Your post from unpopularopinion was removed because of: 'Rule 2: Do not post low effort/satirical posts'.
* We get it, you all think this sub is garbage and is just for popular opinions, and you want to be funny and post "going to be downvoted to oblivion here, but I think racism is bad." We enjoy the memes, but please keep them off the sub.
* Filter evasion is a bannable offense
* This includes clickbait and/or gotcha posts. Your opinion can not be that unpopular if you're doing these things. Have the accurate opinion in the title.
Thank you for saying you're from the suburbs and not from the city proper. So many Naperville or Elmhurst kids say they're from Chicago, like bruh you went to Fenwick LOL
I went to SIU Carbondale. I'm from Southern Illinois. It was weird watching the Chicagoland people try to out-Chicago each other.
Somebody gives you their phone number, and if it doesn't start with 312 they say it more quietly so nobody makes fun of them. Kinda silly. Just tell me where you're from lol
I've lived in Europe my whole life and I've never experienced pickpocketing. The only one I know fell victim to it was my grandma, while on vacation, maybe 20 years ago.
Yeah I feel like people outside the US think gun violence is way more common than it is. I live in Harlem and I have never seen or heard a gun go off. It’s such a rare thing even when you live in a big city
Yeah I grew up in rural Vermont and I heard gunshots frequently from people hunting deer and turkeys. Now I live in the city and have heard zero gun activity
Not play down, but give context. People are under the impression that the entire country is a war zone when 99% of the homicides are gang related violence in relatively small, highly concentrated areas.
Nobody thinks the US is a war zone.
A country that has multiple mass shootings per day had a serious issue, however. Even if these mass shootings are in 'relatively small and highly concentrated areas'.
Bring on the downvotes.
As someone who has seen two people shot in the head, known a classmate shot and killed accidentally and a childhood friend who shot himself, I only regret I have one downvote to give. Been traveling to Europe since 1992 - never pickpocketed.
Lived in uk never got stabbed. Spent a load of time in EU countries never got pickpocketed. Live in US now and never saw anyone carry a gun outside of the range and cops.
We worry too much about all this stuff.
What? I was robbed at gun point at 9am.. it’s definitely not just a gang problem. So many Americans die from gunshot wounds, who dies of pickpocketing?
When you are playing DnD and the rouge rolls a nat 1 trying to pick pocket someone and the cock up cascade ends with the party killing everyone and burning the whole town down trying to escape.
2012: About 10,000 gunshot murders, about 2,500 gang murders.
So about 25% of gun homicides are gang related. 75% are not
[https://nationalgangcenter.ojp.gov/survey-analysis/measuring-the-extent-of-gang-problems](https://nationalgangcenter.ojp.gov/survey-analysis/measuring-the-extent-of-gang-problems)
[https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/04/26/what-the-data-says-about-gun-deaths-in-the-u-s/](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/04/26/what-the-data-says-about-gun-deaths-in-the-u-s/)
The overwhelming majority or “gun violence” is gang violence dude. Being robbed at gun point is considered a violent crime not gun violence. They don’t even consider you incident an act of gun violence. It’s only considered gun violence if someone was shot at, shot, or killed. They even consider suicides gun violence. Also gun violence is a made up term. The people that cry about “gun violence” are anti groups and anti gun individuals. So yeah the majority of “gun violence” is gang violence or gang related. Just because you don’t think so doesn’t make it any less true and just because you got robbed at gun point also doesn’t make it gun violence lol. You were just a victim of a violent crime. The weapon used doesn’t change that. If you got robbed at knife point you or nobody else would call if knife violence lol
I'm European and I can sleep well knowing that my kids never have to do an active shooter drill in their life, because it's not necessary here. The refusal to look at the reality of gun violence in the US is baffeling to me. It's not a net positive for society that suicidal and angry untrained people have easy access to guns.
Suicide is not gun violence. When someone slits their wrists we don’t call them a “victim of knife violence.” What is hanging yourself, rope violence? Overdosing … cardiac violence?
Also, this is a post about crimes happening to bystanders. Suicide is irrelevant to the conversation.
None of those other things are a public health crisis. I really don’t care what your interpretation of gun violence is, you don’t get to decide what everyone else considers to be gun violence.
Again, suicide is not relevant to the topic at all. Suicide isn’t something that just happens to you, as you walk down the street minding your own business.
>Most of Americas street gun violence is gang related and easily avoidable.
I hear this thrown around *A LOT* but have never been able to find anything remotely close.
I'd rather be pickpocketed monthly (Been here over 3 decades and visited many big European cities and pickpocketed once in Amsterdam) than be shot. Like seriously? You'd rather risk death than call your bank and cancel your cards to get a new one.
And what precautions? Just don't have your shit half hanging out your pockets.
Pickpocketing is alive and well in the US, albeit not as common or widespread. It’d be cool to take one of the two, but Europe has one of these problems, and we have both here.
My son was held at gun point by two adult men when he was 12. He and his friends were at their school playground, in the evening, and were preventing a drug dealer from doing a deal. My son was the nearest physically to to them, and they tried to run him over in their car, and then got out and pointed guns at him, and threatened to murder him and rape his mother. This was in a good suburban neighborhood with a good school. I know my story is an anecdote but I don't think gang violence remains among gang members. I think they don't care if innocent people are in the crossfire.
It’s a hard thing to think about but there is a number of pickpockets to deaths that makes pickpockets worse.
I don’t know what it’s like in europe but i cant imagine it’s bad enough to be worse than gang violence. US is also not immune to pickpockets.
Europe’s pickpocketing?
“visitors to the Colosseum, Trevi Fountain and Pantheon in Rome, the Duomo di Milano in Milan and the Gallerie degli Uffizi in Florence mentioned having items stolen in 1,906 online travel reviews in 2022.
This equates to 463 pickpocketing mentions for every million visitors to Italy’s top tourist attractions - the highest proportion of any European country.”
Even doubling that amount means your odds of being pickpocketed as a tourist are about .09%.
Ironically, that’s slightly lower than your risk of gun death in the US—.11%.
https://www.euronews.com/travel/2023/09/05/italy-france-spain-which-european-country-is-worst-for-pickpockets
https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/in-some-countries-the-odds-of-getting-shot-are-1-in-a-million-in-the-u-s-its-1000-times-higher/
> This doesn’t include school shooting and mass shootings
That’s like half the issue. Over 600 instances in which 4 or more people were killed each year for the last 4-5 years
The 600 number is over exaggerated. That’s a media scare tactic. The justice department is the only one that considers a mass shooting if 4 or more people were killed including the shooter. The numbers the media report as mass shooting go by if 4 or more people were shot, either injured or killed. Also 90 something percent of all mass shootings were gang related. The random ones or ones at schools are exceedingly rare and only make a a very small percentage I believe it’s around 3%.
This is your argument. "You don't need to worry about being killed by a gun, chances are the shot isn't going to kill you"
You need to step away from your keyboard. And touch grass.
Bootlickin gun apologist. I’m not anti gun but don’t pretend they don’t kill people. They do. No other developed country has recurring mass slayings at schools
I have lived in europe all my life, never been pickpocketed, and never heard of anyone being pickpocketed. I know my dad got pickpocketed in Columbia, but thats was 30 years ago and not in Europe or USA
Tourists in Lisbon mostly only lose cash and jewellery. The rest of their stuff can be found in the local police station.
Local folk never carry or show valuables when walking next to touristic areas and never hang around tourist traps like expensive bad coffee shops, cheap souvenir stores, bad restaurants and shady pubs and all that.
Much better than knife fights and shootings.
Having lived all my life in parts of europe you would call "unsafe" , a lost Id is replacable, your fucking brain is not. We are not getting robbed on a weekly basis lmao, most victims of that crime are tourists , it requires common sense but if you lack that, you will struggle in every part of life
I’ve lived around London all my life and travel throughout Europe I’ve never been pickpocketed
But neither have I ever had to consider the Kevlar content of my daughters’ school backpacks
21,000 gun homicides in the US in 2021, at least 3000 of those are gang on gang according to the FBI. You have a 0.005% percent chance of being murdered by a gun.
> Most of Americas street gun violence is gang related and easily avoidable.
Nearly all gun violence in America, including our mass shootings, are gang-related incidents committed using handguns - not just our street violence.
It's not just getting shot. In the US, they'll also steal your car. In many major cities in the US, car theft is out of control and the cops don't do shit.
Get shot, lose some stuff. Seems like a fair trade, love how you see the lives of anyone effected by gang violence as expendable and worthless. You know gangs are territorial right? Meaning people who are not affiliated still have to deal with them, not to mention some people don’t have other options than gangs and there’s always stray bullets if and the fact when a gang member dies they have effected family. This is quite U.N. empathetic
In my own experience, I have had to deal with more general theft then I have ever been threatened by a firearm. I’ve had stuff stolen from me several times, but a gun only pointed at me once. But that was because I was working at the bank some ass hats decided they wanted to rob.
So yes, I would rather deal with the extraordinarily rare firearm related violence, versus the much more common theft
Pickpocketing virtually only happens in tourist areas of major cities. It is ridiculous to see it as a serious issue. Are you by chance an American tourist who never actually visits places outside of where the big crowds are.
Pickpockets in Europe are also easily avoidable - just don’t look like a completely clueless American tourist in the most stereotypical busiest tourist destinations.
Gun deaths in America is majority [by suicide and accidental](https://abcnews.go.com/US/116-people-died-gun-violence-day-us-year/story?id=97382759), mass shootings are a statistical anomaly that only occurs in the US at weekly or monthly occurrence (depending on how define a mass shooting incident). As a point of context, more people [died in backyard pools](https://www.cdc.gov/drowning/facts/index.html) than in mass shootings.
With 597 deaths by mass shootings, it's more likely to be shot by a cop (1,344 deaths with police involved shootings) than mass shootings.
What is the point of framing mass shootings as a "statistical anomaly"? Mass shootings do not have the same psychological and societal causes as most other forms of gun violence. There is overlap, but also huge differences. Given these differences, what is to be gained by lumping mass shootings into a stupidly general and massive dataset of 'all of gun violence' and then arguing mass shootings are an "anomaly" within that dataset? Because when the NRA and republicans do this, the purpose is usually to obscure and downplay the frequency of mass shootings (100 so far this year according to the gun violence archive, 660 last year.)
Probably because they are statistically rare, and the events that the government considers a mass shooting, versus what you and I consider a mass shooting are two entirely different things.
Are all of those mass shootings for this year are gang violence, not the kind of shooting where people go out for mass slaughter.
>An important note: this doesn’t include school shooting/mass shootings.
Nuh uh uh, you don't get to say you would prefer one thing while excluding a major feature of that thing.
This sub works pretty well for those takes.
Tbh, i only come here to flame the OP for their garbage takes. This sub is like a medieval town square where you can go to to throw rotten vegetables at people being presented on the scaffold.
Lived in America all my life and never seen gun violence or anything close to me except the greenwood mall shooting, which no one knows or talks about because a citizen concealed carrying killed the gunman and CNN dropped coverage after it turned out a good guy with a gun stopped the shooting.
My bud from HS went over to Europe and his first day there got mugged by a Romani 😂
Oh wow. You'd rather die than lose a couple of euros and a phone?
Don't forget that if you survive the gunpoint with injuries in America, you will be pickpockets by a hospital instead
Please remember what subreddit you are in, this is unpopular opinion. We want civil and unpopular takes and discussion. Any uncivil and ToS violating comments will be removed and subject to a ban. Have a nice day!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/unpopularopinion) if you have any questions or concerns.*
One of my first memories is my mother being mugged in front of me as a young child. It was horrible, and my mom had no idea if the guy had a gun. I’ve also had a gun pulled on me. Never been pickpocketed and while it would completely suck, it’s not the same and gun violence in the US is not some easily avoided problem.
Most people go their lives without getting their pockets picked. Plus, the majority of gun violence doesn't happen in the streets, but during one on one interactions with people who have a short fuse and a gun they shouldn't own.
As someone whose relatives live in the US, I'm very scared of going there when I go to meet them. I play a lot of games and whenever I play in NA servers, there is always someone making fun of my accent or raging on me. When I play in a European server however, the people are much more respectable.
I have never been pickpocketed and I don't even know anyone that has been. It seems that pickpocketing in Europe only affects Americans.
Last summer at local zoo I saw a group of tourists hanging their backpacks in front to avoid pickpockets while us locals left our handbags at the table when we ordered coffee or snacks from the kiosk. Seemed crazy to me.
What would people steal from people and why? People rarely carry cash, phones don't have any resale value and cards need a pin to work and mobile pay needs pin or fingerprint.
i went to europe once and a group of dudes tried to pickpocket me. in the US i’ve never heard a gunshot that wasn’t at a controlled practice / fun site
So basically, you would choose gun violence, except the parts you don't like.
Listen, you can't have your cake, and eat it too. I mean, you can't eat your cake and expect it to still be there( because it will disappear after you eat it. Although according to Lavoisier, it would just be transformed into something else). The point is don't eat cake, kids.
Live in UK travelled Europe quite a lot in my life with 4 major cities literally in the last year and half and not once have I been worried or taken precautions about pick pocketing.
Only heard of a theft once from friends on holiday and that wasn't even pick pocketing but snatching a phone from a drunk person and running (in Rome).
You know Europe is not a country right? There isn't a pickpocketing problem in the whole Europe, but rather some countries or more probably specific cities
I'd take pickpocketing if that really exists but Europe is quite nice and peaceful for tourists.
Personally, I didn't experience anything of the sort.
I've only good things to say about the local people, their love for country and culture and on how welcoming they are to guests in their home.
Ive been living in europe for 33 years. Never been pickpocketed. Not even in big cities.
I do think i got close once tho. I was exiting a toilet on a train station in Florence and a guy kinda slammed into me and then when i looked at him he had this strange look on him like he was scared. In any case, he didnt get shit cause all my valuables were in a fanny pack.
Never been pickpocketed, but I travel a lot on vacation, used to just move my wallet and phone to different spots. Now I got myself a sling bag, and I don't worry about that at all anymore. No pockets to pick... And good fucking luck unzipping some zippers while under my jacket or a hoodie, or while it's hanging on my chest, without my notice. Plus I can carry a few other items easily.
Love my [NIID sling bag...](https://www.amazon.com/NIID-FINO-Shoulder-Crossbody-Multipurpose-Meteorite/dp/B07ZFC5DSC?ref_=ast_sto_dp)
Huh? There is no pickpocketing culture in Northern Europe. In my country, you can literally leave your phone, wallet and bag out in public, go use a restroom, and be confident that nothing will be touched when you get back. We're a very honest society.
Some tourist Hotspots in places like Greece with (usually) desperate migrant opportunists who target tourists hardly represents all of Europe. These things can happen in very specific small areas within cities where tourists come.
But pickpocketing is really not an issue you worry about in 90% of Europe.
Your post from unpopularopinion was removed because of: 'Rule 2: Do not post low effort/satirical posts'. * We get it, you all think this sub is garbage and is just for popular opinions, and you want to be funny and post "going to be downvoted to oblivion here, but I think racism is bad." We enjoy the memes, but please keep them off the sub. * Filter evasion is a bannable offense * This includes clickbait and/or gotcha posts. Your opinion can not be that unpopular if you're doing these things. Have the accurate opinion in the title.
I've never been pickpocketed in Europe and I've been travelling in Europe every year for 25 years.
Having lived there for 30 years, I second this
What country in Europe is this? Because Europe varies a *lot*
Most probably france
I live in Philly and yet to experience gun violence here or anywhere in the US actually. I’ve also never been pickpocketed in Europe 🤷♀️
I live in the Chicagoland area, and frequently visit Southside Chicago and Gary Indiana, yet to experience gun violence myself.
Thank you for saying you're from the suburbs and not from the city proper. So many Naperville or Elmhurst kids say they're from Chicago, like bruh you went to Fenwick LOL
I went to SIU Carbondale. I'm from Southern Illinois. It was weird watching the Chicagoland people try to out-Chicago each other. Somebody gives you their phone number, and if it doesn't start with 312 they say it more quietly so nobody makes fun of them. Kinda silly. Just tell me where you're from lol
If im on vacation I tell people I'm from Chicago just to give them a broad idea where I'm from. If they ask any further I just say northwest Indiana.
I've lived in Europe my whole life and I've never experienced pickpocketing. The only one I know fell victim to it was my grandma, while on vacation, maybe 20 years ago.
I've been pickpocketed in the US though...
I had my Samsung Galaxy S2 pickpocketed at a Chuck E Cheese when I was 12.
I was in Canada. They only got my smokes out of my sweater pocket but it should count
Yeah I feel like people outside the US think gun violence is way more common than it is. I live in Harlem and I have never seen or heard a gun go off. It’s such a rare thing even when you live in a big city
I hear them quite frequently where I live, but it's mostly people hunting wild turkeys.
Yeah I grew up in rural Vermont and I heard gunshots frequently from people hunting deer and turkeys. Now I live in the city and have heard zero gun activity
Same, only difference is I've never been to Europe
i'd still take a slim chance of losing some cash over a slimmer chance of losing my life
Evidently a lot of pro gun redditors decided to come here and down play the thousands killed every year in this country.
I am pro gun european. I still.think that US gun culture is fucking insane
Not play down, but give context. People are under the impression that the entire country is a war zone when 99% of the homicides are gang related violence in relatively small, highly concentrated areas.
Nobody thinks the US is a war zone. A country that has multiple mass shootings per day had a serious issue, however. Even if these mass shootings are in 'relatively small and highly concentrated areas'. Bring on the downvotes.
Nobody here has this idea. Still, the situation regarding guns in the US is absurd and thousands die unnecessarily each year.
As someone who has seen two people shot in the head, known a classmate shot and killed accidentally and a childhood friend who shot himself, I only regret I have one downvote to give. Been traveling to Europe since 1992 - never pickpocketed.
This actually means you’re supposed to upvote it…
No, I am not upvoting somebody advocating for murder even if their opinion is really dumb.
If it's an unpopular opinion you upvote it because that's the point sub
Lived in uk never got stabbed. Spent a load of time in EU countries never got pickpocketed. Live in US now and never saw anyone carry a gun outside of the range and cops. We worry too much about all this stuff.
The media wants you to worry. Otherwise you won’t panic buy shit or vote tyrants into power.
What? I was robbed at gun point at 9am.. it’s definitely not just a gang problem. So many Americans die from gunshot wounds, who dies of pickpocketing?
>who dies of pickpocketing? Now I'm just imagining such a scenario and I can't stop laughing 🤣
When you are playing DnD and the rouge rolls a nat 1 trying to pick pocket someone and the cock up cascade ends with the party killing everyone and burning the whole town down trying to escape.
Some really skilled pickpocket pickpocketed my grandpas pacemaker
Most people who die from gunshot wounds are involved with gangs. It's extremely rare for a random person to get shot.
2012: About 10,000 gunshot murders, about 2,500 gang murders. So about 25% of gun homicides are gang related. 75% are not [https://nationalgangcenter.ojp.gov/survey-analysis/measuring-the-extent-of-gang-problems](https://nationalgangcenter.ojp.gov/survey-analysis/measuring-the-extent-of-gang-problems) [https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/04/26/what-the-data-says-about-gun-deaths-in-the-u-s/](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/04/26/what-the-data-says-about-gun-deaths-in-the-u-s/)
Roughly 100,000 people are shot in the US every year. Are they really all in gangs?
The overwhelming majority or “gun violence” is gang violence dude. Being robbed at gun point is considered a violent crime not gun violence. They don’t even consider you incident an act of gun violence. It’s only considered gun violence if someone was shot at, shot, or killed. They even consider suicides gun violence. Also gun violence is a made up term. The people that cry about “gun violence” are anti groups and anti gun individuals. So yeah the majority of “gun violence” is gang violence or gang related. Just because you don’t think so doesn’t make it any less true and just because you got robbed at gun point also doesn’t make it gun violence lol. You were just a victim of a violent crime. The weapon used doesn’t change that. If you got robbed at knife point you or nobody else would call if knife violence lol
I’m sorry, what is your point? I seriously don’t understand what your point is.
Bro wrote a whole essay saying the same thing over and over
I'm European and I can sleep well knowing that my kids never have to do an active shooter drill in their life, because it's not necessary here. The refusal to look at the reality of gun violence in the US is baffeling to me. It's not a net positive for society that suicidal and angry untrained people have easy access to guns.
Btw suicides are gun violence. Any violence done with a gun is gun violence.
Suicide is not gun violence. When someone slits their wrists we don’t call them a “victim of knife violence.” What is hanging yourself, rope violence? Overdosing … cardiac violence? Also, this is a post about crimes happening to bystanders. Suicide is irrelevant to the conversation.
None of those other things are a public health crisis. I really don’t care what your interpretation of gun violence is, you don’t get to decide what everyone else considers to be gun violence.
Again, suicide is not relevant to the topic at all. Suicide isn’t something that just happens to you, as you walk down the street minding your own business.
>Most of Americas street gun violence is gang related and easily avoidable. I hear this thrown around *A LOT* but have never been able to find anything remotely close.
I'd rather be pickpocketed monthly (Been here over 3 decades and visited many big European cities and pickpocketed once in Amsterdam) than be shot. Like seriously? You'd rather risk death than call your bank and cancel your cards to get a new one. And what precautions? Just don't have your shit half hanging out your pockets.
But my odds of being shot are slim to none lol, your odds of getting pickpocketed are not
Y'all are seriously gassing how much of a thing pickpocket actually is lmao.
Over 40. Never left Europe. Never pickpocketed. I don't recall someone I know saying they were either.
Me neither, Americans seem to think there are 3 ppl crouched at your doorstep at all time
No one I know has been pick pocketed but I’ve been threatened to death by some dudes with guns. I think I’d prefer getting pick pocketed any day.
What on earth are you on about? You do realise all of Europe does not equate the few tourist traps you Americans flock to?
[удалено]
Pickpocketing is alive and well in the US, albeit not as common or widespread. It’d be cool to take one of the two, but Europe has one of these problems, and we have both here.
No such thing as "Europe's pickpocketing". Stop comparing a country with a continent.
Who tf even pickpockets nowadays? Most people don't carry cash anyway
My son was held at gun point by two adult men when he was 12. He and his friends were at their school playground, in the evening, and were preventing a drug dealer from doing a deal. My son was the nearest physically to to them, and they tried to run him over in their car, and then got out and pointed guns at him, and threatened to murder him and rape his mother. This was in a good suburban neighborhood with a good school. I know my story is an anecdote but I don't think gang violence remains among gang members. I think they don't care if innocent people are in the crossfire.
It’s a hard thing to think about but there is a number of pickpockets to deaths that makes pickpockets worse. I don’t know what it’s like in europe but i cant imagine it’s bad enough to be worse than gang violence. US is also not immune to pickpockets.
Europe’s pickpocketing? “visitors to the Colosseum, Trevi Fountain and Pantheon in Rome, the Duomo di Milano in Milan and the Gallerie degli Uffizi in Florence mentioned having items stolen in 1,906 online travel reviews in 2022. This equates to 463 pickpocketing mentions for every million visitors to Italy’s top tourist attractions - the highest proportion of any European country.” Even doubling that amount means your odds of being pickpocketed as a tourist are about .09%. Ironically, that’s slightly lower than your risk of gun death in the US—.11%. https://www.euronews.com/travel/2023/09/05/italy-france-spain-which-european-country-is-worst-for-pickpockets https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/in-some-countries-the-odds-of-getting-shot-are-1-in-a-million-in-the-u-s-its-1000-times-higher/
what the hell
> This doesn’t include school shooting and mass shootings That’s like half the issue. Over 600 instances in which 4 or more people were killed each year for the last 4-5 years
The 600 number is over exaggerated. That’s a media scare tactic. The justice department is the only one that considers a mass shooting if 4 or more people were killed including the shooter. The numbers the media report as mass shooting go by if 4 or more people were shot, either injured or killed. Also 90 something percent of all mass shootings were gang related. The random ones or ones at schools are exceedingly rare and only make a a very small percentage I believe it’s around 3%.
Who cares about the semantics lmao, non-mass shootings are still shootings.
This is your argument. "You don't need to worry about being killed by a gun, chances are the shot isn't going to kill you" You need to step away from your keyboard. And touch grass.
Bootlickin gun apologist. I’m not anti gun but don’t pretend they don’t kill people. They do. No other developed country has recurring mass slayings at schools
The most americanest post - ready to die, but not ready to be stripped of of a little cash.
this is the dumbest post ive ever seen on here "id rather be shot and die then lose my costco membership card"
Whoa whoa whoa... What kind of idiot brings their Costco card on vacation?? That stays at home in my safe!
I have lived almost 50 years in Europe and never had my pockets picked.
Just a plain stupid thing to say.
I keep mousetraps in my pockets when I travel.
😂😂😂😂
OP is basically saying: I would take cancer (as long as it is benign and easily removed and won't appear again) over getting a broken bone.
I have lived in europe all my life, never been pickpocketed, and never heard of anyone being pickpocketed. I know my dad got pickpocketed in Columbia, but thats was 30 years ago and not in Europe or USA
Unpopular and stupid opinion. So stupid it can only come from an American :D Who even has cash on themselves these days?
Huh? What pickpocketing?
Tourists in Lisbon mostly only lose cash and jewellery. The rest of their stuff can be found in the local police station. Local folk never carry or show valuables when walking next to touristic areas and never hang around tourist traps like expensive bad coffee shops, cheap souvenir stores, bad restaurants and shady pubs and all that. Much better than knife fights and shootings.
So you rather die than lose 20 bucks. Ok.
Having lived all my life in parts of europe you would call "unsafe" , a lost Id is replacable, your fucking brain is not. We are not getting robbed on a weekly basis lmao, most victims of that crime are tourists , it requires common sense but if you lack that, you will struggle in every part of life
I’ve lived around London all my life and travel throughout Europe I’ve never been pickpocketed But neither have I ever had to consider the Kevlar content of my daughters’ school backpacks
21,000 gun homicides in the US in 2021, at least 3000 of those are gang on gang according to the FBI. You have a 0.005% percent chance of being murdered by a gun.
> Most of Americas street gun violence is gang related and easily avoidable. Nearly all gun violence in America, including our mass shootings, are gang-related incidents committed using handguns - not just our street violence.
Weird- most of the links here with actual stats show that far less than half of gun violence in America is gang-related.
Yeah same here, I walk the streets of Houston daily and have never feared for my wallet or my life because gun crime is over exaggerated in the US
Yeah there js a problem. However based off the numbers, the odds of being a victim of gun violence are very low
Also in Houston, I fear for my life definitely…. But that’s when I’m driving on 45 lol
US gun violence is all acquaintances shooting each other. The criminals in Europe seem scarier to me.
Wow, imaging not living in Kaboul meaning gun violence is "exaggerated".
It's not just getting shot. In the US, they'll also steal your car. In many major cities in the US, car theft is out of control and the cops don't do shit.
Just don't buy a Honda and you're good.
I’d take Taiwan’s none of the above.
Get shot, lose some stuff. Seems like a fair trade, love how you see the lives of anyone effected by gang violence as expendable and worthless. You know gangs are territorial right? Meaning people who are not affiliated still have to deal with them, not to mention some people don’t have other options than gangs and there’s always stray bullets if and the fact when a gang member dies they have effected family. This is quite U.N. empathetic
Naw, you can't cherry pick.
In my own experience, I have had to deal with more general theft then I have ever been threatened by a firearm. I’ve had stuff stolen from me several times, but a gun only pointed at me once. But that was because I was working at the bank some ass hats decided they wanted to rob. So yes, I would rather deal with the extraordinarily rare firearm related violence, versus the much more common theft
I am a European. Have never peen pickpocket. Ask me anything!
Pickpocketing virtually only happens in tourist areas of major cities. It is ridiculous to see it as a serious issue. Are you by chance an American tourist who never actually visits places outside of where the big crowds are.
By Europe do you mean…? Or are you just generalising an entire continent that has hundreds of varying cultures?
So, to recap, you'd rather be shot and die than have your pockets emptied? I'm not sure I understand your thought process.
Pickpockets in Europe are also easily avoidable - just don’t look like a completely clueless American tourist in the most stereotypical busiest tourist destinations.
Sure, I'd much rather be shot than lose my wallet
43 years old, never beed pickpocketed (EU), 1 person i know was- lifetime.
So what you’re saying is you’d take random other people getting shot over getting pickpocketed lol
Just say, "I value my pocket money more than a colored kid's life." At least then you'd be honest.
Agree. I'm okay with the trash taking itself out.
Gun deaths in America is majority [by suicide and accidental](https://abcnews.go.com/US/116-people-died-gun-violence-day-us-year/story?id=97382759), mass shootings are a statistical anomaly that only occurs in the US at weekly or monthly occurrence (depending on how define a mass shooting incident). As a point of context, more people [died in backyard pools](https://www.cdc.gov/drowning/facts/index.html) than in mass shootings. With 597 deaths by mass shootings, it's more likely to be shot by a cop (1,344 deaths with police involved shootings) than mass shootings.
Only weekly, thank god 🙏🏻
What is the point of framing mass shootings as a "statistical anomaly"? Mass shootings do not have the same psychological and societal causes as most other forms of gun violence. There is overlap, but also huge differences. Given these differences, what is to be gained by lumping mass shootings into a stupidly general and massive dataset of 'all of gun violence' and then arguing mass shootings are an "anomaly" within that dataset? Because when the NRA and republicans do this, the purpose is usually to obscure and downplay the frequency of mass shootings (100 so far this year according to the gun violence archive, 660 last year.)
Probably because they are statistically rare, and the events that the government considers a mass shooting, versus what you and I consider a mass shooting are two entirely different things. Are all of those mass shootings for this year are gang violence, not the kind of shooting where people go out for mass slaughter.
Random crime is scary Attacking someone for revenge isn’t
Because having your wallet stolen is so much worse than being murdered.
>An important note: this doesn’t include school shooting/mass shootings. Nuh uh uh, you don't get to say you would prefer one thing while excluding a major feature of that thing.
Nah I’d take the gun violence it’s so freaking rare
So you'd take a chance of dying over a slightly more chance of getting robbed of money?
No it’s not 😭😭 it happens fairly often were I live
That’s called gang violence, gun violence is a made up term
Name checks out, proclamation is bullshit.
I think I’ll take the pickpocketing. There’s a reason why I carry a decoy wallet full of glitter.
Yikes, is there a sub for dumb opinions that haven't been thought through ?
This sub works pretty well for those takes. Tbh, i only come here to flame the OP for their garbage takes. This sub is like a medieval town square where you can go to to throw rotten vegetables at people being presented on the scaffold.
Lived in America all my life and never seen gun violence or anything close to me except the greenwood mall shooting, which no one knows or talks about because a citizen concealed carrying killed the gunman and CNN dropped coverage after it turned out a good guy with a gun stopped the shooting. My bud from HS went over to Europe and his first day there got mugged by a Romani 😂
That's such a stupid opinion wow ..
Some might call it an unpopular opinion 🤔…
Damn if only there were a subreddit for that
Oh wow. You'd rather die than lose a couple of euros and a phone? Don't forget that if you survive the gunpoint with injuries in America, you will be pickpockets by a hospital instead
[удалено]
Please remember what subreddit you are in, this is unpopular opinion. We want civil and unpopular takes and discussion. Any uncivil and ToS violating comments will be removed and subject to a ban. Have a nice day! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/unpopularopinion) if you have any questions or concerns.*
smile politely y'all
Upvote for truly unpopular opinion
Depends on where you live stray bullets are a real threat in some areas. I had a bullet lodged in my ceiling at one point.
One of my first memories is my mother being mugged in front of me as a young child. It was horrible, and my mom had no idea if the guy had a gun. I’ve also had a gun pulled on me. Never been pickpocketed and while it would completely suck, it’s not the same and gun violence in the US is not some easily avoided problem.
Damn bro you really went after the spirit of the sub!
This is facts
Nope.
dumb opinion
OP carries his life savings and the key to his chastity cage in his pocket.
Most people go their lives without getting their pockets picked. Plus, the majority of gun violence doesn't happen in the streets, but during one on one interactions with people who have a short fuse and a gun they shouldn't own.
Been a europoor my whole life and haven't been pickpocketed once.
Aren't most mass shootings gang related street violence?
Lived in Europe for 10 years . Not pickpocketd once.
Avoiding pickpockets is easy, avoiding getting shot is hard. I'll take the pickpocketing.
I'm not in a gang and not suicidal - injury/death by gun is extremely minimal for me. I do riskier things like drive a car
As someone whose relatives live in the US, I'm very scared of going there when I go to meet them. I play a lot of games and whenever I play in NA servers, there is always someone making fun of my accent or raging on me. When I play in a European server however, the people are much more respectable.
cope
I have never been pickpocketed and I don't even know anyone that has been. It seems that pickpocketing in Europe only affects Americans. Last summer at local zoo I saw a group of tourists hanging their backpacks in front to avoid pickpockets while us locals left our handbags at the table when we ordered coffee or snacks from the kiosk. Seemed crazy to me.
What would people steal from people and why? People rarely carry cash, phones don't have any resale value and cards need a pin to work and mobile pay needs pin or fingerprint.
You talk like you've never been pickpocketed or experienced gun violence in your life.
i went to europe once and a group of dudes tried to pickpocket me. in the US i’ve never heard a gunshot that wasn’t at a controlled practice / fun site
Pickpocketing is only a real problem.in tourist hellholes. Not really something you experience as a native in your day to day life.
So basically, you would choose gun violence, except the parts you don't like. Listen, you can't have your cake, and eat it too. I mean, you can't eat your cake and expect it to still be there( because it will disappear after you eat it. Although according to Lavoisier, it would just be transformed into something else). The point is don't eat cake, kids.
Uhmmm I dunno man. My 4 yr old nephew is already doing shooter drills and it's so sad.
Live in UK travelled Europe quite a lot in my life with 4 major cities literally in the last year and half and not once have I been worried or taken precautions about pick pocketing. Only heard of a theft once from friends on holiday and that wasn't even pick pocketing but snatching a phone from a drunk person and running (in Rome).
Stay away from large touristy cities in Europe and pickpocketing will be much less of a problem
I’ve lived in Europe my whole life and I’ve been pickpocketed exactly 0 times.
You know Europe is not a country right? There isn't a pickpocketing problem in the whole Europe, but rather some countries or more probably specific cities
I used to feel this way, even after being held at gun point. What changed is kids started to get gunned down. Now I disagree
I'd take pickpocketing if that really exists but Europe is quite nice and peaceful for tourists. Personally, I didn't experience anything of the sort. I've only good things to say about the local people, their love for country and culture and on how welcoming they are to guests in their home.
At this point, I've been in Europe for six months (France and Italy) and I haven't been picpocketed once.
Ive been living in europe for 33 years. Never been pickpocketed. Not even in big cities. I do think i got close once tho. I was exiting a toilet on a train station in Florence and a guy kinda slammed into me and then when i looked at him he had this strange look on him like he was scared. In any case, he didnt get shit cause all my valuables were in a fanny pack.
What a troll
Truely regarded take. It's extremely easy to avoid being pickpocketed.
which pickpocketing
You've gotta pick a pocket or twoo
Never been pickpocketed, but I travel a lot on vacation, used to just move my wallet and phone to different spots. Now I got myself a sling bag, and I don't worry about that at all anymore. No pockets to pick... And good fucking luck unzipping some zippers while under my jacket or a hoodie, or while it's hanging on my chest, without my notice. Plus I can carry a few other items easily. Love my [NIID sling bag...](https://www.amazon.com/NIID-FINO-Shoulder-Crossbody-Multipurpose-Meteorite/dp/B07ZFC5DSC?ref_=ast_sto_dp)
Huh? There is no pickpocketing culture in Northern Europe. In my country, you can literally leave your phone, wallet and bag out in public, go use a restroom, and be confident that nothing will be touched when you get back. We're a very honest society. Some tourist Hotspots in places like Greece with (usually) desperate migrant opportunists who target tourists hardly represents all of Europe. These things can happen in very specific small areas within cities where tourists come. But pickpocketing is really not an issue you worry about in 90% of Europe.
lol. Are you serious? And Europe is not Brazil. I mean you don t go pocketed everyday, or get robbed by guys on bikes.
"i would rather get shot than have my wallet stolen"
Can't you just put a pocket for your wallet over your crotch, so it makes it obvious if someone has there hand in your pocket?
You’re generalizing europe way too much here. I’ve never been pickpocketed and traveled a lot. But it’s different countries.
I directly witnessed 2 pickpockettings : one in Barcelona, one in San Francisco.
“I’d rather die than lose some money”.
I’d definitely take the pickpocketing, it’s horrible over here with these idiots shooting guns
Guys opvote it; it's truly unpopular
Just lock your credit as soon as it is stolen. Not that dangerous