I live in North Carolina, Elmore. I won't go into details but have reason to think Rudolph may have stolen a kayak from our campsite in the NC mountains several years before his apprehension. Rudolph's crime and his attitude have little or nothing to do with being a southerner, and nothing at all to do with Georgia.   

This is a national issue and problem, not a regional one. It also is not a rural vs. urban issue. More rural households are probably likely to own hunting rifles than urban households, but I would guess the percentage of urban households with a handgun is at least equal to rural households with a handgun and possibly higher, though I couldn't find the correct search terms to see if that info. is available on line.

And in terms of mass gun killings in the past decade+, neither the south as a region, nor southerners as the shooters stand out. http://www.newsmax.com/US/mass-shootings-us-colorado/2012/07/20/id/445971

Personally, I'd be a lot more worried about personal safety living in any urban area than I would be living in any more rural area, no matter the region of the USA.