Is the United States ranked third in world-wide murder rates?

A false viral meme resurfaced during the recent gun control debates. The meme claims “the United States is ranked third in murders throughout the world” but drops close to the bottom of the list if you exclude Chicago, Detroit, Washington D.C., and New Orleans. Snopes tracked this meme back to 2013 and could not find evidence that supports the meme’s claims. Snopes’ data show that the top countries in murder rates are Honduras, Venezuela, Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Jamaica, Saint Kitts, Colombia, and Nevis, “while the United States doesn’t crack the top hundred.” This meme was created to discredit gun control. Luckily, fact checkers are becoming more aware of how much false data affects people’s opinions. [1 image, 1 link, 2 quotations, 116 words]