Reality Check

Not long ago I received an email entitled "Reality Check." One chart in the email revealed that the United States ranked third in murders out of 193 countries. However, the chart noted that if Chicago; Detroit; Washington, D.C.; New Orleans; and St. Louis were dropped from the statistics, the United States would fall to 189th. Since most murders are committed with guns, I thought this chart revealed just how skewed statistics involving firearms can be; and I began a column centered on the chart.

Before submitting the column to the Herald, I figured I'd better check to make certain these statis...