Good news and bad news: Violent crime down for the third year in a row

[friendly_iconoclast]

Good for most Americans. Bad for those in the gun control lobby:






Sources:

http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2009/offenses/violent_crime/index.html


http://www.fbi.gov/page2/september10/crime_091310.html


http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2009/data/table_20.html


One of the chief fearmongers has a sad:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-helmke/the-nra-is-wrong-again_b_733474.html



Let's watch him contradict himself in the space of a few paragraphs (quotes from the above link, emphasis added):

Paul Helmke
President, Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence
Posted: September 21, 2010 02:00 PM

"Using the FBI's recent crime rate report, which indicates that violent crime fell last year for the third year in a row, the NRA has taken to its perch to wave and shout and dance and steal the credit."

"In 2009, gun sales increased. Which means that in 2009, after a successful campaign of fear-mongering about President Obama among its followers, more of the same guys who love guns bought...wait for it, more guns."

"In truth, more guns mean more gun violence. While I cheer the news that violent crime rates in America have gone down..."

"One of these things is not like the others...."

[RaleighNCDUer]

1. Good cherry picking. How about -

"In truth, the average number of guns per owner has gone up, but the percent of American households with a gun? That's right: it's gone down. Gun ownership by household has gone down from a high in 1977 of 54 percent to 33 percent in 2009."

If a person has 2 weapons, or 20, or 200, he is still only ONE person. The number of guns has gone up, but the number of gun OWNERS has declined - and, quite coincidentally, I'm sure, so has the violent crime rate.

[Glassunion]

3. The data is not so good...

I tried checking, however all I could find contradicts his claim that only 33 percent of households have guns.

What I did find from a recent Gallup Poll is that the % of households that have firearms is holding steady.



http://www.justfacts.com/guncontrol.asp#ownership

On Edit: Fixed link and poor grammer.

[friendly_iconoclast]

6. And even if true, the US population has increased +/- 38% since 1977

So, in absolute terms the number of gun owners may in fact be larger. And the claim also presupposes that most or all those new guns

sold recently went to previous owners of guns.


The absolute numbers of violent crimes (the first graphic in the OP) has decreased, so where does that leave the

counterargument?

[friendly_iconoclast]

5. That's not what was claimed, remember? It was "more guns equals more crime".

That was Gospel for years in gun control circles, no more to be doubted than the idea that the Pope was God's representative

on Earth was in 13th Cen. Western Europe.

Now we're supposed to believe "We really meant 'more people with guns equals more crime', but didn't say it for some reason"?


Class, can we say 'blatant revisionism'?

[GreenStormCloud]

7. And our population has grown. You forgot that.

From 1977 to 2009 there has been a large increase in the number of households in the U.S. So you are talking about 33% of a much larger number.

Further, the accuracy of polls has been going down, due to many households no longer having a home phone but instead using cell phones.

And there is the question of how truthful people may be when answering a question asking if there are guns in the home? In fact, among married couples, 50% of men will answer, "Yes", while only 37% of women will give say, "Yes." Obviously, somebody is lieing.

There are no firm numbers on firearms ownership in the U.S.

[lawodevolution]

8. I don't think so

There are at least 5 new first time gun owners thanks to me.

[Glassunion]

9. Were your guns stolen 5 times and

now in the hands of criminals...

:sarcasm: Big Time

[lawodevolution]

11. No,lol

They decided to get a gun after I took them to the and taught them how to shoot

[spin]

10. Many people that I know would say there were no guns in their home ...

if asked.

They lie without any hesitation when asked this question.

[Callisto32]

13. Because the known violent criminals that commit most of those crimes are TOTALLY

buying their "shit" on the up and up, right?

Give me a break.

[SteveM]

14. Keep in mind the gun-control slogan: More guns=More crimes.

They didn't bother to stipulate ownership percentages, did they?

[old mark]

2. Yeah, you and the FBI are "cherry picking"...don't bother to try to debate with

the anti's - it is a religion, no facts are required...they KNOW they are right and we are wrong.

mark

[Kolesar]

4. Bad news: anti-Obama paranoia is UP for the second year in a row

:sarcasm:

[jazzhound]

12. Not just a red herring..........

..........but an excruciatingly pathetic one.

The only game you've got.

[SteveM]

15. And a cat is sleeping in the sun, just outside my restaurant!