Thuggery and violence occur everywhere. The word "thug" isn't American in origin. (Google "thugee" for elucidation.)
America isn't the killing ground that everyone thinks, but I won't lie to you. There is more killing going on than any of us really like. The problem, however, isn't guns. It lies much deeper than that.
As long as there is a predatory streak in the human animal, there will be predation unrelated to the weapon at hand. How many cases have there been of beatings, muggings, robberies, assaults, mobs/riots in other countries? Take a look at the aftermath of international soccer games, even when there was no controversy in the game itself. People let off steam in lots of ways that are violent, with our without guns, and folks still die.
The one-sided view that our non-USA friends get is caused by another really bad phenomenon - news organizations who deliberately slant the news to show tragedy because they are taking advantage of an ingrained human trait - morbid curiosity.
The news groups tell you about how many murders occur on the streets. They DON'T tell you that perhaps 70% to 80% are all drug-related turf wars - gangsters looking to secure their territory from those who would compete with them. They also don't tell of how often one of these shootings was in self-defense. That's not news.
For instance, in New Orleans, you would find that over half of the murders in the city this year are localized to a small number of places that have heavy drug activity. Since the governor of Louisiana mobilized the state's National Guard to help police patrol some of the more devastated areas, crime rates are dropping. But unless you lived here or tried hard to research the issues, you wouldn't know that.
I feel perfectly safe walking through the French Quarter at night in the tourist areas. The back side of the quarter (northern corner) is not so safe because it isn't a tourist area.
Let's be honest: EVERY CITY of any size has its places where nobody in their right mind would go after dark by themselves. And every city has its share of murders because of people who do stupid things like flash cash in public in an isolated area, drive a fancy car through the wrong neighborhood, or happen to have the wrong skin color for the rough neighborhood they are traversing. It happens and has nothing to do with guns.
The aphorism is still true: "Guns don't kill people. People kill people." I'll add that even without guns, violence abounds any place you go.
