reason #2 why I would never visit that country (#1 is the mass shootings and gun mania) (tbh the only thing I’d want to visit to begin with are the giant sequoia in California)

How… how much gun violence do you think actually happens here? There’s a lot by number, and that’s a serious fucking issue, but the US is also massive. It’s not a regular or frequent danger of normal life here. Even those numbers are pumped up by the fact that suicide by gun is counted in the exact same “gun violence” statistics as gang violence, and the “school shootings” statistics include all from the “gun violence” stats that occur within a certain radius around, regardless of when it happened (summer break, middle of the night, etc) or if it was any danger to students. News overfocuses on shit like that because it pulls eyes and clicks, and therefore ad revenue. Again, it is a serious fucking problem, but it’s not the kind of thing you’re going to experience in daily life or as a tourist.

Mass shootings are still proportionally a lot more common than in similar countries: There were 109 public mass shootings in the United States and 35 public mass shootings in 35 other economically and politically comparative countries between 2000 and 2022. The United States makes up 33 percent of the combined population of these 36 countries; however, it also accounts for 76 percent of public mass shooting incidents and 70 percent of victim fatalities in these countries. (source) The USA has about 5 times the general (non-suicide) homicide rate compared to the UK. Add to that the 20 times higher gun ownership rate between USA and Scotland, plus the mental health crisis and extreme political polarisation, and I would rather just not be there, you know 🤷