paravani
White Hat
I've been wondering what would happen in this country if our 2nd Amendment rights (see my signature) were repealed.
If we lose our right to keep and bear arms, will that bring the violence in this country to an end?
How much violence IS there in this country, anyway?
Contrary to media reports, statistics show that violent crime has been decreasing over the past twenty years, not increasing. In fact, last year saw fewer murders per capita in the US than in any other year since we started keeping records.
This decrease in violent crime comes at a time when firearms are proliferating in this country. Today, Americans own more hand guns and rifles per capita than anyone else in the world... yet still the per capita rate of violent crime in the US is the lowest it has been in forty years.
Our national murder rate, which peaked at 10.2 murders per 100,000 people in 1980 is now down to 4.7 per 100,000.
After the ban on semi-automatic rifles expired in 2004, there was no significant increase in the murder rate, and it has continued to drop in the eight years since then.
Well, all right then. I guess we aren't becoming more violent.
But if overall rates of violence are decreasing, then maybe we need national gun control because some states are more violent than others?
Would national gun control laws decrease our rates of violence even further?
Let's look at national maps to find the problem areas. Are the states with more firearms and less gun control the problem?
This map shows a state-by-state breakdown of murders per 100,000 people in 2009.
This map shows a state-by-state breakdown of murders per 100,000 people in 2010.
... And this map shows a state-by-state breakdown of murders per 100,000 people in 2011.
Let's look at the green states with low murder rates. Do they have more gun control?
Well, Washington and Oregon are "shall issue", open-carry states where you can legally own a semi-automatic firearm, and carry it in the open while walking down the street. They have lots of guns, including AK47s and AR15s. Yet they have low murder rates, and less overall violence.
Now, let's look at some red and brown states with higher murder rates.
California and Texas have nearly equal rates of murder per capita, yet their gun laws are very different. Texas is very gun-friendly, while California has extremely strict gun control. This is surprising, especially since we are being told that fewer guns will lead to less violence.
One more thing I'd like you to notice: Canada is mint green, while Mexico is red-red-RED, and getting redder every day. The murder rate in Mexico has climbed from 14 per 100,000 to an astounding 24+ per 100,000 in just three years!
Yet, Canada and Mexico BOTH have strict gun-control laws.
Apparently violence isn't directly related to guns or the lack thereof, but to geographic location -- specifically, which states are most heavily influenced by our neighbor to the south.
With Mexican cartels in the news on a daily basis, you may not have realized that guns are severely restricted in Mexico. For an ordinary citizen, options are limited: the largest weapons in Mexico’s single gun store — including semiautomatic rifles — can be bought only by members of the police or the military.
Handgun permits for home protection in Mexico are issued only for calibers .38 and smaller. The mountains of paperwork take months to process, and permits tend to be granted only to the wealthy or politically-connected.
Mexico is, in fact, a model of what gun-control advocates would like to see here in the US.
The Mexican government is also in favor of US gun control legislation. They'd like us to be completely disarmed. Their argument is that most of the guns in Mexico are coming out of the US, so they believe there would be less gun violence in their nation if the US confiscated all our citizens' firearms.
But according to the article Mexico Jumps Into Gun Control Debate, the cartels can and do obtain firearms from a multitude of sources besides the US:
So, is the problem that US firearms are being imported into Mexico?
Or is Mexican violence being imported into the US?
There are an estimated 15 million firearms in Mexico, only 5 million of which are legally registered. Our military personnel number less than 1.5 million... so there are ten times as many guns in Mexico as we have armed forces to defend against them.
Looking again at the maps above, what do you think would happen if Americans were disarmed today, with violent and heavily-armed criminal cartels just over our border?
What would be the effect of an "assault-weapons ban" that would restrict American citizens to owning small-caliber handguns and bolt-action rifles, when the criminals to the south are well-armed with automatic and semi-automatic rifles?
Do you believe that the graphs for the next few years would continue to show a decrease nationally in overall murder rates?
-- Paravani
If we lose our right to keep and bear arms, will that bring the violence in this country to an end?
How much violence IS there in this country, anyway?
Contrary to media reports, statistics show that violent crime has been decreasing over the past twenty years, not increasing. In fact, last year saw fewer murders per capita in the US than in any other year since we started keeping records.
This decrease in violent crime comes at a time when firearms are proliferating in this country. Today, Americans own more hand guns and rifles per capita than anyone else in the world... yet still the per capita rate of violent crime in the US is the lowest it has been in forty years.
Our national murder rate, which peaked at 10.2 murders per 100,000 people in 1980 is now down to 4.7 per 100,000.
After the ban on semi-automatic rifles expired in 2004, there was no significant increase in the murder rate, and it has continued to drop in the eight years since then.
Well, all right then. I guess we aren't becoming more violent.
But if overall rates of violence are decreasing, then maybe we need national gun control because some states are more violent than others?
Would national gun control laws decrease our rates of violence even further?
Let's look at national maps to find the problem areas. Are the states with more firearms and less gun control the problem?
This map shows a state-by-state breakdown of murders per 100,000 people in 2009.
This map shows a state-by-state breakdown of murders per 100,000 people in 2010.
... And this map shows a state-by-state breakdown of murders per 100,000 people in 2011.
Let's look at the green states with low murder rates. Do they have more gun control?
Well, Washington and Oregon are "shall issue", open-carry states where you can legally own a semi-automatic firearm, and carry it in the open while walking down the street. They have lots of guns, including AK47s and AR15s. Yet they have low murder rates, and less overall violence.
Now, let's look at some red and brown states with higher murder rates.
California and Texas have nearly equal rates of murder per capita, yet their gun laws are very different. Texas is very gun-friendly, while California has extremely strict gun control. This is surprising, especially since we are being told that fewer guns will lead to less violence.
One more thing I'd like you to notice: Canada is mint green, while Mexico is red-red-RED, and getting redder every day. The murder rate in Mexico has climbed from 14 per 100,000 to an astounding 24+ per 100,000 in just three years!
Yet, Canada and Mexico BOTH have strict gun-control laws.
Apparently violence isn't directly related to guns or the lack thereof, but to geographic location -- specifically, which states are most heavily influenced by our neighbor to the south.
With Mexican cartels in the news on a daily basis, you may not have realized that guns are severely restricted in Mexico. For an ordinary citizen, options are limited: the largest weapons in Mexico’s single gun store — including semiautomatic rifles — can be bought only by members of the police or the military.
Handgun permits for home protection in Mexico are issued only for calibers .38 and smaller. The mountains of paperwork take months to process, and permits tend to be granted only to the wealthy or politically-connected.
Mexico is, in fact, a model of what gun-control advocates would like to see here in the US.
The Mexican government is also in favor of US gun control legislation. They'd like us to be completely disarmed. Their argument is that most of the guns in Mexico are coming out of the US, so they believe there would be less gun violence in their nation if the US confiscated all our citizens' firearms.
But according to the article Mexico Jumps Into Gun Control Debate, the cartels can and do obtain firearms from a multitude of sources besides the US:
Questions remain, however, on whether gun trafficking or gun control laws are directly to blame for Mexican violence.
George W. Grayson, a Mexico expert at the College of William and Mary, doubts tighter gun control laws in the U.S. will greatly affect violence in Mexico. Cartels, Grayson said, can easily find AK-47s and other assault weapons on the international market – places such as China, France, Brazil and Israel.
“The lion’s share of weapons used by cartels come from the United States, but having said that, if the Virgin of Guadeloupe were to stop the flow of weapons southward it would be a nuisance for the cartels but it certainly would not end the bloodshed,” Grayson said.
So, is the problem that US firearms are being imported into Mexico?
Or is Mexican violence being imported into the US?
There are an estimated 15 million firearms in Mexico, only 5 million of which are legally registered. Our military personnel number less than 1.5 million... so there are ten times as many guns in Mexico as we have armed forces to defend against them.
Looking again at the maps above, what do you think would happen if Americans were disarmed today, with violent and heavily-armed criminal cartels just over our border?
What would be the effect of an "assault-weapons ban" that would restrict American citizens to owning small-caliber handguns and bolt-action rifles, when the criminals to the south are well-armed with automatic and semi-automatic rifles?
Do you believe that the graphs for the next few years would continue to show a decrease nationally in overall murder rates?
-- Paravani
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