Posted on 09/29/2011 6:31:23 AM PDT by marktwain
Despite increases in gun sales, gun crimes continued to decrease in the United States for the fourth straight year in 2010, according to the FBI.
The FBI recently released its Crime in The United States statistics for 2010. Overall, murders in the U.S. have decreased steadily since 2006, dropping from 15,087 to 12,996. Firearms murders — which made up 67 percent of all murders in the U.S. in 2010 — have followed this trend, decreasing by 14 percent.
At the same time that firearms murders were dropping, gun sales were surging. In 2009, FBI background checks for guns increased by 30 percent over the previous year, while firearms sales in large retail outlets increased by almost 40 percent. The number of applications for concealed carry permits jumped across the country as well.
“There was a huge spike,” NRA spokesperson Rachel Parsons said. “It’s probably mellowed out and gone back to normal now.”
There is no national registry of guns, but based on sales-tracking and other figures, the National Rifle Association estimates there are 80 to 90 million gun owners in the U.S.
Naturally, there is dispute over the significance of the surge in gun sales. The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, for instance, says gun ownership in America is actually declining.
“While there are more people with concealed carry permits and there has been an increase in gun sales, the research indicates overwhelmingly that the same people are simply buying more guns and that there has been a sharp decline in the percentage of Americans who own guns,” Brady Campaign spokesperson Caroline Brewer said. “So while there may be more guns, they are in the hands of a smaller percentage of Americans.”
Pro-Second Amendment advocacy groups have used the decrease in gun crime, and crime in general, as a counter to gun control advocates’ claims that more firearms lead to more gun violence. They also point to the statistics as evidence of the ineffectiveness of gun control laws. (RELATED: Widow of ‘Whitey’ Bulger victim suggests foul play in payment of $2.1 million FBI reward)
The top three states for gun murders in 2010 were, in order, California, Texas and New York. While Texas has lax gun control laws, California and New York are among the strictest gun-control states in the country.
“California is in a category of its own as far as gun control laws there,” Parsons said. “New York is a little bit better, but they still have discretionary concealed carry laws.”
According to FBI data, California had the most gun murders last year —- 1,257, which is 69 percent of all murders in 2010.
Nevertheless, California gun murders are still down by 8 percent from the previous year.
Broken down by firearms murder rate per 100,000 people, the District of Columbia is number one, with 16 firearms murders per 100,000 people in the District.
D.C. also topped the list of firearm robberies per 100,000 people with 255.98.
Yet D.C. arguably has the tightest gun laws in the country. Although an outright ban on handguns was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2008, legislators ensured the new regulations for obtaining a registered handgun would be anything but easy.
Like California, the number of firearms murders in D.C. — 99 in 2010 — dropped by 12 percent from the previous year.
However, the Brady Campaign argues cities with high rates of gun crime, yet strict gun laws, suffer from being next to states with more lax gun control.
“You’ve got states with weaker laws right at the border and have populations that are constantly coming in and out,” Brewer said. “Chicago is right next to Indiana, which has almost no gun laws.”
Likewise, Washington, D.C. is sandwiched between Maryland and Virginia.
The Brady Campaign also points to the Brady Law, which was enacted in 1993 and requires background checks for firearms purchases, as a reducer of gun crime.
Assigning causes to increases or decreases in the national crime rate is a notorious fool’s errand because of the amount of variables at play, but what the numbers don’t suggest is any clear correlation between gun crime, gun ownership and gun-control laws.
It bears noting that the FBI’s data, based on reports from local law enforcement, is far from comprehensive. There are no numbers for Florida on firearm murders, and the data for Illinois is “incomplete.”
The FBI also warns against using the data to rank areas against each other, noting that rankings “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,” the FBI continued.
Title should read: Gun crime declines BECAUSE of Increased Gun Sales
Perhaps the apparently liberal headline writer for this article should try this on for size:
“Gun crime continues to decrease, possibly due to increase in gun sales”
And assclowns continue to write headlines based on their mythical presuppositions, despite all refutory empirical evidence.
Present your "research" and cut the bullsh1t, Ms. Brewer.
“In spite”? Had gun crime gone up you can bet your bottom dollar that the headline would have been “due to.”
All we are seeing is the result of years and years of propaganda and perhaps a failure of our generation to train and educate and push back against the nannystaters.
Every generation of Americans should understand the skills, the value and the responsibilities for owning and using firearms.
When the good guys have guns, too, the bad guys reconsider their actions.
That stat has been shown in many locations where citizens are allowed to carry.
Notice how many gun related crimes happen in — ‘gun free’ zones.
Duh!
If the "lax gun laws" in places surrounding Chicago and DC account for the numbers of gun crimes in those places, why aren't the numbers of crimes the same in the places surrounding Chicago and DC as they are in those cities? Do thugs just prefer living in cities, or what?
The “thug demographic” definitely is higher in cities.
And, not to push a correlation/causation false assumption on this point, but... city dwellers also tend to vote left.
More Guns, Less Crime- I think that was a book title, right?
PS - I'm curious as to why you hate Harleys. I have always loved ALL motorcycles, and after about 12 years with no American Iron (okay, it's now mostly Aluminum) in my garage, I added a 2000 Softail to my modest bike collection a couple of weeks ago.
Of course, it HAS rained every single day since I picked it up, so now that I think about it maybe the "Two-wheeled gods" are trying to send me a message. Perhaps: "You should have just stuck with the BMWs and Triumphs"...
BATFE working overtime to bring crime statistics back up.
i don’t like boats myself, so it’s hard for me to have a boating accident- but fortunately, i lost mine in the divorce. :)
as for harleys- it’s not so much the bikes as it is the attitude that goes with them, both from riders and non-riders. there’s too many harley riders (and wannabes) that have the attitude that harleys are the best things ever, and anything else is a POS.
.....“California is in a category of its own as far as gun control laws there,” Parsons said. “New York is a little bit better, but they still have discretionary concealed carry laws.”......
She has this BACKWARDS. A spokesperson for the NRA should know better!
As bad as California is on guns, it is essentially “right to own” on most handguns. They have a list of “banned” handguns and long guns and the state mandated background check takes about three weeks for handguns. A safety class is required also.
New York is essentially discretionary on handgun ownership (not just carry). New York City is discretionary on ALL firearms ownership—take a look at the NYC police website.
I have made it clear to all my Harley-centric friends that just because I now own one, it does NOT mean I am going to stop making fun of them...
Some years ago, my 10-year-old granndaughter was visiting us. I was carrying a .22 Ruger look-alike AK-47. She said, "Ooooh, a GUN!" and recoiled. I laid the gun on the floor and said "Let's stand here and see how long it takes for it to jump up and shoot somebody". She gave me a funny look and said, "But, grandpa, it's not alive!"
Out of the mouths of babes. (She's 16 now and no longer afraid of guns.)
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