do something gun control protest
Courtesy Twitter

The mid to late 20th century was the peak era of gun control in America. The violence and unrest of the 1960s kicked it all off with the the Gun Control Cct of 1968, the Firearm Owners Protection Act of 1986, the Brady Law of 1993 and finally the Clinton “assault weapons” ban of 1994.

Few states allowed concealed carry in any form, while a number of western states only allowed open carry. Even Texas, despite its gun-friendly reputation, was very restrictive from the time of Reconstruction until the 1990s. Even in states that allowed open carry, it was common to face police harassment and social shunning for daring to carry.

As you can see, things began to slowly change quickly starting in the late 1980s. A wave of “shall issue” carry laws took hold in places where carry was either banned or permits were only issued to the wealthy and/or well-connected. After most states had a process where normal people could get a permit to carry a gun, the next wave of constitutional (permitless) carry began to sweep the United States. That process is ongoing today with 27 states having some form of permitless carry more still possible (Louisiana, South Carolina).

Every time anything threatened to change for the better on the map above, the story was always exactly the same. At hearings in state legislatures, the defenders of the restrictive status quo always showed up raise the alarm and claim the policy of limiting gun rights is better and more reasonable. If the legislature changed the law to give people more freedom, the warned, there would be dire consequences. Blood would run ankle-deep in the streets, fender-bender shootouts would erupt, robberies and murders would rise, and the fabric of the social order would be frayed.

Somehow, though, that never happened. There are lying statisticians who play games with the numbers, but the objective and honest ones have been able to show a rise in crime that could be attributed to letting law-abiding citizens carry firearms.

If anything, there’s good evidence that crime falls after gun control laws are relaxed. To pro-gun people, the reasons are obvious — criminals carried guns regardless of the law, and now law-abiders are carrying, too. Law-abiding gun owners engage in very little crime as a group, but the very fact that they’re armed suppresses the activities of criminals to a certain extent.

This dynamic played out again and again, yet the gun control industry never learned their lesson. Over and over, states decided to respect the right to keep and bear arms, removing carry restrictions. and the fools continue to predict more murder and mayhem. Yet it never came to pass.

When the Supreme Court told deep-blue states that they had to start issuing carry permits without applying bureaucratic discretion, the same dynamic went into overdrive. Once again, a great wave of crime was predicted. Here’s Brady’s dire predictions issued the day the Bruen decision was handed down . . .

“The court’s actions…will assuredly result in more gun violence immediately.”

If you poke around on the internet, other anti-gun groups made the same kind of prediction. But to paraphrase Mark Twain, what the gun control industry thought they knew just wasn’t so.

Recent data from the FBI (even though it’s being run by the Biden Administration now) shows, once again, that lowering the restrictions on gun ownership and carry wasn’t the disaster it was predicted to be.

According to The Hill . . .

The FBIā€™s annual crime report, released Monday, found that violent crime in the U.S. last year decreased while property crime is on the rise. Overall, violent crime dropped 1.7 percent, including a 6.1 percent decrease in murder and non-negligent manslaughter.

Overall, the rate of violent crime in 2022 ā€” 380.7 per 100,000 people ā€” is slightly below what was recorded before the pandemic in 2019 when it was 380.8 per 100,000 people. While violent crime is on a downward trend, property crime remains on the rise, with a 7.1 percent increase in 2022.

What seems fairly obvious here is that criminals are now more afraid to victimize people directly. There’s more of a chance that their victims can and will fight back.

Instead, they’ve switching to property crimes like auto theft and burglary of unattended properties. The few violent crimes that have risen are all based on getting the drop on people, including carjackings, but other forms of violent crime are below what they were even in 2019.

While it sucks to have packages stolen from your porch or your car broken into, or even to have someone steal your car from your driveway, all of those things can be replaced. We can’t replace our lives and having the ability to deter an attack on ourselves or our families — wherever we may be — is critical. So, this is definitely the trend line I’d rather be on.

 

 

 

 

 

49 COMMENTS

  1. “Overall, violent crime dropped 1.7 percent, including a 6.1 percent decrease in murder and non-negligent manslaughter.”

    But, but, everyone knows more people carrying guns means more more murder! It’s commonsense!

    …unless for some reason they were *lying*.

    Why would they do that? šŸ™

    • Shootings and murder haven’t gone down in many of the deep blue upstate NY cities in any appreciable way compared to those with different “values”. But when you can only carry on some streets and can be processed by our legal system (or not if you are less law abiding) what do criminals have to fear?

  2. I worked in the same lab for 8 years with a guy who was a psychopathic liar.
    He left and went to prison for forcing sexual relations on both his pre-teen daughters.
    Now the government that has been put into place by leftist voters is taking his place in America.
    With a vengeance.
    Fear big gubmint!
    Because to anti-gunners, their media and their champions, any firearm is really a penis!
    Their motivation is strictly based on unrealistic, twisted logic, borderline psychotic, sexual fear.

  3. “but the objective and honest ones have been able to show a rise in crime that could be attributed to letting law-abiding citizens carry firearms.”

    Did you mean to write that differently?

    I don’t know that we can attribute the recent drop in violent crime and murder to more people carrying. Keep in mine that we just experienced an unnatural spike in violent crime and murder due to encouragement from Democrats, and their policies, following the 2020 Summer of St. George Floyd. It would be odd to continue maintaining a year over year increase in murder after that spike.

    Saying this drop is the result of more people carrying is kind of like saying we can thank the Puppet’s policies for a better job market. All they did was 1) allow people to go back to work, and 2) stop bribing people with CovidBux to stay home and not work.

    When we examine the rise and fall of modern (since the 60s) violent crime rates, it’s crystal clear what controls it more than anything else: government policy.

    • “I donā€™t know that we can attribute the recent drop in violent crime and murder to more people carrying.”

      The argument *they* were making was that ‘Bruen’ would result in a rise of violent crime.

      That didn’t happen…

      • “Recent data from the FBI (even though itā€™s being run by the Biden Administration now) shows, once again, that lowering the restrictions on gun ownership and carry wasnā€™t the disaster it was predicted to be.”

      • A single year does not a trend make. We (the POTG) often criticize others for their use of numbers and statistics – and we would criticize anti-gun progs for using a 1-year “trend” if the violence stats had increased.

        The real response is that Rights are not subject to the Democratic Process, and certain policy positions affecting rights should be completely off the table. As stated by the Supreme Court, interest balancing tests and rights are orthogonal.

        • “certain policy positions affecting rights should be completely off the table”

          Absolutely this, but we should also educate people of the fact that gunz being available isn’t the boogeyman people think it is. The article above does this to a certain extent, which is a good thing. We need to somehow get the word out to the normies.

      • Let’s show everyone how wrong their argument was/is by being truthful. Let’s not engage in the same type of puff piece writing, without context, that they engage in. It is noteworthy that violent crime fell after a ruling they predicted would increase it. However, that doesn’t prove that the rate dropped due to more people carrying.

        Let’s point out that more people armed themselves as violent crime fell from a peak in the 90s. Therefore, the (increased) crime rate wasn’t tied to the availability of firearms. What else changed? Government policy changed because it got so bad, they had to finally do something about it. These policy decisions aren’t as complicated as Democrats pretend they are. We already have the playbook to fix these problems. Dems can’t be honest about it because their actions cause these problems to begin with.

    • “Did you mean to write that differently?”

      Copy editing and proofreading are indeed lost arts.

  4. Expect another Summer of Love with corresponding murder spike. It’ll be an election year.
    I’ve got my popcorn out for the leftist antisemitic shenanigans lashing out in all directions.

    • Damnit, guess I better start paying attention to social media again and see what the roses are up to.

    • Shire-man, it’s coming. However we may have dodged one of the bullets.

      Unfortunately for Derek Chauvin, the SCOTUS declined to hear his case. What most people won’t realize is; the SCOTUS just avoided lighting the fuse of another politically charged leftist cause. We may have another “Summer of Love”, 2024 version, but this decision stole the wind from some sails of the left.

  5. Hinkley was a victim, if only mommy would have aborted Jodie there wouldn’t have been a need for the Brady Law.
    Laws prevent 98% of crime, that’s a fact.
    More law and less freedom is the answer.
    Until America can drop its belief in the right to protect oneself the country will never achieve the Utopian bliss that is just within our grasp.
    JRB in 2028

    • if only mommy would have aborted Jodie there wouldnā€™t have been a need for the Brady Law (or if RayGun had stayed out of politics, or Hinkleys mommy had told him no when he wanted to see The Silence of the Lambsā€¦ A perfect storm.)

      Problem is no one will be able to afford the costs of Bribems ā€œUtopian Blissā€ā€¦ Still waiting for the “Rivers of Blood” in the streets in FL but, to be fair it’s only been five months, maybe they’re waiting for a special occasion…

      • “Still waiting for the ā€œRivers of Bloodā€ in the streets in FL but, to be fair itā€™s only been five months,…”

        I don’t know how long you’ve been in Florida, Max, but when concealed carry came to be here in about 1987 (one of the first in America, btw), in the ‘letters to the editor’ in the local newspaper (The Lakeland Ledger), literally predicted gun battles for parking spots at WalMart.

        I shit you not.

        Since then, violent crime has dropped, along with the rest of America, about 50 percent…

        • Lived in FL since 1982, I remember those “predictions” just addressing the “new” concerns since the concealed carry permit requirement went away on July 1st…

  6. I dont think its made criminals more afraid to act, and turn to property crimes. Theyā€™re not that bright. Besides, all i ever see is ā€œthe good guyā€ getting hung for defending himself in alot of cases.

    • Yes.
      Kyle Rittenhouse was damned lucky someone was filming.
      Quilty until proven innocent.
      The newspapers or media post your arrest immediately however they never have a retraction if your found not guilty.
      So and so was arrested for such and such.
      So and So is a criminal, right.
      .
      A conversation with a hoodlum during the scamdemic, “Man, buisness is bad, everybody at home and most of them gots gunms.”

      • “The newspapers or media post your arrest immediately however they never have a retraction if your found not guilty.
        So and so was arrested for such and such.
        So and So is a criminal, right.”

        That’s changing, and fast.

        My local newspaper used to have a ‘crime blotter’ column they would run, with mugshot and charges. I happened to spot a an ex-boss of mine in there once. Yay! (Charged with wife-beating, she later dropped the charges, boooooo. šŸ™ )

        They even had a local zoom-able ‘crime map’ that showed where crimes took place, and what kind they were (assault, robbery, etc).

        About 2 years back, the newspaper announced that in the interest of ‘social justice’, they would no longer do that anymore… šŸ™

  7. The fastest growth in firearms related deaths is among criminals being shot and killed by homeowners/renters. In an effort to protect their homes and families. You can an example of it somewhere in the country, almost daily.

    • Funny how “gun deaths” or “firearm related homicides” are the buzzwords in any anti gun publication lately instead of murder, suicide or justified homicide as have been defined and tracked longer than most have been alive.

  8. “As you can see, things began to slowly change quickly”

    Now my brain hurts…Plus she says the changes started in the 80’s right after she says that gun control reached its acme in the 90’s with the GCA, Brady Bill, etc. I am so confused! More coffee maybe?

  9. “but the objective and honest ones have been able to show a rise in crime that could be attributed to letting law-abiding citizens carry firearms.”

    Don’t you mean unable?

  10. Murder, assault, mass murders all are higher in right to carry states.

    From John Hopkins University Study:

    https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2022/study-finds-significant-increase-in-firearm-assaults-in-states-that-relaxed-conceal-carry-permit-restrictions

    Another study:

    https://www.rand.org/research/gun-policy/analysis/concealed-carry/violent-crime.html

    From Stanford University:

    https://news.stanford.edu/2017/06/21/violent-crime-increases-right-carry-states/

    And yet another study

    https://www.americanprogress.org/article/fact-sheet-weakening-requirements-to-carry-a-concealed-firearm-increases-violent-crime/

    The above studies are just a few of the many, many studies that prove more guns means more violence and murder. Put a gun in the hand of a naked ape and he will use it for the most trivial of reasons. Now you know why civilized countries outlaw concealed carry and have draconian background checks and gun restrictions especially on weapons of mass destruction i.e. the assault rifle.

    FLASH NEWS. Mass shooting at Walmart , Beaver Creek Ohio. Its happening even rural America as Capitalvania disintegrates into utter assault rifle madness.

  11. @Dude
    …”but we should also educate people of the fact that gunz being available isnā€™t the boogeyman people think it is.”

    Coupla things working against success at that: about half the nation does not want facts to affect anything that puts limits on their selfishness; facts are racist, unfair, uncomfortable, unnecessary, harmful to the planet, and just plain evil, wicked, mean, bad, and nasty.

    (Guess that is more than a “coupla things”)

  12. Not a single relevant STATISTIC . It is simply not possible to get reiable statistics with only one or two indicated trends. and what’s more you bloody well know it and so does the wider FIREARMS INDUSTRY. You whole article is aimed at those in mAmerica who have notthe slightest idea as regards CRITICALL THOUGHT PROCESSES or LOGIC-

    It makeS me wonder just how much cash you are personally pocketiong from the Firearms Industry and how much COMMISION you get as a result of your all too obvious Firearms and Accoutrement PROMOTIONS ,most of which are utterly useless and unnessesssary and just more of the same old same old.
    The fact is that year on year Death and Injury as a result of GUN CRIME in the USA has increased and that increase can be directly related to AVAILABILITY if taken over a period of years ,
    There is NO published statistics that I can find that indicates that wider FIREARMS OWNERSHIP results in LOWER CRIME rates in the USA is ridiculous
    crime rates may rise and crime rates may fall in certain categories over time but that’s more likley to be because of changing Social circumstances that is is with Gun Ownwership.

    You quote non-violent BURGLARY and AUTO related CRIME Neither are related to Gun ownership but to whether or not one is willing to take some actually relatively SIMPLE and CHEAP [ish] SECURITY Measures. NO criminal is going to waste a vgreat deal of time trying to by-pass simple Security measues when there are easier targets.

    Here in the UK I’ve never been rog bbed,., never been threatened by a deadly weap0on of any sort my car has never been broken into I’ve never been burgled. I’ve never been assaulted on the street>
    I have been A VICTIM OF DRUNKEN VIOLENCE, But nothing worse than a Black Eye .

    In my past life I was an ARMOURER Smallarms Instructor and MUSKETRY Coach in the Royal Air Force and for seven years in the UK ARmy Infantry Reszerves so I do know a considerable amount about Guns from ..22 Pistols to bloody great 40/70 BOFORS so I think I have some idea as to a what Firearms can and cannot do, Most of the Comments on this site are absolute bullshit designed only for one thing TO GET MORE IDIOTS to BUY even more UNNESSESSARY FIREARMS on the pretence of SELF DEFENCE,
    I am now 85 years old and apart from a short foray into .22 Match and Skeet Shooting back in the 80’s I have never even remotely felt the need for any kind of Firearm INfact apart from anything else I’ve neven seen a handgun inthe hands of a ‘civilian’ EVER.

    • Albert I find it interesting your comment on a fight that involved alcohol. Here in Captialvania U.S.A. where life is considered cheap and expendable you would have been killed in a hail of bullets.

      When I was in East Europe I was in a city twice the size of Cleveland, Ohio and it had only 1% of the homicides Cleveland has because they did not have easy access to handguns or assault rifles.

      Albert you are wasting your time attempting to communicate with paranoid, ignorant hillbillies whose minds are so far gone with paranoia that they cannot even comprehend what a 5th grader can comprehend. They live in a sea of carnage and rivers of blood and they call it a normal way to live.

      • Thank you once again for helping to sell millions of ar15’s, dacian. Without your help we may have lost this fight. And you are just too stupid and uneducated to realize it.

        And your facebook never said anything about travel, europe or elsewhere jerry.

    • Al, we in the United States remain blessed by God that there is an entire ocean between the UK and the US. That was the point in the first place. However ancestors of you didn’t accept that truth, and once again had to be bloodied to reinforce the message.

  13. @The Posturer as Albert The Englishperson:
    You, Sir, blather on like a child.
    But Iā€™ll join your ā€œLetā€™s Pretendā€ dance and address calmly the person you claim to be.
    I was born totally blind, and got some semblance of sight early. I have never been very strong, able to see a baseball in flight, fleet of foot, or capable of much physical output; probably my heart valve issue.
    When Viet Nam was being invaded by barbarian brutes, I asked to be included.
    I stood for people who could not successfully stand for themselves, or were too war-weary to continue. Thatā€™s what being an American means to me.
    You English have also a military tradition that begs illumination:
    Your occupying Army has ruled the world. You brag that even though you are an Island nation, ā€œThe sun never sets on the British Empireā€. You bow to a corrupt inbred monarchy; but bow to God, not so much.
    You English ruled the planet by not just your ā€œMusketryā€, but the wicked instrument appended to it, as well as the butt of the weapon. The Japanese in Nanking and the Satanists in Gaza are your brothers in arms.
    You brag of your prowess fist fighting. You are clearly a bully. You are not a peaceful person like me. You intimidate, then back up your threats with violence. We kicked your evil ilk out once before. Do we need to clean our house again?
    By your own admission, youā€™ve never actually stood up to an armed enemy in your life. You spent your entire military ā€œcareerā€ as a Trainee. You donā€™t know what its like to taste your own blood dripping down your face. Or to stare into the eyes of those you defend.
    NEVER been burgled, wounded, or beaten up by a gang?
    Sir, you couldnā€™t walk a mile in my boots!

    signed: Another Stupid Hillbilly

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