Sure poverty explains crime, and murder is the ultimate crime.

That said, my point was that a place like Rio, where you feel alertness at a physiological level by the constant lack of security, still has a murder rate around Houston, a vastly richer and safer city.

And Brazil really is a good comparison in my opinion: the economic inequality is actually worse than in the USA, and they both have the slave holding history leading to concentrated poverty areas with high ethnic segregation

I don't personally think that the upsides of the US gun laws are worth anything near the downsides being paid.

Regarding the police, American police is notoriously prone to violence compared to other developed countries.