By Don McDougall
United States -(AmmoLand.com)- A simple fact is the anti-gun left spout numbers and statistics all the time, they get them wrong, keep on repeating them and sooner or later they get treated as fact.
Here are some actual numbers and reasoned discussions to leave them flapping in the breeze.
Chicago – Chicago has a murder rate almost seven times that of the national average.
Chicago has 500 murders by gun a year and a population of 2.7 million people, the US has 8,500 gun related murders and a population of 318 million.
Chicago has 185 murders per million people; the US has 27 murders per million people. Chicago has a murder rate almost seven times that of the national average. So a city that has a virtual ban on guns also has a murder rate with guns that is dramatically higher than the rest of the country. By the “rest of the US” I exclude cities that have gun bans of their own like Baltimore where a population of 700,000 will have 300 gun related murders.
The top 10 major US cities account for almost 1,700 deaths or 20% of all murders with guns. Gun deaths are not spread evenly across the country; they are concentrated in a few urban centers where lax policing and failed liberal policies have created poverty and drug dependency leading to the rise of gangs and shootings. We could reduce the US murder rate by 20% if we addressed the issues of our inner cities. No gun control needed.
Gun crimes are down by 67% and murders with guns are down 35% over the past 20 years
Gun crimes are down by 67% and murders with guns are down 35% over the past 20 years. The number of murders would be down 50% except for increases in the cities mentioned above.
Show me ONE government program that would result in similar declines and I”d support it. The fact is you cannot. The increase in gun ownership and CCWs is obviously part of the reason for this reduction in crime.
There are about 100,000 rapes a year that are reported. The actual number is much higher. The decline in crime includes a reduction in the number of assaults. Over the past 20 years were talking about almost 1 million women whose lives have not been destroyed by rape. Gun bans place this reduction at risk.
The left will say that guns have NOTHING to do with rapes. The year after the Australian gun buyback rapes INCREASED in Australia by 29.9%. If you have 200,000 rapes in the US, a year a 29.9% increase is 58,000 women who would have their lives, and their families live destroyed. 58,000 women, not just this year but EVERY year! The actual number is obviously higher. What I find so scary is that crime and murders are dropping, and anti-gun politicians are trying to ban guns at the expense of women.
Black’s makeup only 13% of the U.S. population but suffered over 54% of all firearm murders.
Most of these killing are by black men under the age of 30. That’s 4% of the US population.
54% of all deaths with firearms are by 4% of the US population. So why the hell isn’t anyone doing anything about this? Seriously you know what group is committing these crimes, and my guess is you probably know why. So rather than address this issue you sit quietly on your butt and let the killings continue?
If GUNS cause suicide, Japan would be suicide free!
But rather Japan has the highest suicide rate in the world. Like mass shooting the issue here is mental health, not guns. There are 8,500 murders committed with guns every year (So says the FBI Unified Crime Report). Only a politician with an agenda that disregards the truth uses a number for gun murders higher than the FBI’s. The concept that if I hid a gun in your house you’d be more likely to commit suicide; even not knowing the gun was there, is insane.
Gun’s don’t cause anything.
President Obama passed health care, pulled the troops out of Iraq but left our inner cities as war zones. This means no economic development, no new industries No JOBS for our cities. Just the never ending cycle of welfare dependence and bloodshed. You have to ask honestly if some of these politicians like it that way.
None of the proposed new gun laws would have prevented any of the recent mass shootings. Not a single life would have been saved if these laws were in effect, and we leave our inner cities to rot.
In the past seven years over 100 million new guns have been sold, increasing the number of guns owned by 34%. The fastest demographic of new gun owners are women and Hispanics. The fastest selling rifle is the AR, and it’s variants. Support for private gun ownership is at an all-time high. … So why the sudden push for gun control? Hillary needed to stop Sanders in his tracks, and she used guns as her issue. Now she needs something ANYTHING to galvanize her base. Presidential races are as much about turnout and anything else. In 2008, Hillary was doing her best Annie Oakley impression to bash Obama.
The current move to ban guns is nothing more than a get out the vote stunt for one of the Presidential candidates.
Our rights are on the line as a political plaything and nothing more.
About Don McDougall:
Don McDougall is an NRA instructor and member of the Los Padres “Friends of the NRA” committee. If he’s not at the range you will find him setting the record straight with on gun issues and gun safety on AmmoLand Shooting Sports News.
Interesting point. Do we have good data on survival ratios of gunshot victims over time?
We can compare contemporary homicide rates. FBI stats, national homicide rate about 4.7 per 100k, non-black and -Hispanic murder rate is only about 2 per 100k; U.K. it’s about 1.0. Overall rate in New Orleans? Over 50! So it does not appear the availability of guns drives homicide rates, or at least the effect is dwarfed by other factors.
“Chicago has a murder rate almost seven times that of the national average. So a city that has a virtual ban on guns…”
Chicago doesn’t have a ban on guns, virtual or otherwise. In Illinois, though you must have a FOID card (registration) which is subject to a background check, anyone can own a gun. And since 2013, we have Concealed Carry. So, although Chicago doesn’t have a ban, it does have a severe gang problem, like most hi-density cities.
Cliff , I agree with you 100%. BUT you never hear the anti-gunners say a word about that. You would think they are out on another agenda?? The other than gun DEATHS(which are greater) do not seem to bother them?? Strange.
Gun crimes are down by 67%, that includes shootings. How many times more people die from medical mistakes than all firearm deaths?
Don, please take a look at revising this sentence – “The concept that is I hid a gun in your house you’d me more likely to commit suicide even not knowing the gun was there is insane.”
I am constantly doing the same thing when writing everywhere 🙁 so not a big deal other than it discounts your credibility a bit. Please feel free to delete my comment after editing.
I agree. The shootings would be more appropriate matrix to be looking at. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/murder-rates-dont-tell-us-everything-about-gun-violence/
The real problem is the perceived value of human live. Different countries have different values and so is different parts of our country, our inner cities have the value of life placed a lot lower IMO than one in the suburbs, been it black or white.
You really need to avoid using “murder” numbers in articles like this, because advances in emergency medical care over the last 40 years have resulted in a 75% reduction in the odds of dying from a GSW. So, statistically, a 50% reduction in “murders” could happen despite a 100% INCREASE in shootings over that same period. And the proliferation of soft body armor by itself has doubled the odds of LEOs surviving being shot, for a total 8-fold increase in the odds of a policeman not dying from a GSW. So murder is just a bad metric to be tossing… Read more »
Don, you write an article that gets sourced by other sites, but you have zero sourcing for your original piece. You may be correct, however, without source links you will always appear biased. So, wipe that smile off your face & provide the FBI, DEA, or other police statistics.