Gun crime has plunged, but Americans think it's up, says study (violent crime, insurance)
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Perception is the only tool many of the low information people use. It sure does explain a lot.
That was not the point I was trying to convey. My point is this. Gun violence might be down. However, if you live in a neighborhood where gun violence is commonplace and murders abound, then it isn't going to matter to you what the statistics say. You would think in terms of "gun violence isn't down where I live" because of YOUR reality.
Gun violence is down, but for WHOM? If you live in the suburbs, you have little to worry about. If you live in South Atlanta, Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans, parts of Baltimore or Philadelphia, it isn't going to matter to you because of what you live around.
Someone said people of color have the wrong perception. Well, did anyone ever ask why people of color perceive gun crimes differently than many Whites do? Perhaps it has alot to do with Blacks being the #1 victim of gun crimes. There is information, and then there is what is around you. Take for instance, Omaha. On paper, Omaha has a low murder rate. However, Omaha has one of the highest Black murder victimization rates in the nation. People tend to think more about THEIR reality first. And this isn't just Blacks. Alot of Whites do, everyone does it.
It's probably been said already many times but the whole great American gun freakout was a crooked, contrived and staged event.
The anti-gun people were quietly waiting for some terrible random shooting event so they could unleash their entire preconceived massive propaganda machine in a $h!#storm of false information, drama, using a real tragedy as a "booster rocket" to get it off the ground. They hoped to manipulate large numbers of people's opinions back to favor their agenda, which has been loosing ground since the original AWB...
...And it failed because people in general just aren't as stupid anymore. The media tried so hard to convince everyone that America overwhelmingly wanted more restrictions but they forgot that many have broken away from the influence of Mass Media and are thinking for themselves these days.
Those who didn't get swept up in all the hoopla already knew gun crime was on the downslide, and the lower it goes the less we need gun control in any form, which is bad news for gun-grabber agenda.
It will probably continue to fall as our society (while still far too violent) is actually becoming less violent over time.
Your points are very well taken. Not only a question of the anti-gun crowd, but any problem plaguing this administration, the lap-dogs bias as hell slanted media, hypes of points to help out this administration and yes we all know it, unless you don't live in the real world.
Hilarious today, the little squirming Jay Carney trying to talk his way out of the 12 talking points changed that we now now, infact all over my local news stations.
The media biasness has perplexed a image that this administration can do no wrong except for today, boy did i see a difference today, grilling Carney, and watching him squirm, was fun to watch.
Smart people not naive, independent not ignorant, will not fall thru the hoopla, this administration and for most part media trys to convey, which is false and inaccurate information.
I suppose some would but many wouldn't. It's hard to kill people without a gun. Especially lots of people at once. Hard to have a drive by knife throwing or to kill an innocent bystander without a gun. How many innocent bystanders are killed without guns in this country? Probably almost none. I understand your premise but guns are built to make killing things, many things, as easy as possible. I'm not saying they don't have a place but I am saying that they shouldn't have even more places and there should be restrictions just like all the amendments to our constitution have. I never hear any conservative saying that the other amendments are completely unrestricted. And yet many would love to waterboard or stop people without just cause which are in violation of the other amendments. Why do you think that most conservatives hate the ACLU. You'd think they'd be all over civil liberties.
By the way, you ever wonder why almost nobody dies on airplanes from guns even though millions of people fly every year? Simple, guns are not allowed on planes. But according to your logic there should be tons of gun deaths on planes.
Agreed. Gun owners don't want to admit that guns are lethal, but then that's why they want and own a gun, because guns are an especially lethal weapon. Duh.
A telling statistic in the recent Department of Justice report on violent crime:
"Firearm violence accounted for about 70% of all homicides and less than 10% of all nonfatal violent crime from 1993 to 2011."
What this tells me, is that for violent crime, when you throw someone with a gun into the mix, the situation instantly becomes more dangerous and deadly. There's all kinds of bad people doing bad things, but when guns aren't involved 90 % of the time there's no loss of life, and when guns are involved, people die.
Agreed. Gun owners don't want to admit that guns are lethal, but then that's why they want and own a gun, because guns are an especially lethal weapon. Duh.
A telling statistic in the recent Department of Justice report on violent crime:
"Firearm violence accounted for about 70% of all homicides and less than 10% of all nonfatal violent crime from 1993 to 2011."
What this tells me, is that for violent crime, when you throw someone with a gun into the mix, the situation instantly becomes more dangerous and deadly. There's all kinds of bad people doing bad things, but when guns aren't involved 90 % of the time there's no loss of life, and when guns are involved, people die.
But you don't bring a knife to a gun fight. As long as there is a chance the bad guy will have a gun, I will match firepower.
Guns are not by themselves, lethal. Most criminals spend zero times training. Under the stress of just shooting someone or being shot at, they miss most of the time. Most of the time these lethal crimes happen such close proximity that a knife would have been just as effective.
Remove guns from the equation and other weapons will take their place. That has been proven in both the UK and Australia.
But you don't bring a knife to a gun fight. As long as there is a chance the bad guy will have a gun, I will match firepower.
Guns are not by themselves, lethal. Most criminals spend zero times training. Under the stress of just shooting someone or being shot at, they miss most of the time. Most of the time these lethal crimes happen such close proximity that a knife would have been just as effective.
Remove guns from the equation and other weapons will take their place. That has been proven in both the UK and Australia.
That's funny.
In 2012 homicide was at a 30-year low for England and Wales. Homicides increased in number from 1960 and peaked around 2002. Since then, they have declined steadily. The handgun ban in the UK began in 1996 and it probably took a few years for the number of handguns in the UK to actually start declining, and for the handgun ban to start having an effect.
While crime is down, London has a increase of gang related knife crime - Girl Stabbed To Death On Birmingham Bus: Britain The government has already banned a lot of types of knives. At the rate they are going, people will be stabbing each other with sporks soon.
Violence between people has always happened and will continue. Removing one tool will only force the people instigating the violence to resort to a different tool. As a person who only resorts to violence in a defensive situation, I want the best tool for the job. Since it is difficult to conceal a rifle, I have to resort to a pistol. And I'm still trying to figure out how to carry one of these comfortably.
This is no different than people thinking crime is up, when it is at historic lows.
Everybody should watch "The Mean World Syndrome" for some research into this very area and how the mind is manipulated--not consciously by a government entity/media, people, but heuristically--to believe that things are much worse than they actually are.
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