> America needs to reflect on why it's unique

When it’s unique, yes. In the case, metal theft is documented in Australia, Australia, Canada, France, Czechia, the Netherlands and the UK [1].

(To be fair, I’m not seeing any sources credibly auditing prevalence versus occurrence.)

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_theft#Notable_metal_thef...

Right. One instance of metal theft in any country is enough to discredit the argument. As someone who lives in Australia, I've seen it show up in the news here just once. And I've spent time in other first world countries including the US, so my opinion doesn't come from a place of ignorance.