Do Americans live in constant fear of random acts of violence?

I’m scared about someone shooting up my school.

I still think its a great place to live based only on opportunities and the privilege Americans have over other countries.

And what are those privileges, @SergeantQueen ?
Compared to countries like England,Australia, or Canada.

Yes you don’t know who is going to start shooting in some neighborhoods.

Some kids like @SergeantQueen wonder if their school is the next.

I can’t speak for others, of course.

I don’t worry about shootings, mass or otherwise. I go about my business every day – to work, stores, post office, and so on. If I worried about stuff like that then I would never go out of my house.

Statistically, it is much more likely that I will be killed in a car accident than in a shooting,

So, no – when I am out doing things like going to stores or movies or anything else, I don’t even give a thought to a person with a gun.

Same as @elbanditoroso. Of course, I also moved out of Wichita when my neighborhood started going down hill. I moved to a much safer place. I have to say, though, random acts of people, especially woman, being aggressive asshole rednecks over nothing seem to have escalated recently.

I had to fight bullies from 4 – 15 years old. It was a constant threat. I’ve had knives at my neck and shot with a bb gun loaded with dried spaghetti . I’ve had bricks thrown at my head. It became a daily activity and I turned lemons into lemonade by experimenting with fighting. It stopped when I got 6’5” and people just left me alone at school. Not all Canadians are nice. I met some real jerks. Most of the time I got my digs in when I could. I broke some teeth from a gang leader and kneecaps from one bully who was 5 years older than me.

There are many places in the USA where I could go and hear gunshots throughout the day. People who live there learn to deal with it.

Personally I’m not afraid of someone shooting up whatever location I might happen to be in. If it did happen, I’d deal with it as sanely and safely as possible, looking out for other people as well. I would like to take a self defense class in the future, and I also have a friend who’s a school marshal I think I’ll pick their brain too.

We in America are encouraged to be afraid through the sensational deluge of disaster reporting. The truth of course is that the actual chance of any random American suffering foul play is miniscule. We’re orders of magnitude more likely to be victims of dull routine traffic accidents or spousal abuse.

I do not live in fear, in Chicago, which has a reputation. The violence here is mostly among young gang members.

And I have spent time in neighborhoods where I would hear gunfire every day, and still I did not feel a threat. I was background noise to the gang guys, just some random white guy doing his day job.

What people from other countries tend to forget, is that we are an enormous country, with a huge population that is fantastically diverse, all the different cultures, languages, customs make for a somewhat confusing demographic. Tensions are multiplied and anger begets violence. On the other hand, because of some of those very same reasons, we tend to develop a strong sense of community.

There are so many places here that are not all about gun violence and danger. Reports of that are what make the news, but when you take into account the size of the land mass, and the large population, it’s not totally surprising.

That said, as an American, I find it a scary place to live compared to what I once knew, growing up, but still a pretty good quality of life can be had here.

There are a number of non-American users on this site who just love, from a place of international-news-only ignorance to make assumptions about everyone’s way of life here.

It’s easy to take pot shots at an entire group from the safety of an anonymous username in a lesser populated area with a non-diverse population.

@SQUEEKY2 Was talking about 3rd world countries.

We are not the worst country in terms of shootings, murders, rapes, and whatnot. here and you want to talk about those countries you mentioned, it Appears they have a higher crime rate
We have a lot of freedoms and the such that other countries don’t, regardless of what you may think.

And I feel that being born in America, you are automatically at a higher level than those born in other countries and I mean that based on the freedoms we have, not in a race/gender/ whatever way. I mean that because we have the right to know whats going on in our government although that may not always happen or it may sometimes be slanted, we still get it as opposed to other countries

You won’t get murdered or killed by the government for saying bad things against politicians, or for having extreme political views.

You pretty much get the chance to do whatever it is you want in life, even though some may have more of an advantage and others have to work more for it.

Some people are born with less but it’s still possible for them to succeed. They don’t have to forever be behind

It depends on where you are and when you’re there, and what you look like. There are some parts of some cities that I’d say are dangerous, and some rural places that are somewhat dangerous, and some places where skin color or religion or sexual orientation may end up having people get targeted by someone.

Most places seem quite safe, however.

Although I’m concerned with the increased shootings here, I don’t let it rule my life by worrying about it constantly. IF it’s something I can fix, I work to fix it. IF it’s something over which I have NO control, I go on with my life for I believe what will happen will happen no matter how much you worry because worrying stops nothing!!!

I also believe that the news media feel they are “in control” when they are able to instill fear in our hearts. They can take a mildly disturbing story & turn it into the worst thing happening!!! All in all we live a good life here & I try to put the positive over the negatives on a daily basis!!!

The only thing I fear is distracted drivers.

Vigilant, yes. Living in fear? No…

I think it depends where you are. For the most part I don’t think about it, but if I’m alone walking in a desolated area I have my antennas up. If I’m in an area that has a lot of crime, I think about it too. I walk quickly, I’m not looking at my phone, I’m looking up, and I try not to wear or do anything that would attract attention.

Where I live now I have fleeting moment where I might worry about safety, but the majority of the time I don’t think about it at all. We have town squares with crowds and people eating outside and listening to music and dancing in the public areas and we feel safe. There has been some violence here, but few and far between.

One of my relatives doesn’t want to go to movie theatres anymore, which I think is really over the top. She drives ridiculously fast, but is worried about being shot in a movie theatre? It makes no logical sense. What are the chances of being shot in a theatre? Not high.

America is huge, our population is huge. Statistically our country is still fairly safe, although it would be nice if it were safer.

^Agreed. It’s certainly regional. But it’s wise to be aloof, wherever you are. IMO.

A few months ago the was a string of muggings a block away from my apartment. Funny thing is it was clearly the same group of people doing the muggings but when asked the race it wildly differed. I live on campus the the police presence exploded. Campus must be safe or people won’t sent their kids here.

So they stopped.

I wasn’t all that concerned. I just stopped carrying valuable stuff. Not a big deal if you get my wallet and the only thing in it is a fiver and my debit card and ID are in my sock.

Then shit got real.

A 19 year old guy was walking down the street and grabbed and pulled into a car. Driven to a park and raped. Pretty sure this was the same group of guys.

This is when I modified my behavior. I’m cool with being mugged.. Not cool with rape.

Luckily the people stopped the mugging and rape.

However.. Pretty sure they just moved on to a place with less cops.

This was actually interesting and horrifying. I now know what it feels like to be a female. My weekend of torture being afraid of rape is what every female I know goes through on a daily basis. And that is not acceptable.

I understand what you are saying. But it’s not the same as a lifetime of such issues. As I’m sure you know….

There are many levels of victims…

I have been sexualy assaulted, many times, by females. But I am told that I don’t feel the “intimidation” factor. Which I have to claim that at least on a physical level, I don’t . But, it is still an abuse of power.

There are different ways of being assaulted. Different reasons for it working for the attacker, and being a hazard for the victim. What shouldn’t be different, is that all people stepping over lines, should be held accountable…

I’ll add that I have traveled to many countries, and for the most part I feel the same as in America regarding safety.

In Japan I felt the safest, because I knew their stats are incredibly low (although there is also speculation that crime is underreported) but still in Japan I worried the same about keeping my purse over my neck and across my chest, or gripped in my hand. They supposedly were having an uptick in pickpocket type activity.

In Colombia I didn’t feel constantly on alert, but the awareness of kidnappings was there. The company my husband was there with provided us with an armed driver though. We weren’t with him constantly though, but the majority of the time we were.

Nope. It doesn’t even cross my mind.
We do hear gunshots regularly but they are from hunters the wildlife management area or neighbors shooting in their back fields.
We do not lock our doors or cars.

Do you know where my house key is? I don’t either.

I live in Scotland but I have lived in Alabama and I have spent a fair bit of time in China recently. Alabama was very quiet and peaceful but if you wander into the wrong area, as I did a few times, it can feel a little intimidating. You get stared at, mostly out of curiosity, but it can be a bit unnerving. China felt the safest to me, safer even than Scotland my home country. Wherever I went in China people seemed the same, a little distant but respectful and if I had a problem of any kind and they spoke English they were extraordinarily helpful. I was sometimes stared at in China but never in a way that unnerved me. In some places they just aren’t used to foreigners.

No, I don’t live in fear at all. I also don’t see other people living in fear, from violence.

I am not frightened at all on adaily basis but this year I am glad I don’t have kids in the public school system (for other reasons as well.)

I grew up around violence. To me it’s just something that happens and no matter how fearful or careful you are, sometimes shit is just going to happen. I’m not going to waste my life in fear of something I have so little control over.

THANKS!!!