Gun Myths Page 2
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Crime would actually go up if we all had guns.
Though the number of firearms owned by private citizens in the U.S. has continued to increase, the US murder rate actually decreased by 44 percent between 1991 and 2008.
Gun sales increased following the 9/11 attacks in 2001 and then increased again after the election of US President Barack Obama.
The rape rate has decreased by 30 percent since 1991, the robbery rate by 46 percent and the aggravated assault rate by 36 percent, with violent crime rates continuing to drop each year.
Concealed carry has helped make the US much safer than it was 20 years ago.
In fact, the more people that acquire legally held guns, the lower the murder rate drops. The reason for this is very simple, armed citizens deter criminals.
( Source - Federal Bureau Of Investigation - 1989 - 2008 Crime Statistics)
(Source - 2nd Amendment Foundation - December 2009) (PDF File)
Allowing homeowners to own guns would encourage intruders to arm themselves.
It is simply not possible to make someone safer by leaving them defenceless, and there is no guarantee that burglars won't carry lethal weapons and use them to harm you and your family anyway, so why leave yourself more vulnerable ?
When it comes to crime, we are no longer dealing with good, honest criminals that will leave you unharmed if you do what they say.
We're dealing with degenerate scumbags who see raping, stabbing and beating you and your family as recreation. These people aren't going to play nice because they know you can't defend yourself. In fact they're more likely to attack if they know there is no risk involved in doing so.
According to official FBI statistics, the US burglary rate has actually dropped by 43 percent since 1989, despite rising gun sales. In addition, please consider this -
A "hot" burglary is a break in where the residents are at home when the criminals strike. In the United Kingdom 59 percent of burglaries are classed as "hot" burglaries. By contrast, the United States has a hot burglary rate of just 13 percent.
Consistent with this, surveys of convicted felons in America reveal that during burglaries they are much more worried about encountering armed victims than they are about running into the police. This fear of potentially armed victims causes American burglars to spend more time "casing" a house to ensure nobody is home.
Felons frequently comment in these interviews that they avoid late night burglaries because "that's the way to get shot".
(Source - The Bias Against Guns by John R Lott, Jr Page 140)
Imposing harsh minimum sentences for gun possession is the best solution.
In America, people blame guns for crime. In Britain, people blame knives for crime. Neither point is true. The problem isn't knives or guns, which are simply tools that have been part of society for hundreds of years. The problem is dangerous and violent people attacking each other. Just because someone has a knife or gun it does not mean that they will murder or even harm another person. The majority of people can and should be trusted to behave responsibly.
Increasing minimum sentences for simple gun possession would create far more problems that it would solve. Imagine an elderly lady who finds her late husband's service pistol in the attic, or a woman who has been subjected to a vicious rape and now carries a gun illegally for personal protection.
Would sending either of these people to jail do anything to reduce violent crime ? Of course not, but if minimum sentences are in place there would be no choice BUT to jail them, regardless of whether there was any criminal intent or not. It's important to remember that not every one in possession of a firearm intends to commit a crime.
We've always had tough gun laws in Britain.
You may be surprised to learn that before 1920, Britain had no laws concerning the carrying or ownership of guns.
A quote from firearms expert and former police officer Superintendent Colin Greenwood -
"England entered the twentieth century with no controls over the purchasing or keeping of any type of firearm, and the only measure which related to the carrying of guns was the Gun Licence Act, requiring the purchase of a ten shilling gun licence from a Post Office. Anyone, be he convicted criminal, lunatic, drunkard or child could legally acquire any type of firearm and the presence of pistols and revolvers in households all over the country was fairly widespread.
England at that time was a country where guns of every type were familiar instruments and where anyone who felt the need or desire to own a gun could obtain one. The cheaper guns were very cheap and well within the reach of all but the very poor. The right of the Englishman to keep arms for his own defence was still completely accepted and all attempts at placing this under restraint had failed."
The UK had very little violent street crime or armed violence during this time.
Legal access to firearms has been restricted progressively since 1920, right up to the strict and grossly unfair gun laws that we have today. It's also noticeable that violent crime rates have risen each time the country's gun laws have been tightened.
(Source - BBC News November 2007 ) (PDF File)
(Source - The Right To Armed Self-Defence by David Botsford) (PDF File)
Britain has only a fraction of the violent crime of the United States.
In 2009, the violent crime in the United States stood at 454 per 100,000, a decrease of 40 percent since 1991.
According to the British Crime Survey, the UK had more than 2.5 million violent crimes in 2008. The United States, with a population 5 times that of the UK, had only 1.4 million violent crimes during the same period. This means that Britain has a crime rate that in reality is more than 8 times that of the United States.
The reason is for this is that in the U.S. concealed handguns deter criminals from committing crimes. In the UK, there is nothing to deter criminals at all.
(Source - Federal Bureau Of Investigation 1989 - 2008 Crime Statistics )
(Source - Independent - June 2007) (PDF File)
(Source - Daily Mail - July 2009) (PDF File)