OP argued guns are responsible for high US homicide rates by attempting to rule out another salient difference, namely economic development.
But it’s wrong to assume that economic development is the only, or even a particularly salient difference. Asia has much lower homicide rates than Latin America, despite Asia being poorer and both having strict gun control. Similarly, the US had ten times the homicide rate of the UK even in 1900, long before significant British gun control.
The point is that comparisons with Europe and Asia overlook that the US is more like Latin America in many regards, as a post-colonial, post-slavery, low-social-trust immigrant society, than it is like other “developed countries.”
Put differently, people wave away comparisons between the US and Latin America (which also has strict gun control) on the assumption that high homicides there are caused by poverty. But Latin America is mostly middle income countries. Yet their homicide rates are vastly higher than poorer Asian countries. (Puerto Rico has the same GDP per capita as Spain, is an island with strict gun control, and has a homicide rate ten times higher than Spain.)
But it’s wrong to assume that economic development is the only, or even a particularly salient difference. Asia has much lower homicide rates than Latin America, despite Asia being poorer and both having strict gun control. Similarly, the US had ten times the homicide rate of the UK even in 1900, long before significant British gun control.
The point is that comparisons with Europe and Asia overlook that the US is more like Latin America in many regards, as a post-colonial, post-slavery, low-social-trust immigrant society, than it is like other “developed countries.”
Put differently, people wave away comparisons between the US and Latin America (which also has strict gun control) on the assumption that high homicides there are caused by poverty. But Latin America is mostly middle income countries. Yet their homicide rates are vastly higher than poorer Asian countries. (Puerto Rico has the same GDP per capita as Spain, is an island with strict gun control, and has a homicide rate ten times higher than Spain.)