I have had several individuals write long and involved comments denying any link between gun control and violent crime. So lets look at a “Jurisdiction,” a place governed by a set of laws that include restrictions on gun possession, purchase, and transport.
We have hundreds of examples such jurisdictions, and Washington D.C. the United States Capitol city and Federal District are representative. Largely Black, the city fell on hard times when a Klansman named Woodrow Wilson became President, and propltly ended the Republican practice of “a fair break for everyone.”
Before Wilson suffered a stroke and the Presidency reporedly devolved to Mrs. Wilson nd her husband’s Ku Klux Klan friends, Wilson terminated every Black person in Federal service except for some with mess hall duties.
As a result, the Klan became the second most powerful political party in the US, with support sitting between the leading Democrats and the Republicans.
In 1960, when gun controol was something nasty the Soviet Bloc did, The district reported a population of 764,000 and just just 4,210 violent crimes and 81 murders.
That was a rate of 551 violent crimes per 100,000 population, and a homicide rate of 10.6 per 100,000. While that seems high, it was actually low for a city with the District’s economic and social factors.
Gun restrictions began in 1964, when hollywood’s “Send the army and take them all” campaign began. After 5 years, Congress approved further restrictions on gun ownership in that year. And violent crime in 1968 was essentially double, with violence at 1,143.6 per 100,000 and murder at 21.21.3.
By 1973, after 10 years of gun ban campaigning and 5 years of restrictive Federal laws, imposed because “We have to do SOMETHING! violent crime was up to 1,558 per 100,000 and murders were at 35.9 per 100,000. You can verify these numbers at this link, or at the annual FBI Uniform Crime Report at a major library or a police headquarters. http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/dccrime.htm
But of course, the chart below, based on FBI Uniform Crime Report Numbers speak loiuder than words:
For 2018, the violent crime rate was down to 995.9 per 100,000, with murder down to 22.8 thanks to the Trump economy and loosened gun laws in Virginia. But Bloomberg money has imposed even tighter restrictions on gun ownership in Virginia, and the pandemic has sharply reduced the number of employed workers. So reports of violence in DC are through the roof, and then some.
Keep watching this space and we will issue new charts with factual data from official sources through 2019. But in the mean time, …
I am saying thre is a strong causative link between restrictive gun laws and violent crime. And I can prove it by the weight of the evidence.
Stranger