All this week AmericaInTheWorld is spotlighting six key arguments from Justin Webb's 'Have A Nice Day: Behind The Chiches, Giving America Another Chance'. You can purchase your copy here.
The popular view is that guns make America more dangerous. Is that true? AITW's briefing on 'America and crime' makes it clear that murder rates are higher than most developed nations but other forms of crime are less evident. This, thinks Justin Webb, could be related to America's attachment to gun ownership:
"I don't want to get bogged down in an argument about statistics, but anecdotally there is simply no question that the right to defend a home changes the dynamic when someone comes calling without permission in the middle of the night. British people know this. They might be told that gun violence in the US is appalling, and in many respects it is, but in gun-free (legal gun-free) Britain do we feel safer? Or are we whistling in the dark?"
> Also see "America's safety-catch" by Justin Webb.
> The three previous parts of this series have looked at: Americans and foreign travel, America's capacity for self-correction and America as the flawed but still best hope for humanity's oppressed.
