rumitoid

Having states make their own rules for guns is chaos and madness and irresponsible and sick and dangerous and decadent and evil. Federally mandated laws and penalties need to be put in place--fast! We have uncontrollable violence in this country, growing increasingly worse each year. The NRA and other nuts are fine with this ugly feature of American culture. They put themselves and their families and their friends and their churches and their schools at incredible risk by their either adolescent imperative to do as they please and get their way, or a soulless permissiveness to protect their fantasies and desires. Strict controls in this state and loose controls in a neighboring state does absolutely nothing. How can anyone in their right mind not the see the need for Universal gun-control and penalties?

How many school-shootings in January alone? That's okay? Hey, it's just an unfortunate consequence of my obsession with freedom, my 2nd Amendment rights? How many accidental shootings where children are killed? Why not just a national law mandating basic safety measures and consequences for their violation? Twenty-six states do not even care if you know how to shoot or have safety rules for ownership. At least that one concession would save hundreds of lives each year and thousands of injuries. It is stupid not to make this universal. There is no violation of freedom, only a protection for users of that freedom.

Gatsby

Try putting criminals in prison! Chicago is the perfect example of the persistant failure of gun confiscation.

The drugs driving their crime problem are just as illegal as you want guns to be, but still are running in the streets.

The only way to keep drugs and guns out of the hands of these violent criminals is to put them in PRISON!

Getting rid of every gun in the world would not lower the crime rate one bit, it would only change the tool selection.

peter11937 Loc: NYS

Guns are a tenth century Chinese invention. 11 centuries later they are more widespread than ever. Only a complete fool would think that government can effect a change for the good. Lock up the criminials , as you write, not the 2Nd amendment..

archie bunker Loc: Texas

You're barking up an empty tree.

Richard Rowland

This isn't the first time you've posted an idiotic opinion. The only reason there isn't more savage crime perpetrated against innocent folks is, the criminal element isn't certain if the targeted victim is or isn't armed. Once the people are disarmed, it becomes a lottery of if you will, or won't, become a victim of a crime.

Packen heat offers a sense of security, like no other! I suspect that you're like all the jerk anti-gunners, many who have armed bodyguards or have a small personal arsenal of their own while advocating for disarming everyone else.

rumitoid

Of course it would, Donald Jr.

rumitoid

But you will not try an alternative: that is crazy.

rumitoid

That is absurd and goes against decades of research. Almost all crime is either opportunistic out of desperation or a crime of passion: armed or unarmed target is not a high-priority consideration.

"Packen heat offers a sense of security, like no other! I suspect that you're like all the jerk anti-gunners, many who have armed bodyguards or have a small personal arsenal of their own while advocating for disarming everyone else.[/quote]" Guess again.

JFlorio Loc: Seminole Florida

Good point. Why bark at all. Let the old drunk post his stupid comments and ignore him. He started this gun BS thread knowing someone would bite.

rumitoid

With all my heart, seriously, I wish it was BS.

Richard Rowland

One can find any statistic, to back up a point. Regardless the type of crime, it's still a crime, thank you! I'll continue to take solace in my, Sam Colt, equalizer.

Blade_Runner Loc: DARK SIDE OF THE MOON

You don't have a clue, do you? Look up the concept of Federalism as established by our constitution.

"How many accidental shootings where children are killed? " Avg. 1200 per year.
"How many unborn babies are murdered in the womb?" Avg. 1.3 million per year.

The homicide rate in Honduras (most violent country on earth) is 91.8 murders per 100,000 citizens, in America it is 4.8 per 100,000 citizens.

5 facts about crime in the U.S.

Pew Research: stats via FBI, BJS and CDC

By John Gramlich

Donald Trump made crime fighting an important focus of his campaign for president, and he cited it again during his January 2017 inaugural address. As the administration takes steps to address violence in American communities, here are five facts about crime in the United States.

Violent crime in the U.S. has fallen sharply over the past quarter century. The two most commonly cited sources of crime statistics in the U.S. both show a substantial decline in the violent crime rate since it peaked in the early 1990s. One is an annual report by the FBI of serious crimes reported to police in approximately 18,000 jurisdictions around the country. The other is an annual survey of more than 90,000 households conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, which asks Americans ages 12 and older whether they were victims of crime, regardless of whether they reported those crimes to the police.

Using the FBI numbers, the violent crime rate fell 48% between 1993 and 2016. Using the BJS data, the rate fell 74% during that span. (For both studies, 2016 is the most recent full year of data.) It's important to note that the FBI reported a 7% increase in the violent crime rate between 2014 and 2016, including a 20% rise in the murder rate from 4.4 to 5.3 murders per 100,000 residents. The BJS figures do not show an increase in the violent crime rate between 2014 and 2016, but they do not count murders. The BJS figures for 2016 also reflect a survey redesign, making it difficult to compare directly to prior years.

Property crime has declined significantly over the long term. Like the violent crime rate, the U.S. property crime rate today is far below its peak level. FBI data show that the rate fell 48% between 1993 and 2016, while BJS reports a decline of 66% during that span. Property crime includes offenses such as burglary, theft and motor vehicle theft, and it is generally far more common than violent crime. There was no documented increase in the property crime rate between 2014 and 2016.

Public perceptions about crime in the U.S. often don't align with the data. Opinion surveys regularly find that Americans believe crime is up nationally, even when the data show it is down. In 17 Gallup surveys conducted since 1993, at least six-in-ten Americans said there was more crime in the U.S. compared with the year before, despite the generally downward trend in national violent and property crime rates during much of that period.

Pew Research Center surveys have found a similar pattern. In a survey in late 2016, 57% of registered voters said crime in the U.S. had gotten worse since 2008, even though BJS and FBI data show that violent and property crime rates declined by double-digit percentages during that span.

While perceptions of rising crime at the national level are common, fewer Americans tend to say crime is up when asked about the local level. In 20 Gallup surveys conducted since 1996, about half of Americans or fewer said crime is up in their area compared with the year before.

There are large geographic variations in crime rates. The FBI's data show big differences from state to state and city to city. In 2016, there were more than 600 violent crimes per 100,000 residents in Alaska, Nevada, New Mexico and Tennessee. By contrast, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont had rates below 200 violent crimes per 100,000 residents. And while Chicago has drawn widespread attention for its soaring murder total in recent years, its murder rate in 2016 28 murders and non-negligent manslaughters per 100,000 residents was less than half of the rate in St. Louis (60 per 100,000) and far below the rate of Baltimore (51 per 100,000). The FBI notes that various factors might influence a particular area's crime rate, including its population density and economic conditions.

Most crimes are not reported to police, and most reported crimes are not solved. In its annual survey, BJS asks victims of crime whether they reported that crime to police. In 2016, only 42% of the violent crime tracked by BJS was reported to police. And in the much more common category of property crime, only about a third (36%) was reported. There are a variety of reasons crime might not be reported, including a feeling that police would not or could not do anything to help or that the crime is a personal issue or too trivial to report, according to BJS.

Most of the crimes that are reported to police, meanwhile, are not solved, at least using an FBI measure known as the clearance rate. That's the share of cases each year that are closed, or cleared, through the arrest, charging and referral of a suspect for prosecution. In 2016, police nationwide cleared 46% of violent crimes that were reported to them. For property crimes, the national clearance rate was 18%.

Git some!

rumitoid

Tell that in Vegas or Sandy hook or Columbine. Look in their eyes.

rumitoid

So does the NRA prefer A or B:
A) "How many accidental shootings where children are killed? "[/i] Avg. 1200 per year.
B) "How many unborn babies are murdered in the womb?"[/i] Avg. 1.3 million per year.

In this apple and oranges ridiculous conversation, what is your point?

Richard Rowland

You're really asking, what's the point? I think you know what the point is. And it isn't apples and oranges!