Killing Violent Crime in America

There are copious things that are iniquitous with humankind, and one question that has plagued mankind since the days of Cain and Abel is that of violent crime. It’s not just a modern problem, nor is it restricted to randomized crime in citigs, but that is what I will be investigating in this essay.

First, what constitutes a violent crime in America?  Well, that really varies from state to state, so we’ll focus on federal felonies – murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault – and lump the rest together in a separate category. Now that we know what crimes we’re focusing on, what can we do to not only reduce, but actually prevent them? Some would say we need a utilitarian element added to our culture, like Confucius tried in ancient China, but that doesn’t seem like it would be able to mesh with our modern American culture. However, I agree with Confucius that most people are responsible enough to manage their own affairs without a “nanny state” type of government, and we all know that the police cannot be everywhere all the time, as underfunded as they are. I propose, for your consideration, that if more upstanding citizens were armed, our crime rates would drop exponentially.

Take the guns owned to violent crime ratio released by the FBI: in 1991, my birth year, there were 758.1 violent crimes per 100,000 people. This breaks down to 9.8 murders, 42.3 rapes, 272.7 robberies and 433.3 aggravated assaults. In 2008, the FBI’s numbers were as follows: 457.5 violent crimes, 5.4 murders, 29.7 rapes, 145.7 robberies and 276.7 aggravated assaults. This is a 6% drop in overall crime in just 17 years, which doesn’t seem that impressive. But, if you add one more year, and look at 2009’s numbers, the statistics change drastically! In 2009, there were 429.4 violent crimes overall, per 100,000 people, with only 5 murders, 28.7 rapes, 133.0 robberies and 262.8 aggravated assaults. Those stats are a 43% drop from 1991! In fact, the number of robberies alone dropped 51%! (“More Guns, Less Crime… Again”, 2011)

What caused this 35-year low in crime rates, and made the murder rate drop to its lowest in 45 years? Experts have suggested it’s because the Clinton-era gun ban expired and American gun ownership has hit an all-time high, increasing by 90 million registered firearms to approximately 250 million guns. The most popular style of firearm is the AR-15, the semi-auto civilian equivalent of the M-4 that some falsely call an “assault weapon”; in fact, 2008 saw 337,000 more AR-style firearms configured for home defense, target practice, hunting and more were sold. (“More Guns, Less Crime… Again”, 2011)

So, you may ask what this has to do with the drop in crime rates across America. Over the last 25 years, numerous federal, state and local governments have eliminated or relaxed gun control laws, allowing upstanding citizens easier access to firearms. In fact, Bill Clinton’s federal so-called “assault weapon” ban expired in 2004, and was decried by some as the end of public safety and return of the Wild West. However, since then, the murder rate has dropped by 10%! When the National Instant Check System (NICS) was chosen in 1998 over a handgun purchase waiting period, the murder rate dropped 21% over the previous year as well! (“More Guns, Less Crime… Again”, 2011)

Now, some may ask if this would just make it easier for criminals to get their hands on guns. Actually, statistics say no. The NICS is very, very good at catching anyone with the smallest criminal record, and the majority of guns used in a crime are either illegally unregistered or stolen. But what about gun shows? Didn’t New York mayor Michael Bloomberg supposedly prove that anyone can buy a gun at a gun show? There was even a study done that linked gun shows with gun violence, right? Well, as it turns out, Bloomberg and his cronies committed several felonies by conducting his ‘undercover sting operations’, and the facts in said article are “fatally flawed”, according to Garen J. Wintemute. (2010) In October 2008, the National Bureau of Economic Research released a study entitled “The Effect of Gun Shows on Gun-Related Deaths: Evidence from California and Texas,” in which Mark Duggan and two of his colleagues asserted that gun shows local short-term effects on the homicide and suicide rates in the towns where they occur.

First, lets look at what a gun show really is. I attended my first gun show in Mesa, Arizona for my 18^th birthday, and was quite surprised. Not only were there guns, ammo and optics – as I expected – but there were collectibles, tactical gear, clothing, knives and a small library of books for sale! That’s where I purchased a belt buckle and Kisa (or Китти), a 1928 Soviet-era M91 Mosin-Nagant bolt action rifle, and my first personal firearm. There were local businesses represented, larger corporations like Smith & Wesson and Remington, and a number of private sellers, but all were held to the same standards. When I bought Kisa, it was from a private seller who purchases and restores old weapons, but even though it was a private sale, he still asked me for identification, and verified that I was indeed who I said I was. Duggan apparently didn’t have a firm grasp on this, claiming that the supposed “gun show loophole” caused more gun-related deaths. To back up their claims, they looked to see if there was any correlation between the amount of deaths in a certain location, a zip code, during a given week and the number of gun shows within 5, 10 and 25 miles of that location in the previous 4 weeks. The study concluded that the more gun shows there are, the more guns are available and the more crimes are committed. Wintemute disputed that article, pointing to statistics released by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE), stating that only 1.3% of traced firearms used in crimes were physically recovered by law enforcement agencies within a 4-week window. That’s comes out to a miniscule fraction of the guns sold at a gun show overall. In addition, Duggan and his group restricted their study to crimes taking place within a maximum of 25 miles of a gun show, which disregards the undeniable findings about the locale of illegal gun “black markets”. Studies have found that up to one-third of guns used in crimes that are recovered in cities are bought outside of that state, and another third are bought in-state, but away from the city where the crime was committed. However, data on traced guns in California and Texas during that same time period shows that 49.5% were recovered within 25 miles of the point of their initial sale. Gun shows firearms are often being resold. In fact that study, which is actually still in progress, states that guns acquired at gun shows travel even farther from the show where it was sold to the location of the crime than other guns.

But in spite of this, some – like the Brady Campaign and Mexican president Felipe Calderón – still say we need stricter gun control laws, not unlike Mexico’s gun laws. Technically, Mexico’s constitution allows it’s citizens the right to bear arms, but the civil unrest in the 1960’s caused the government to begin enforcing strict gun control laws. For example, Article 161 of the Código Penal Federal (Federal Penal Code) requires a license to sell or even carry handguns. Article 162 provides penalties for violations, and also bans the stockpiling of arms without permission. Article 163, one of the most draconian of the articles, states that handguns may only be sold by mercantile establishments, not by individuals. Moreover, handgun carry permit applicants must post a bond, must prove their need, and must supply five different character references! On top of this, Title Two of the federal law bans both .357 Magnum and 9mm Luger parabellum ammunition, two of the most popular types of handgun calibers in the world. And yet, in spite of all their measures, they have some of the worst crime rates in the world, with the city of Ciudad Juarez has being labeled the “Murder Capital of the World”. (Kopel, 2010)

So what can we do to stop violent crime? The police can’t be everywhere all the time, and I believe we must rely on upstanding private citizens to be a ‘Good Samaritan’, and help those who are victims of crime. If we have enough informed and trained armed citizens in our society, we can greatly reduce, and even maybe eliminate, violent crime in America!

References

Kopel, David B. (2010) Mexican Gun Laws. Second Amendment Project. Retrieved April 24, 2011 from http://www.davekopel.com/espanol/Mexican-Gun-Laws.htm

NRA-ILA: More Guns, Less Crime… Again. (2011) Retrieved April 24, 2011 from http://www.nraila.org/Issues/FactSheets/Read.aspx?id=206&issue=007

Wintemute, G., Hemenway, D., & Webster, D. (2010). Gun Shows and Gun Violence: Fatally Flawed Study Yields Misleading Results. American Journal of Public Health, 100(10), 1856-60. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2010.191916 Retrieved April, 24 2011 from Wilson OmniFile