[extropy-chat] Gun and crime stats for the USA

[Gary Miller]

Don't we have to add the number of deaths from accidental gun deaths to the
number murdered to get a true picture of loss of life?

Quoting http://www.nationalreview.com/kopel/kopel013101.shtml

Putting aside the suicides, the Kellermann/Reay figures show 2.39 accidental
or criminal deaths by firearm (in the home) for every justifiable fatal
shooting. Now, 2 to 1 is a lot less dramatic than 43 to 1 earlier reported
in a flawed  earlier analysis, but we still have more unjustifiable gun
deaths than justifiable gun deaths in the home.

Worse yet many of those killed are the very children the parents seek to
protect.

Hand gun locks and smart guns could eliminate this disparity once the public
was legally required to meet this requirement.  But the cost of smart guns
could be cost prohibitive and hand gun locks laws could only be enforced
after the fact or on an inspection basis the way we do with automobiles.

Juries would be extremely reluctant to prosecute parents for manslaughter
who left an unlocked gun where a child could gain access but the publicity
from such trials could further server to educate other gun owners.

I have read that the decrease in murder rates is in a large part due to the
decreased fatalities caused by improvement of medical trauma.  Additional
factors include improved police work in getting repeat violent offenders off
the street sooner and laws like three strikes and your out which put repeat
violent offenders away for good.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Max More" <max at maxmore.com>
To: "Extropy Chat" <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>
Sent: Sunday, November 30, 2003 7:59 PM
Subject: [extropy-chat] Gun and crime stats for the USA


> More numbers to argue over:
>
> The nation`s violent crime rate (the number of crimes per 100,000
> population) has declined every year since 1991 and is now at a 22-year
low.
> And murder is at a 35-year low. (FBI, www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm) The trends
> include the following highlights:
> ·       Since 1991, the nation`s violent crime rates have all decreased
> substantially. Total violent crime (the aggregate of murder and
> non-negligent manslaughter, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault), has
> decreased 33.2%; murder and non-negligent manslaughter has decreased
43.7%;
> rape has decreased 24.2%; robbery has decreased 46.9%; and aggravated
> assault has decreased 25.3%.
> ·       National violent crime rates in 2000 were the lowest in years.
> Total violent crime, the lowest since 1978; murder, the lowest since 1965;
> rape, the lowest since 1978; robbery, the lowest since 1968; and
aggravated
> assault, the lowest since 1985.
> ·       Further demonstrating the irrelevance of "gun control" to crime
> rates, between 1991 (when violent crime started declining nationally) and
> 2000, states that had the greatest decreases in violent crime generally,
> and in murder in particular, included both those that have some of the
> nation`s least restrictive gun laws (such as Texas, Alabama, South
> Carolina, and West Virginia) and those that have some of the most
> restrictive (such as California, New York, Massachusetts, and
Connecticut).
> ·       In 2000, as in previous years, firearms were used in less than
> one-fourth of violent crimes. Most violent crimes were committed with
hands
> and feet (32%), blunt objects and other weapons (28%), and knives (15%).
> ·       In 2000, states that had Right-to-Carry laws had lower violent
> crime rates on average, compared to the rest of the country. Their total
> violent crime rate was 21.9% lower, murder was 28.4% lower, robbery was
> 37.7% lower, and aggravated assault was 16.5% lower. (Rape, the violent
> crime least likely to involve firearms, was 0.8% higher.)
> ·       The only states that experienced increases in their murder rates
> between 1991 (when violent crime began declining) and 2000 were Rhode
> Island (16%), Nebraska (12%), Kansas (3%), and Minnesota (3%), all of
which
> still do not have Right-to-Carry laws.
>
>
>
>
>
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