a mystery as to what drives gun related violence.
Does anyone have another theory based on the data?
Fewer kids, but more precisely ... fewer black kids.
ReplyDeleteI think the data you have presented makes the reader jump to a conclusion which may not meet the political correctness rules. Maybe be there is more data. Unfortunately Beeline has made me lazy as I have come to rely it for all my US data needs. So I will just stick with my original conclusion.
ReplyDeleteThe two other data points that might be relevant are urban vs, rural living and number of single parent households. However, both seem to point in the same direction.
DeleteBorn and raised in NM I frequently debate an older sister who now lives in CA and feverishly opposes guns. My argument to her is our student parking lot was littered with trucks that had not only gun racks but rifles mounted on them. The difference between now and today is you saw all those boys in church with their married parents every Sunday. We still hunt and raise farm animals. My only other explanation is not race but wealth/class warfare.
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