Most Dangerous Cities

A new survey of the world’s most deadly cities show that the top 33 are in the Americas, with the vast majority along the drug highway in North America and northern South America, beginning with San Pedro Sula, Honduras, followed by Ciudad Juarez. This includes New Orleans and Detroit. At #34 sits Cape Town. Mosul is #44. What do all these cities in the Americas have in common? I can think of two things. First, they are on the road to the United States for drugs. Second, the all have violence fueled by the loose gun laws of the United States. While it would be naive to argue that legalizing marijuana would completely solve these problems (drug gangs are already transitioning into kidnapping, extortion, illegal logging, and other illicit activities), ending the war on some people who do some drugs would sure make a huge difference.

The second thing Americans could do would be enacting reasonable gun control legislation. Since we will do neither, we can expect these horrible numbers to continue. White Republicans will talk about the savage nature of brown people killing each other and demand ever higher walls on the border, either unaware or unconcerned with how the policies they espouse fuel these horrors.