POLITICS - FBI's Crime Report Bad News for Anti-Gunners

[don Tomás]

From the article: "In 2007, the major U.S. cities with the highest murder rates were cities with severe gun control."

This is going to be tough for the anti's to spin...
Tom

“If you take out the killings, Washington (DC) actually has a very very low crime rate.”
(Mayor) Marion Berry


FBI's Crime Report Bad News for Anti-Gunners
Friday, September 19, 2008

This week, the FBI released its crime report for 2007 and, once again, gun control supporters are taking it on the chin.

It's not just that the nation's violent crime rate decreased slightly between 2006 and 2007. It's that every year since 2002 it has been lower than anytime since 1974, leading the Justice Department to say that violent crime is "near a 30-year low." Since 1991, violent crime has dropped 38 percent. Murder is now at a 40-year low, lower than anytime since 1966 every year from 1999 to the present, and down 43 percent since 1991.

"More guns means more crime?" Only in anti-gunner "La-La Land." Violent crime has fallen as the number of guns has increased 4.5 million a year. There are more gun owners, owning more guns than ever before, and violent crime is lower than anytime since Gerald Ford became president!

We can hardly wait to see the Brady Campaign try to spin this one with its asinine "state grades" stunt. In 2007, the major U.S. cities with the highest murder rates were cities with severe gun control. The top three? Detroit (where Michigan law requires a permit to purchase a handgun), Baltimore (where Maryland law restricts private handgun sales and requires a seven-day waiting period on handgun sales by dealers), and the District of Columbia (with its handgun ban and its firearm registration law). Detroit, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and D.C. had the highest robbery rates.

In 2007, as in years past, Right-to-Carry states had lower violent crime rates, on average, compared to the rest of the country with total violent crime lower by 24 percent, murder by 28 percent, robbery by 50 percent, and aggravated assault by 11 percent. Further, in 2007, 32 percent of murders were committed without firearms of any sort--knives accounted for 12 percent, hands and feet six percent, and blunt objects four percent. Rifles and shotguns (semi-automatic and otherwise) accounted for three percent each, and typically "assault weapons" have accounted for about one percent.

[FWiedner]

No surprises there.

Got a link to the original article?

[don Tomás]

No surprises there.

Got a link to the original article?

Sure, just click article title...
Tom

[FWiedner]

No surprises there.

Got a link to the original article?

Sure, just click article title...
Tom

Missed that.

Thanks!

[Kansas Ed]

I would suggest that you actually read the report, look at the statistics and then form an opinion based upon what you have seen there. The NRA has an obviously biased opinion with something to gain from their own spin. I've already seen one misleading piece of information in that article, and furthermore if you read the FBI website the following caution is preliminary before it will even let you into the statistics.

"Each year when Crime in the United States is published, many entities—news media, tourism agencies, and other groups with an interest in crime in our Nation—use reported figures to compile rankings of cities and counties. These rankings, however, are merely a quick choice made by the data user; they provide no insight into the many variables that mold the crime in a particular town, city, county, state, region, or other jurisdiction. Consequently, these rankings lead to simplistic and/or incomplete analyses that often create misleading perceptions adversely affecting cities and counties, along with their residents."

http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2007/index.html

It would be nice to celebrate, but there is a lot more to this than what is being reported on any side.

Ed

[Grizz]

Yeah Ed,

Must be if you move to the lowest crime site in the country your odds of being victimized go UP, and if you move to DC or the other high crime sites your odds of being a crime victim go DOWN, eh?

How does that work?

[TCB in TN]

It would be nice to celebrate, but there is a lot more to this than what is being reported on any side.

You are certainly correct, BUT many of those variables can be traced back to socialist social policy that walks hand in hand with severe gun control laws. Cities and states with more "liberal" gun control laws, and more "conservative" social policies tend to have far less crime than the opposite!

[Kansas Ed]

It would be nice to celebrate, but there is a lot more to this than what is being reported on any side.

You are certainly correct, BUT many of those variables can be traced back to socialist social policy that walks hand in hand with severe gun control laws. Cities and states with more "liberal" gun control laws, and more "conservative" social policies tend to have far less crime than the opposite!

I'm not denying that in my own beliefs, but if you notice it's the NRA who draws the conclusion that the very arguably lower violent crime rate over the last several years is due to the repeal of gun control legislation. It wasn't the FBI's stance. Furthermore, it could be argued that even by using the NRA's own previously published data the highest crime areas were in states with the highest population density. Of the 10 states with the most prohibitive gun laws 9 of them rank within the top 15 most densely populated states, which logically will show higher crime rates. This is exactly what the FBI was cautioning about.

My point is that its not hard to shoot holes in the NRA's argument.

Ed

[donw]

don't worry, the anti-gun folks will ignore the truth and facts...

[Ysabel Kid]

[quote="Kansas Ed"] My point is that its not hard to shoot holes in the NRA's argument./quote]

But even easier to shoot holes in the anti's arguments, since they take the opposite extreme, and blame everything on the gun, and nothing on the city's size, demographics, etc.