Mass killings per capita / per country ???

[wacki]

Are there any statistics anywhere of the mass killings (including but not limited to shooting sprees) per country/capita?

I'm curious as to how far (if any) we are ahead of the curve on that one.






....got in a debate tonight thanks to George Costanza's rant.

I'm already armed with Samurai, Mountie & Cowboy, Switzerland stats, pre-ban and post ban crime rates for England, etc. But the argument regarding shooting sprees is one I don't have any data on. A death is a death in my book, but it's an interesting (even if irrelevant) argument.

 

[MachIVshooter]

Oh, I think it's a safe bet that we're in the lead among developed nations. I won't speculate about the reasons other than to say it's what happens when you have 300 million people comprised of every imaginable race, creed, religion, socio-economic status and other divisive factor in one country.

 

[JagerRanger]

I quite certain that we have the most mass murders, but the Norwegian nut managed to shoot and bomb quite a statistics. I don't know any attack in the US with such casualties.

 

[macadore]

I quite certain that we have the most mass murders, but the Norwegian nut managed to shoot and bomb quite a statistics. I don't know any attack in the US with such casualties.

I think Mexico has more mass murders per capita than we do.

 

[MachIVshooter]

I think Mexico has more mass murders per capita than we do.

I don't doubt that, among many other undeveloped nations. But compared to other developed countries, pretty sure we lead the pack.

 

[wacki]

It doesn't seem like anybody really knows the answer to this. Murder stats are easy to find (whether or not they are accurate).

Seems like shooting sprees per capita stats don't really exist.

 

[Gunnerboy]

My vote goes to Russia

 

[hso]

You would need to focus just on mass murders carried out by individuals to make it relevant.

Wiki has a list they point out is not exhaustive. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rampage_killers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rampage_killers:_Americas
I'd recommend going through the references there to determine whether each entry is sufficiently similar to Aurora to be relevant. Toss out anything before a relevant date (1965?). I'd also recommend converting the gross numbers into rates. Take the population at the time for the area under consideration and divide it into the number of mass murders. If the rate of mass murders was the same across the world a large country like the U.S. with 300 million population will produce more murders while having the same rate as a smaller country. I'd separate the "Americas" into North and South and I might further separate North into U.S. and Canada and decide whether Mexico was lumped in with North America or South. I'd keep much of the killings in Europe, but separate the ones in Russia out.

Just a quick count after some parsing puts the U.S. in the same ball park as Europe for just the number of killings (although our body count is higher). Canada comes nowhere near us for mass killings. Mexico is actually lower as well.

 

[22-rimfire]

Mass murder? The Jews during WWII, Cambodia, various African countries, Iraq, Vietnam.... our "mass murders" are nothing, but at least they aren't government sanctioned.

 

[Kachok]

Gunnerboy "My vote goes to Russia"

Lived there, not that bad unless you count the mob killings, and the turf wars, and the........nevermind I guess it really is that bad.

 

[rajb123]

per capita, norway leads by a long shot.... its a small country and they had a madman kill 75 last summer, i beleive...

 

[The_Armed_Therapist]

I remember watching an episode of "Bones" not long after the shooting in Norway. It was mentioned that Norway has about the lowest murder rate in the world... about 1/year. My jaw dropped as I thought about how their murder rate increased by 80,000%.

 

[Frank Ettin]

Wiki has a list they point out is not exhaustive. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rampage_killers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rampage_killers:_Americas

The Wiki lists illustrates, IMHO, some interesting features:

• Rampage killings aren't new.
  
  
• While many rampage killers use guns, quite a few managed to kill a lot of people with other weapons, including cars and knives. Note, for example, Priscilla Ford who, in 1980 in Reno, Nevada used her car to kill 7 and injure 22 people.
  
  
• Note also the list "Other Notable Incidents" at the bottom of the first link. Some of the most horrific rampage murders in history were carried out without firearms -- by arson, poisoning or explosion. Some might have been terrorist acts, but others appear to be the usual acting out of a deranged, angry killer.
  
  
• So rampage killing don't only happen when someone has a gun.

 

[Millwright]

The U.S. wouldn't even be a ripple on the chart since the dawn of 20th century. Just look how many were killed in Uganda, Nigeria, etc just in the past couple of decades. OTOH, if you're looking for civilian/civilian mass shootings in the U.S. then Colefax and a couple of other mining related incidents come to mind, but don't forget Henry Ford's use of rent-a-cops and MGs at Detroit in the 20's.

FTM, the Aurora, CO count can't even come close to gun-free Chicago on almost any weekend, or often Detroit. The only thing making Aurora noticeable is its location. >MW

 

[ol' scratch]

Am I the only person who remembers the Bath Michigan School Killings? It was the deadliest killing in a US school and GUNS weren't used. It also happened in 1927.

 

[hso]

Homicide rates are what are relevant, not shootings.

Politically or religious motivated shootings are not relevant to our argument.

 

[X-JaVeN-X]

I don't doubt that, among many other undeveloped nations. But compared to other developed countries, pretty sure we lead the pack.

I look at it more as "undeveloped" people...some areas have more than others.

 

[alsaqr]

Am I the only person who remembers the Bath Michigan School Killings?

Yep, Andrew Kehoe was the mass murderer of his day. Kehoe's bloody record stood until Tim McVeigh came along.

 

[Milamber]

Do a rotation at the ER in Soweto and the whole guns kill argument becomes lost, for there its hatchets and machetes!

 

[chevyman097]

sierra leon....

 

[MachIVshooter]

Mexico is actually lower as well.

Reported, anyway....

Politically or religious motivated shootings are not relevant to our argument.

Well, that doesn't leave many mass killings, period. And we still don't know that the Aurora one wasn't political or religious. It doesn't appear that way prima facie, but we hardly have all the answers at this point.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

I remember watching an episode of "Bones" not long after the shooting in Norway. It was mentioned that Norway has about the lowest murder rate in the world... about 1/year. My jaw dropped as I thought about how their murder rate increased by 80,000%.

He killed about 80, not 800. An increase of 1 would be 100% if your 1 per year is accurate. So 80x100=8000, so 8000%, not 80,000%.

However, the murder rate of Norway is about .68 per 100,000. Norway's population is about 4,952,000. So they get about 33 or 34 murders per year. So he murdered about 242% more than the yearly average.

You should not take your facts from a fictional TV show.

Homicide rates are what are relevant, not shootings.

Politically or religious motivated shootings are not relevant to our argument.

Then Honduras blows every one else away, Russia, Mexico, and Norway, combined.

 

[CmdrSlander]

If we look at individual incidents (divided up by gunman and specific time) I'll bet the US in the lead. However, if we look at mass killings carried out by paramilitary organizations in places like the Balkans then other countries will be in the lead. Some would say these are different incidents. IMHO they aren't. Both are essentially individual(s) driven by ideology or madness to slaughter innocent, likely disarmed people. Oh, I think it's a safe bet that we're in the lead among developed nations.

"I won't speculate about the reasons other than to say it's what happens when you have 300 million people comprised of every imaginable race, creed, religion, socio-economic status and other divisive factor in one country."

I think the reason we don't have more mass killings similar to those in areas like the Balkans is because, unlike those regions, race, religion, color, creed and socioeconomic status have no bearing on whether or not someone can acquire a firearm, this forces possible aggressors into considering that their prey may in fact be as well armed as they are. Because of this, only true madmen actually carry out mass killings, as opposed to more ethnically divided regions wherein 'normal' people can be swept up into what are, effectively, death squads by nationalist ferver and can do what they do knowing they will face little resistance.

 

[Garak]

Finland's pretty high on the list, I'd guess. We have only 5 million people, but we've had three school shootings (one was thankfully victimless), a shopping mall massacre and a drive-thru restaurant triple murder, plus fifteen familicides in the last five years alone.

Truly the happiest country in the world.

 

[One_Jackal]

If you only count the mass murders were a firearm was used the US has to be in the lead. But if you can mass murders no matter how they are carried out some European countries are way ahead of the US. When it comes to killing a bunch of people the firearm is not the most effective weapon.