REPORTS SHOW GUN HOMICIDES DOWN SINCE 1990s

[Sun195]

So, where's the fire?

Reports show gun homicides down since 1990s

WASHINGTON (AP) — Gun homicides have dropped steeply in the United States since their 1993, a pair of reports released Tuesday showed, adding fuel to Congress' battle over whether to tighten restrictions on firearms.

A study released Tuesday by the government's Bureau of Justice Statistics found that gun-related homicides dropped from 18,253 in 1993 to 11,101 in 2011. That's a 39 percent reduction.

Another report by the private Pew Research Center found a similar decline by looking at the rate of gun homicides, which compares the number of killings to the size of the country's population. It found that the number of gun homicides per 100,000 people fell from 7 percent in 1993 to 3.6 percent in 2010, a drop of 49 percent.

Both reports also found the rate of non-fatal crimes involving guns was also down by around 70 percent over that period.

Read More

 

[RBid]

This is something I spend a LOT of time talking about. We (the gun community) repeatedly allow ourselves to be sucked into the "where does the blame go?" conversation, despite the fact that violent crime and homice are DOWN. Our point-- that more guns does not equal more crime-- has been PROVEN in apples to apples comparison. Forget the US vs UK, Canada, or Australia (where they had lower homicide rates than we do BEFORE their gun bans, and where their own legislation has failed to yield positive movement in these metrics). We're talking US to US comparison.

When sucked into this conversation, the NRA did the same thing that the gun community constantly rails against-- they made a baseless accusation that "violent video games" and other reasons were to blame.

The question is... to blame for what? For violent crime DECREASING?

Fun facts:
- Crime has been steadily in decline since a couple of years prior to the expiration of the Clinton Ban.

- Call of Duty launched its first title in 2002, which is around the same time that the period of declining violence began. CoD is one of the most successful and violent video game franchises on the market, with new titles being released each year, and people from a broad range of ages spending millions on the franchise. Between that launch and present day, MANY violent video game titles have pushed the envelope farther and farther... Battlefield, Bioshock, Grand Theft Auto, and many other wildly popular titles have hit the market.

Despite the ever increasing popularity of violent video games, and the flood of firearms hitting the market, crime is going DOWN.

The question is not "who is to blame". The question is, "what the poop are we blaming anything for?" The response that you will get if you ask this question to an educated anti-gunner, will be centered on spree shootings. It's not hard to point out that they are trying to blame an inanimate object for the fact that a handful out of 312 million people are batpoop crazy.


sorry.

This frustrates me.

 

[Sun195]

More specific details on the Pew study:

Gun Homicide Rate Down 49% Since 1993 Peak; Public Unaware | Pew Social & Demographic Trends

 

[deen_ad]

What frustrates me is that there are actually gun owners railing against the NRA and all they've done since their beginning.

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1. The NRA was originally not a civil rights organization.

The NRA was founded in 1871 after the Civil War by Army and Navy Journal editor William Conant Church and General George Wood Wingate of the Union Army, who were both dismayed at the horrible accuracy of Union soldiers during the Civil War. The original purpose of the organization was for rifle marksmanship training. However despite this, the NRA is the oldest civil rights organization in the United States.

2. The NRA has a history of being for gun control.

In 1934, the NRA supported the National Firearms Act, which served to regulate and tax firearms that were considered used by gangsters at the time. They also supported the Gun Control Act of 1968, which expanded on the system to license firearm dealers and prohibit criminals and those with mental impairments from owning firearms.

3. The NRA has a history of supporting the Civil Rights Movement.

While African Americans were being terrorized by the Ku Klux Klan, where the Klan were sometimes aided by local law enforcement, the NRA setup charters to help train local African American communities to be able protect themselves. The most prominent case being in 1960 in Monroe, N.C. where the local National Association for the Advancement of Colored People head Robert Williams also chartered an NRA Rifle Club that successfully defended an assault on one of their leader's homes by the KKK without casualties.

4. The NRA is active in wildlife conservation.

The NRA supports wildlife conservation through efforts to open lands up to managed hunting. For example, under the Pittman-Robertson Act of 1937, proceeds obtained through a tax on hunting firearms and ammo were used specifically to research and rebuild a vast array of wildlife species and habitats. Today, the NRA continues to seek expansion on these measures. It's worth noting that the proceeds from taxes and licensing go to support the governmental agencies charged with environmental research and conservation management, as "little funding comes from taxes paid by the general public."

5. The NRA offers extensive firearms training programs.

The organization offers training programs for civilians as well as law enforcement. The training programs offered are even recognized by law enforcement as acceptable to fulfill the training requirement for concealed carry licenses (CCW). Today, the NRA has trained over 10,000 police and security firearm instructors and 55,000 certified instructors who in turn train roughly 750,000 people a year. (This is now much higher at over 11,000 police and security firearm instructors and 93,000 certified instructors.)

6. The Eddie Eagle GunSafe program is used to promote gun safety to minors.

To date, the organization's Eddie Eagle GunSafe program has reached over 25 million kids. The main message of the program is to teach kids that should they find a firearm that they should "stop, don't touch, leave the area, and tell an adult." Despite the program's message, gun control advocates (such as the Violence Policy Center) liken the program to the late cigarette mascot "Joe Camel."

7. A majority of Americans have a favorable image of the NRA.

According to a recent Gallup poll, 54% of Americans hold a favorable view of the NRA, while 38% have an unfavorable view. Putting this in perspective, a more recent Gallup poll shows President Obama holds a 51% approval rating, while 43% disapprove.

8. The NRA has 3 separate organizations.

The NRA has three separate bodies. The NRA of America is mainly concerned with promoting training, education, and safety. The NRA-ILA is the lobbying arm of the organization. And the NRA Foundation is the the charitable arm of the organization.

9. Funding for the NRA might surprise you

According to FactCheck.org, nearly half of the funding for the NRA comes from membership dues alone. Voluntary donations to the NRA, however, still account for a majority portion of the remaining funding. This includes voluntary donations made during gun purchases at the point of sale as well as programs like the "round-up" campaign, operated by the NRA-ILA and retailers, where consumers can round a purchase up to the nearest dollar for donation to support lobbying efforts. With that said, gun manufacturers do donate to the NRA as well. For example, Sturm, Ruger, and Co., ran the "Million Gun Challenge" in 2011, which directly ties gun sales to donations with the target being one million dollars.

10. Current stance on gun Control

The NRA's current stance on gun control is to enforce existing laws more aggressively. In 2008, in response to the Virgina Tech shooting, the NRA helped to pass the "NICS Improvement Act," which would provide increased funding and grants to states to report vital information to the National Instant Background Check System (NICS), such as mental health. The NICS is used for background checks of potential gun buyers. Unfortunately, the system has been woefully underfunded (receiving only 5.3% of the authorized funding) and reporting has been lackluster. In addition, the NRA has pointed out that those who lie on their background checks when purchasing firearms are for the most part not prosecuted. In response to this, Vice President Biden claimed that they "don't have the time" to prosecute such violations, which, by the way, carries a minimum 5 year federal sentence, if convicted under the Gun Control Act of 1968.

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[Bam]

Those statistics are made up.

Don't you get it? 90% of Americans want gun control!!!







On a serious note, You know what really pisses me off? That major news outlets refuse to report this AP story, because obviously the truth hurts their unconstitutional agenda.

Firearm sales go up, hit all time records; gun violence goes down! Choke on that antis, this isn't your made up bull crap ether, comes from the Federal Government's Bureau of Justice!!!!

 

[kumabear17]

If you want the FBI figures on crime, here the site.
FBI ? Expanded Offense Data
It amazing to me how Libs just go with what MSNBC or NPR tells them and appear to stupid to validate anything.

By the way here is the Australian Gov't Site. There, it is true, murders have gone down 26% over the last 10 yeaars, but violent crime is up 40%
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These are great Sites to learn facts that shut down Libs so you can try (useless most time) to direct them to some real causes of violence.

Butch

 

[Kevatc]

What frustrates me is that the Obama administration keeps pushing for gun control when their own Justice Dept. statistics don't support the claims.

There are far more important things for our government to concern itself with that don't involve trying to solve a problem that is largely solving itself despite the government.

 

[ATCclears]

Single PDF of the Pew report:
http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/files/2013/05/firearms_final_05-2013.pdf

Peter

 

[nilknarf]

There are far more important things for our government to concern itself with that don't involve trying to solve a problem that is largely solving itself despite the government.

You mean important things like removing any possibility that "we the people" might be able to wake up and take our country back?

 

[deen_ad]

BTW: Yahoo isn't carrying any of this story when I checked.

 

[Dave Workman]

BTW: Yahoo isn't carrying any of this story when I checked.

They will. They can't ignore it.

Gun homicides down, gun ownership up = Gun banners lied!

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[Dave Workman]

And there's something new...the liberal media spin:

Liberal media spin on gun crime studies cranks up

Liberal anti-gun media spinmeisters wasted no time yesterday spinning the results of two reports on gun-related homicides &#8211; released Tuesday by the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the Pew Research Center &#8211; in an attempt to perpetuate the establishment argument that guns are bad and must be controlled.

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