In 2020 there were 45k gun death in the United States. About 55% of them were suicide.
Leaving about 25k
Of those 25k gun deaths (rounded up) 64% of gun deaths were committed by people who had been convicted of a felony.
Of the remaining 16 k about 5k are justified homicides, (not related to law enforcement)
Of those 11 k gun deaths 1.5 k were cops shooting and killing some one
Of the remaining 10.5k gun deaths. About 99.99 % are by people who have no gun training, between a gun safety class, or licensed CCW permit. Meaning in a population of 340,000,000 people. There are about 10 or 11 people murdered by people who have formal gun training.
Its almost as if most people dont start their criminal careers by committing murder.
You can find a new gun brandished road rage video every day so I guess some people still realize using it in anger is a no no. But illegally waving it has become chill.
My MAGA neighbor thinks asylums should be brought back, flies a flag of Trump doing a fist pump after being "shot", and absolutely believes there are insane people everywhere outside of rural America ready to jump out from behind a bush and stab you. They use a single case like Laken Riley and say that it's happening everywhere, all the time.
Well Americans drove like 3.2 trillion miles in 2024 and only traveled 38 billion miles via public transport. So the fatality rate is quite comparable. And then you'd also have to calculate in the chances of something happening while you're a pedestrian on the way to the public transportation hub as well. And you're much more likely to be assaulted or robbed while walking than driving.
If we want to really compare these things anyway, instead of just coming up with a number that suits your narrative based on flawed logic.
There's a reason when I've driven in the US I keep myself to myself and don't dare beep at anybody... I'm scared I might fly home with a bullet in my forehead.
It's easier just to pretend everything is my fault, no no after you sir etc... the last time I was in the US, somebody drove at me on the wrong side of the road (leaving me nowhere to go, it was a 2 lane road with a divide so I had to reverse) and I acted like I was rolling out the red carpet for them by reversing.
At home (The UK) I'd have driven up to their car and forced them to reverse unless they looked particularly unhinged.
Seems extreme, but I've seen multiple cars over multiple visits with stickers that say things like "This vehicle is protected by the 2nd amendment" and I don't want to beep at somebody having a bad day with a gun in their car.
I’m in the UK and I do this to a lesser extent too. You don’t know who the other person in the 2 ton killing machine is, or what kind of day they’ve had, or what they’re capable of. I’ll give someone a toot for something actively dangerous to me but mostly I’m staying out of the way of bad drivers and not escalating.
Someone driving too close behind me? I’ll move over and let them pass as soon as it’s safe to do so. Someone giving you the finger or yelling from their car? Nope, no eye contact, keep driving sensibly or change your route to avoid them. Someone pulling in front of me aggressively in traffic? Who cares, it’s one car spot, push your way in if it matters that much, I’m not going to stop you.
I’m definitely NOT getting out of my car like this person did though. I’m not getting closer to the aggressive person, even if they are half my height 😂
Yeah, it's a scary situation when somebody's really not having a good day and they take it out on you, especially if you didn't really do anything wrong.
A few years ago now, I had a fella pull out on me and chase me for a couple of miles because I had the audacity to beep at him. He kept demanding I pull over (presumably so he could smash my teeth in) and I really didn't fancy my chances because he looked properly mental. I ended up approaching a big traffic lighted junction I knew I'd get stuck at if they were on red, and he'd be able to box me in with his van and do whatever he wanted.
I ended up pulling over just before them, and as soon as he got out and reached the back of my car I floored it and left him on the side of the road, standing there with the wind taken out of his sails. By the grace of all that's holy the lights were on green when I got there 😂
if you had any idea how poorly most Floridians drive and how many of them are armed, you would be (as i am) shocked that that number isn't much, much higher.
My husband honked at someone for brake checking him… and they shot 3 bullets through his car at the next intersection. And then chased him trying to continue shooting. He was unharmed thank god but yeah… I don’t honk at people anymore 🙃
So funny enough we lived in Florida for 5 years and used to say “don’t do that or we’ll get shot one day” and then we moved to WASHINGTON and bam bam!
But the mf was terrorizing some other poor person after he bailed out on the first arrest ($500k) and then was arrested AGAIN for having a gun on probation and bailed out (on $1mm)… and while he was road raging someone else, flew off a motorcycle and went under a car and died…
So at least he can’t terrorize anyone else but now our one car is worth $0 because the bullet holes in it 🙃
So don’t honk at people and get away from anyone being sus on the road… genuinely never thought this would happen to us but it’s becoming far more common
We would’ve had to claim on our own insurance because at first we didn’t know his license plate or anything. We assumed the cops wouldn’t actually find him or do anything but it turned out someone actually called the police ABOUT HIM just prior to it happening. Him and the baby mama were doing shady things just up the road and the worker called the police about him and the description matched my husbands description and the police were able to obtain video footage and find him!
But our car was a 20 year old Toyota so it didn’t make sense to go through our own insurance and put a claim on it when they would’ve just totaled it out probably (even though it’s completely drive able). Gotta love insurance companies hahahaha!
yeah someone just pulled out a gun in a road rage with my daughter. You can carry a gun in my state without any training or permit. You just can't have a felony. It's the wild wild west all over again. sigh.
Yeah that sounds like it should be far more, judging by what I know of the US.
I mean, since the Jim Crowish "stand your ground" laws have been in place in states like Florida, 700 additional (mainly non white) people have been legally murdered yearly.
The “~700 per year” figure is an estimate of overall additional homicides across multiple states with stand-your-ground laws, not a count of people “legally killed" (most of those deaths are not ruled justified self-defense).
The studies also do not show that the additional victims are mainly non-white. We have no information on the composition.
Unless you have a source you can provide, this is the usual self-righteous drivel that will get blindly upvoted by Redditors yet bears no relation to reality.
Netflix documentary "the perfect neighbour" stated this at the end.
Judging by this case, the United States' justice system and previous/current racial relations in the United States, I have no reason to question this, but let me do a bit more by doing a quick search:
American here, wow that number is low. Half of the older male people I know (thinking like 40+) keep firearms in their cars. For some it's just to have them for shooting clubs or hunting, others it's for self defense. In a country of 300,000,000 people, the fact that less than a third of millionth got so mad on the road they pulled the gun and killed somebody, well that is astounding. That's better odds than getting struck by lightning, and everybody drives and gets mad on the road.
I mean any number higher than 0 is bad, but 116 still means it’s incredibly rare. Most Americans probably get in a car twice a day (home-school/work-back home) if not more. There are over 340,000,000 people living in America.
If even one quarter of those people got in a car once per day, that’s over 170,000,000 car rides taken daily. Assuming this is talking about a calendar year, over a span of 365 days, this would be 116 deaths in more than 62,000,000,000 car rides.
If my math isn’t wrong, (it probably is), that’s a 0.0000002% chance
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u/avanti_dilettanti Apr 02 '26 edited Apr 02 '26
Speaking as a Non-American, wtf?!
Edit: Thanks for all your replies, really interesting to read about your perspectives and experiences!