My response to a person who asked why those of us who chose to live in countries like this, with a high firearms murder rate, still feel “safe” and are reluctant to go to the US:

It’s cynical to say this, but gun violence in Latin America generally is “rational”… or, perhaps, “transactional”. That is, against those threating some economic or power interest (not just including criminal enterprises, but against those like human rights workers, labor organizers, ex-wives, or environmentalists who threaten those interests. In the US, it’s random, or motivated by less comprehenible personal reasons.

And, it comes down to access to the weapons. Here, they’re limited to those that can afford to get them on the black market and state security appachiks, and there, it’s a free-for-all.