Violence in the South isn't related to gun ownership. It's mostly caused by racism. If the rest of the country was as racist as the South and didn't allow the same opportunities for minorities, there would be more violence. Of course getting rid of the guns would help all over despite the other related factors.

the perception of power (and need for the same) takes many terrifying forms....

Heard the same thing in the Daily Show!

This Republican argument is a logical fallacy of informal logic: Correlation doesn't equal causation. In fact, it's really not even a correlation. You need at least three data points to accurately interpret a trend.

The Republican, conservative gun lunatics who control things around here were pretty much absent.

Speaking of which, what does this thread have to do with the Daily Show with Jon Stewart Group, anyway? I found no mention of Jon or TDSWJS in either of your links.

This seems like one of those things where the evidence can be used to draw opposite conclusions -- in other words, the evidence is useless for this debate.

Most criminologists would tell you crimes rates are related to how many young males there are.

Of course there are dozens of other factors too.