WebsterMark wrote on 02/12/13 at 05:03:19:polite reply to WebsterMark's sarcasm,
I wasn't being sarcastic Mpes; i was pointing out you were tossing out numbers as facts which are not even close to being correct.
Fact is; as Jerry pointed out elsewhere; remove the gang shootings and gun violence in the US drops to almost nothing. The girl in Chicago who was in Hopey's inauguration was killed by gang members mistaking her for another gang member who 'invaded their turf". Excuse me punk, but you don’t have a turf….
I’ve been to Italy twice and spent a day in Bergamo just walking around all day. Walked all the way down the hill because the tram was out of service and then roamed the town. Never felt unsafe at all. Why? Was it lack of guns? No. Honestly, and we all know this is the reason; almost everyone has the same color skin. Gun crime in the US is centered around inner city gangs which are chiefly populated by Black Americans. After years and years of immigration, we now have heavy Hispanic gangs as well.
You’re right to a certain degree Mpes; the American culture is to blame. But the reality is, it’s the self-destructive nature of American Black culture that is at the heart of it. That’s why in my mind it was so disappointing for the majority of Hispanic voters to fall in step behind Obama and the Democrats. If they follow the lead of Black Americans and become comfortable with welfare and handouts, if they become comfortable with substandard living conditions; if they become comfortable with being told to accept their fate rather than pursue a better lifestyle, then the US is completely screwed.
I had to highlight these two statements, because they deserve to be commented.
1. Webstermark, check my statements with post #20, check out the US and Italy, then ask yourself why I do not feel at risk walking the streets after dark.
Indeed, you'd be surprised there's more traffic in Rome around midnight than there is at dinnertime !
Why ? Because people go out and enjoy themselves, that's why !
2. Webstermark, if you only cared looking around yourself when in Bergamo, you'd have noticed political symbols in the shape of a green, six-pointed leaf all over the place

This symbol, once known as "the Flower of Life", was adopted by a far-right political party which has a territorial identity, more than a political identity: this land is my land and if you are an immigrant you don't belong here.
By your (USA) terms, imagine living in NYC or Boston, and anybody coming from south of the Potomac being booed at, hissed at and (not so) politely invited to pack and leave and go home...
We don't have blacks, true; we do have our more than fair share of Albanians, Rumanians, Moldovans, Ukrainians, Bulgarians, Peruvians, Philipinos, not to mention Moroccans, Tunisians, Egyptians and now Kurds and Afghanis.
Are they all criminals and terrorists ? No, most of them are starving desperadoes who'd rather enslave themselves to slave merchants and starve in Europe, than starve back home (and get shot at by drones).
BUT there are criminals among themm, and guess what? You can't tell a southern Italian from a Tunisian or a Moroccan, any more than you can tell an illegal immigrant from Brazil... from Bill Cosby.
So, IT IS about the overall character of a specific society.
Call it culture, call it heritage, call it anthropological qualities, the result is the same.
Italy, murder rate 1.2 (30th)
U K , murder rate 2.1 (50th)
U S A murder rate 5.6 (78th)
H3LL !!! I'd be safer off living in Gaza !!! (74th with 4.0)

PS You're welcome to come again and enjoy the night life in Rome