Huh. Decreasing gun control caused gun violence to increase. Who could have seen that coming?

Overall crime down, but robbery, gun violence up

Americans were robbed and victimized by gun violence at greater rates last year than the year before, even though overall violent and property crime reached a 32-year low, the Justice Department said today.

Experts said these increases buttress reports from the FBI and many mayors and police chiefs that violent crime is beginning to rise after a long decline. Bush administration officials expressed concern but stressed that it was too soon to tell if a new upward trend in violence had begun.

Last year, there were two violent gun crimes for every 1,000 individuals, compared with 1.4 in 2004, according to the department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics. There were 2.6 robberies for every 1,000 persons, compared with 2.1 the year before.

“A major police effort to confiscate guns helped bring down the surge in violent crime that occurred in the late 1980s and early 1990s,” Blumstein said. “But gun distribution is easier now because we have begun to back off gun control.”

Backed by the National Rifle Association, the Bush administration has been cool toward gun control measures.



  1. Alex N says:

    Its like Larry the Cable guy put it actually… “If guns kill people then I should be able to blame misspelled words on my pencil.” You can’t blame a thing for your own actions. I can’t tell a police officer writing me a ticket that I wasn’t the one speeding. It was my car’s fault. This is preposterious.

  2. ECA says:

    28,
    The best Gun for home protection…
    410 shotgun Darringer….BEWARE.
    It kicks…
    And ANything in front of it, if you load BB’s or Bird shot, Will Hit Everything infront of it, for 30 feet. and VERY WIDE…(no choke)
    It may not kill them, but it will SURELY make them ‘SPIT’ in there pants, and Wound them…

    410=45 caliber= about the size of your pinkie, and 2.5-3″ long.

  3. George of the city says:

    #25 you must not work very hard for your property.

  4. ECA says:

    Sorry but,
    IM a poor person…
    IF I PAID for it….YOU AINT GETTING IT….

    I know the value of products, AS most of you should.
    I tend to be a Very nice person, and if ASKED, I will do what I can to help…. BUT…..BUT….DONT STEAL from me…… I am TRULY into revenge….and IF I FIND YOU….you wont have to worry about the next life…YOU WILL KNOW, its not a nice place.

    Plz under stand…Iv had to many things, REMOVED from my home..trying to be a NICE person… BUT, to many MESSED with me.. And I WILL remove certain things from being a Hinderance to others.

    THIs is one reason I moved into the RURAL areas….I HATE the big city. to many THINK you are a slept. AND being NICE will get you nothing but pain.

  5. Michael Shirley says:

    If you take the populations of people in the US and Guns and then look at the actual rates of abuse by the former and the number
    used illegally , the rate of incidence comes out at considerably less than one percent. So how is it that I’m supposed to surrender my rights for something that’ s the next best thing to a statistical anomaly.?

    Makes you wonder about the people who are pushing this kind of boneheaded legislation. For my part I’ve always regarded it as pathetic that people who want to make decisions concerning my safety and how I maintain it, aren’t going to pay with their lives or property if they’re wrong.

  6. RS says:

    #25 You may believe that property is not worth the cost of a human life, but are you willing to assume that the criminal whom breaks into your home feels the same way? When is the use of force acceptable? After the criminal has shot and possibly killed you or one of your loved ones? I, personally, am not willing to wait for that possibility. If a person has broken into my home with any kind of weapon they are a deadly threat and I would act accordingly. The life of a criminal invading my home may be worth more than my property, but it is worth less than the lives of my family members.

  7. Mr. H. Fusion says:

    So many comments here are based upon NRA bullshit. I really hate to be the one to break it to all you folks, but having a gun in the house is a better way to have a family member killed or seriously injured by gun shot then not having a gun. Burglars do not enter a home knowing someone is home, they will purposely avoid those home. And it doesn’t matter if you post a sign saying “Protected by Smith & Wesson” or “Pry my gun from my cold, ooze covered fingers”. More family members are killed or injured by playing with handguns then are criminals.

    Really, I couldn’t care much how many gang members kill each other. It is when innocent people get hit with the stray bullets that I care. And I would much rather try to outrun even a board with 6” nails sticking out, wielded by a distraught husband, then I would a 9 mm bullet fired by some kid showing off his grand daddy’s gun.

    None of this is about the right to have an armed militia. The whole thing is about power. Personal power. The power to feel equal to the bullies. The thrill you feel when you stroke the cold metal finish. The excitement that comes with imagining yourself saying “go ahead, make my day, punk”.

    ***

    #32, alan, besides having a broken keyboard and brain, what the eff are you talking about? The biggest difference between Toronto, San Diego, and Chicago, as for crime statistics, is the availability of hand guns. While all three are relatively the same size, Chicago has 15.5 homicides per 100,000, while San Diego has 4.8, and Toronto has 1.8.

    http://www.toronto.ca/quality_of_life/safety.htm

  8. alan N. says:

    there are approx. 80 million gun owners in the U.S. most of those people have more than one gun, i own six… bullets also don’t kill people because you could THROW bullets all day long at people and not kill anyone… on the other hand, you could throw a siberian tiger at someone and that person more than likely will become tiger poo… that is up to the tiger, so who is to blame… even GHANDI said that it would only make sense to shoot and kill someone who is coming to shoot you… so for all of you people who believe that killing criminals intent on doing you harm is wrong, leave me the keys to ALL your vehicles where ever they are, leave me with addresses to your houses and the codes for your alarm systems (why have an alarm?) and oh yeah all access to all your bank accounts and leave when i show up because it all belongs to me now… and oh yeah, make sure you continue those yoga classes and attend your buddhist bullhonkey stupidity… you only do that to make yourself feel better for being such good capitalist, materialistic selfish and self centered bungholes you are… besides, yoga was developed by MONKS who have and had and wanted NOTHING to achieve ENLIGHTENMENT… YOU ARE NOT ENLIGHTENED BY BUYING ANYTHING, NOR BY ALLIGNING AND ALLYING YOURSELF WITH ANYONE OR ANYTHING YOU THINK IS COOLER THAN YOU THUSLY MAKING YOURSELF COOL… stockholm syndrome is rampant and seems to be being taught in our schools to our children, so is rampant oxymoronism all by COMPLETELY left wing communists teaching our children STUPIDITY!!! look at england, people are being attacked in their homes and cannot do anything about it or you will go to jail… and oh yeah, do you speak GERMAN OR JAPANESE, and if you do not because you arent german or japanese and also do not because YOU CHOOSE NOT TO, you are welcome. no no, you don’t have to thank me, thank my GRANDFATHER and all those like him… war is bad but sometimes you have to fight fire with fire, just ask a firefighter… and even all non violent religions have warrior gods as well as warriors… read joseph campbell… so all the bull about all the gun crime in the U.S. is BULL. sure there are crimes, but if guns cause all that crime, there would be so MANY MORE dead people… 80 million gun owners wtih way more than one gun… where are all the dead people. i live in houston, we have approx. 300 or so murders a year, less than one third are gun murders. there are about 4million people and houston is one of about a dozen big cities and all the murders reflect about a 1% population curve… so between 5 to 10 thousand people a year are killed by really messed up people and ONLY one third of those are killed some jerky wielding a firearm… there are 300 MILLION PEOPLE in the U.S. 80 million gun owners, where are all the dead and shot people, WHERE?!!!

  9. Mr. H. Fusion says:

    #41, alan

    Perchance did you ever get shot in the head? Your babbling nonsense is a great argument in favor of gun control.

  10. ECA says:

    True story…

    a person broke into a home, and was finishing up, and saw a door he hadnt seen. He proceeded to enter and found the Garage. He looked around, and found nothing. He tried to leave, and found the Door had locked behind him. He tried the Garage door, nad couldnt get it to move.
    He was locked in, and couldnt get out (thats HIS words)

    About 5 days later(the owners were on vacation)
    They come back home, and open the garage to find some one inside.
    Later to find he survived on Dog food and Coke.
    They called the cops, and he was arrested.

    the Crook filled agaisnt THE OWNERS, for Illegal detention.
    AND WON $15,000(about).
    Sence he had nothing ON his person that was stolen, it had been locked inside the home, he was released.

  11. DeLeMa says:

    On another spin….
    Wonder if the desire to own a gun can ,in any way, be linked to the constant stream of fear thy neighbor being spewed by the current administration ?


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