President Obama on ‘senseless murders’ in SC church, denies violence in ‘other advanced countries’
President Obama on Thursday called the nine deaths in the Charleston, South Carolina, church shooting “senseless murders” and suggested more gun control is needed in the wake of the tragedy. Vox raced to published faulty data supporting the President incorrect assertion – more below.
“Any death of this sort is a tragedy. Any shooting involving multiple victims is a tragedy,” said Obama, as Vice President Joe Biden stood alongside him. “There is something particularly heartbreaking about death happening in a place in which we seek solace and we seek peace.”
Later the President looked past countless examples of violence across the globe.
“But let’s be clear: at some point, we as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries. It doesn’t happen in other places with this kind of frequency. And it is in our power to do something about it. I say that recognizing the politics in this town foreclose a lot of those avenues right now. But it would be wrong for us not to acknowledge it. And at some point it’s going to be important for the American people to come to grips with it, and for us to be able to shift how we think about the issue of gun violence collectively.”
President Obama delivering a speech at the Newtown High School, telling the community “You are not alone.” photo screenshot of Reuters video
Data published by The Washington Post in 2012(in the wake of Sandy Hook) shined light on the violence in other countries, much, much more than in the US:
“…the most gun violence goes to Honduras, at 68.43 homicides by firearm per 100,000 people, even though it only has 6.2 firearms per 100 people. Other parts of South America and South Africa also rank highly, while the United States is somewhere near the mid-range.”
Guns don’t always kill people noted their writer: “…. 60 percent of U.S. homicides occur using a firearm, which is the 26th-highest rate in the world. (In other gun-permeated countries, such as Finland (45.3 guns per 100 people), only about 19 percent of homicides involve a firearm.”
The aforementioned article at Vox fails to list the South American or African violence: “United Nations data collected by the Guardian’s Simon Rogers, shows that America far and away leads Canada, Japan, and several European counterparts in gun homicides…”
THAT SAME DATA shows this fact: check it out HERE
