Is there something about people in the state of TX that makes them more violent?

What’s a tower restaurant killer?

@iamthemob I think it was supposed to be “tower, restaurant, and random act killers”... @silky1, commas are your friend!

That makes more sense. I was thinking that’s a pretty specific type of killer.

Easy access to guns.

Gun laws that allow concealed carry.

Yes, the cultural conversations about violence and weaponry are relatively aggressive and affirming there, compared to other parts of the USA. Probably other cultural factors too that I’m not expert enough to have an informed opinion about, though I could speculate.

@marinelife, wrong. Most states are “shall issue” for concealed carry permits and these states’ crime rates run the spectrum from high to extremely low. Vermont, which has zero requirements for concealed or open carry of firearms is among the safest states in the US. States with restrictive carry or weapons laws also are among the most dangerous (as well as most populous. Also, concealed carry permit holders committed less than 1% of murders by firearm- a statistic that also happens to include suicides.

How about instead of making broad-brush claims about how inanimate objects somehow make people inherently more violent, we examine issues such as population, poverty, etc. to address the issue of violent crime? Also, @silky1, do you have any statistics to back up your claim that Texas is somehow more inherently violent than other states other than a television show?

Also, as I am really uninterested in getting involved in yet another gun control debate on Fluther, I would appreciate if anyone who wants to debate with me would take a look at this document first. Yes, it has an obvious agenda, but it is very well documented using reliable sources. Page 49 is particularly relevant to this discussion.

Without any knowledge of what these events were, it’s hard to speculate. School shootings have certainly been spread around. It’s hard to count Austin and ignore Columbine. In fact the worst school shooting happened in Virginia , 32 dead. I find it surprising to chalk this up to concealed weapons since most are done with rifles.

I’m afraid you’d have to be a bit more specific on the details to get any reasonable evaluation.

TX is a very big state. So there is going to be more of everything going on there. Saying Texans are more violent because there is easy access to guns is wrong and has a certain agenda pushing smell to it. What was this TV show? Could it have been one with an agenda to push? And who produced it? We have to know these things before taking these claims seriously. From my personal experience, Texans seem to be quite friendly compared to the rest of the country and way more amicable than anywhere in the North.