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The Los Angeles Times’ Kurtis Lee declares that it can’t really understand while accidental gunshot deaths are falling while gun violence is increasing. On its face, this seems like a reasonable question, but given the LA Times’ history of reporting on guns is about as accurate as a penalty kick with a torn ACL, we have to delve a bit deeper.
The opening sentence waves a red flag, calling for the bulls to run at the specter of well-publicized shootings in Las Vegas, Baltimore, and Sutherland Springs. These are “clearly” part of a trend to higher gun crime. As for accidental deaths, Lee claims, following the Washington Post, that one reason accidents are decreasing is that fewer homes have guns. But the Pew Research Center says that gun ownership is rising! And if we look further, ABC/Washington Post polling shows a very stable 43+% rate of homes with guns over the last 18 years.
To those who know and handle guns regularly, the large public shootings are events that speak to the evil of the perpetrators, not the instrument of destruction. But this talisman is supposed to keep us from understanding that over decades there are two trends that cannot be mistaken.
First, the overall gun homicide rate in the US is in a steady decline. Second, gun ownership in the US is steadily rising. The National Instant Check system run by the Federal Government shows a doubling of gun purchases from 2008 to 2015. Concealed carry permits have increased from 2.7 million in 1999 to over 14.5 million in 2016.
We can admit that for two years gun homicides have had an upturn. But when the Left presents a single answer for a complicated problem, we can be pretty certain that they are wrong. (Ditto for the Right!) There are multiple factors that can lead to a rise in gun deaths. Yes, Las Vegas is one. But it pales in comparison to Chicago and Baltimore. And we should consider common features there.
Those two metro areas have been under unified Democrat rule for decades. As a result, their poverty rates are notably higher than many other cities. This is known to breed crime. Next, these areas share features with a couple of other places: San Bernardino and the Pulse Night Club. They are legally “gun-free zones.” The list could be much longer, but virtually every public mass firearm murder is in a “gun-free zone.”
Just ask why grandmothers in Chicago want guns. Are they target shooters in withdrawal? No! They want to be able to protect their grandkids from the gangs that rule the streets. Yes, when seconds matter, the police are only minutes away. If they come at all. Since Ferguson, community policing has largely disappeared, so now Chicago plants a resident every eighteen hours.
We must dive just a bit deeper into this cesspool.
69% of US counties have no more than one murder per year, and account for 20% of the population but only 4% of the murders. The worst 1% of counties have 19% of the population and 37% of the murders. These (red) counties are generally metropolitan, with long-term Democrat governance and highly restrictive gun laws. That is, criminals get guns, but law-abiding citizens have a very hard time defending themselves.
Finally, when we look at another site Lee uses, everytownresearch.org, we find that Lee neglects a key point we’ve already noted. Crime accounts for most of the rise in gunshot deaths. This is not something that is likely to be changed by trying to adjust the behavior of the law-abiding. And that is what the Left consistently fails to understand.
Concealed carry permit holders are six times less likely than police to misuse their weapons. But gang-bangers in un-policed cities will use their illegal guns frequently, as Chicago and Baltimore prove.
Yes, accidental deaths due to firearms are falling. That’s a good thing. But it has nothing to do with reduced gun ownership. Lawful gun owners are just as concerned with keeping their kids alive as anyone else. They may be more focused on it. That’s why they take their kids shooting and train them in the safe use of guns. We should be doing far more of this.
There has yet to be a gun law that reduced crime. By definition, criminals break the law. But private gun ownership has been proven again and again to be a force for good, with many thousands of lives saved each year. We should be shouting that from the rooftops.
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“A shoot-out is better than a massacre!”