US 'leads developed world in murder': article

NEW YORK - The attempted kidnapping of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was a heinous and despicable act that reflects an increasingly toxic US political culture, and also reflects a nation that leads the developed world in murder, said an opinion piece published on the website of Bloomberg on Friday.

"No other high-income country even approaches the US murder rate, and the primary reason is simple: No other country makes it so easy for dangerous people to acquire guns -- and to carry them, without any safety training requirements," said the article authored by Michael R. Bloomberg, the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.

Knives, of course, can kill people. So can hammers. But they are far less likely to kill their targets, to kill innocent bystanders, to kill children who stumble across them, to kill people who are gathered in schools, malls, theaters, houses of worship and other public places -- or to kill people in their own homes, said the article.

In the attempted kidnapping, a delusional, hammer-wielding assailant broke into the speaker's home and left her husband, Paul, severely wounded. "The fact is: Paul Pelosi is likely alive because his assailant did not have a gun," said the article.

"Speaker Pelosi has been a strong champion of gun-safety legislation. But many common-sense measures -- such as closing the loopholes that allow guns to be sold without background checks and requiring people to complete a safety course before buying a gun -- have been blocked by members of Congress who do the bidding of the gun industry and its lobbyists, who are more interested in maximizing profits from gun sales than protecting the public from violent crime," it added.