Is the US really becoming more violent?

Comedian Simon Brodkin once asked, ‘If I had a phone, am I more or less likely to make a call than someone without one?’ In this episode of Conflicts of Interest, Professor Clionadh Raleigh and Dr Caitriona Dowd unpack the narratives around gun violence and political violence in the United States, and interrogate where they come from. Drawing on data and analysis from ACLED, the hosts explore the distinction between political violence and criminal gun violence, and why the two are so often conflated in public debate.The conversation looks at why Americans report feeling less safe even when certain forms of violence are declining, how high-profile attacks skew perception, and how US gun violence compares to political violence patterns seen elsewhere in the world. Rather than treating the United States as an outlier, the episode places it in a broader global context, asking what is genuinely changing, and what is being amplified by media cycles and political rhetoric.#GunViolence #PoliticalViolence #UnitedStates #PublicSafetyFor more conversations like this, subscribe to Conflicts of Interest and watch the full episode on YouTube. Conflicts of Interest: https://www.youtube.com/@ConflictsOfInterestACLED📱 Did you know you can follow Conflicts of Interest on TikTok?