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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.
It is interesting that you chose to highlight stats for England and Wales but you choose to ignore what has happened in the US. Homicides in the US are at a 50 year low. They began declining before the 1994-2004 assault weapons ban and continued declining after the ban expired. There are now over 300 million guns in the hands of US residents.
Homicides in the US have declined while gun ownership has risen.
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.
Americans have always been obsessed with crime to paranoia levels. It's part of the nation's DNA.
Fact is, gun crimes are overwhelmingly in concentrated areas and if you don't live there, you have little to worry about.
I'm going to Chicago for a week in April, and I'm not concerned in the least. And I plan to go all over the city visiting friends and relatives, not just downtown.
And I'm also going to Memphis next month for a week and New Orleans in February. I have little to no fear about those upcoming visits either.
I'm going to Chicago for a week in April, and I'm not concerned in the least. And I plan to go all over the city visiting friends and relatives, not just downtown.
Women, people of color, and the elderly wrong about the perception of gun violence? Well, consider this. Who is the most likely to be victims of gun violence? People of color, especially Blacks. Perhaps it's because there are many elderly people who live in rough areas, as well as Blacks. As for the women, I don't know why.
Women and the elderly feel more vulnerable to violence period. All violence.
Though I think the OP is implying that we're stupid or something.
Women and the elderly feel more vulnerable to violence period. All violence.
Though I think the OP is implying that we're stupid or something.
Is this based on your own feelings or are you implying that all women feel vulnerable like you do?
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