Yea I agree, is there even a correlation? Based off of anecdotal news stories, it appears that way, but then again we're discussing this on a hiphop forum and by that fact alone there's gonna be a lot of selection bias in the news stories that get posted here. If there was a shooting at a metal or a punk show, I wouldn't hear about it.

But do hip hop shows enable gang violence nearly as much? I don't have the numbers, but I really doubt it.

I doubt it as well, but fear is what drives public perception and on an individual level, shootings are more scary than ODs. I can go to a concert and not take drugs and confidently avoid any chance of an OD. But I can't go to a concert where a shooting takes place and take precautions that would ensure I couldn't be hit with a bullet. The lack of control that victims experience in the situation makes it more scary, it could happen to anyone standing at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Not trying to pass judgment on victims of drug overdose, my friend Spencer died of a heroin overdose just barely 2 months ago and it fucking sucks. But there is some feeling of control there, maybe if I had called him and talked to him that night it wouldn't have happened, Maybe If i had done something, anything more to help him or be there for him in the weeks before it wouldn't have happened. Not trying to vent here, just trying to demonstrate that one feels more directly preventable than the other. And thats the distinction that the fear mongering media/politicians/parents are going to be looking at. Parents are worried about their children, and they can teach their kids not to do drugs, but how do they teach their kids to dodge bullets?