Gun owners are not to blame for the rise in violent crime

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When FBI reports last November revealed that Black Friday background checks showed it was the fourth highest day for gun sales since records were kept, some anti-Second Amendment supporters were flabbergasted and angry. They don’t want people to protect themselves until help arrives. They don’t like people noticing that the far left’s lenient policies on crime have made us all less safe. And, at least in their public statements, they are pushing the fiction that legal gun sales are a cause of the increase in criminal violence.

Crime is up a lot from a few years ago, said Dr. John Lott, director of the Center for Crime Prevention Research, in an exclusive interview with Americas 1st Freedom. And we really don’t have a good measure of what happened in violent crime in 2021, because about 40% of the nation’s police departments, many of which are among the nation’s largest police departments, like New York and Los Angeles don’t report crimes. given to the FBI.

It’s not like these cities don’t collect this data, they just don’t pass it on to the FBI. Part of the reason is political. Part of that is because crime has increased so much in some places that by not reporting it to the FBI, then they can kind of hide how bad the increase in crime could be in certain areas.

Injustice Run Amok Several obvious factors have contributed to the increase in crime.

First, woke district attorneys in some places refuse to prosecute many violent criminals; in fact, they let them go straight back to the street. In addition, some judges released many detainees from jails and jails.

California, a notoriously soft on crime state, is a good example. According to a recent Daily Mail report, more than 7,000 convicted child sex offenders were released from prison in the same year they were incarcerated. This fact raised some eyebrows for former Los Angeles sex crimes prosecutor Samuel Dordulian. In my day, we did everything we could to get as long a prison sentence as possible because we knew that as soon as they got out they would be more likely to re-offend and another child would be harmed, Dordulian said.

Another problem is the so-called bail reform. Allowing those arrested for violent crimes to leave prison without posting bail has allowed career criminals and the mentally ill to continue harming others. This change in policy often resulted in a capture-and-release court system in some major cities; therefore, criminals know that if they commit another crime, it won’t cost them a penny to get back on the street.

Houston, Texas is a poignant example. Since adopting no-bail or low-bail policies, about 150 murders have been committed there in the past two years by violent felons on bail, according to Crime Stoppers Houston. Previously, these criminals would have awaited trial in prison, as they clearly pose a danger to society.

A terrible example occurred in 2020, when a repeat offender, Randy Lewis, murdered 80-year-old grandmother Rosalie Cook by stabbing her to death in a Walgreens parking lot after she walked into the store to buy a wish card. . At the time of Cooks’ murder, Lewis had been arrested 67 times and was out on personal bail, including one for capital murder.

Or consider New York State: According to data from the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, re-arrest rates for offenders released before bail reform went into effect State in 2019 were generally around 17-18%. This number rose to 20-21% the following year, and many observers expect it to continue to climb.

Finally, many police departments are facing severely reduced budgets and staffing levels. The police defunding craze has caused part of this problem and helped drive up crime rates in some major US cities. Having fewer officers on the streets patrolling dangerous neighborhoods results in emboldened criminals and, all too often, the death and destruction of law-abiding citizens.

Blaming the Gun Owner Ironically, the same politicians and activists who favor freeing criminals are quick to blame the rise in gun sales to legitimate citizens and the rise in concealed carry permits for the increase in violent crime rates.

They have it upside down. In recent years, as the legal system took less interest in protecting citizens in some jurisdictions, more and more Americans decided they needed the ability to protect themselves. A 2021 Gallup Poll found that more than half of Americans (51%) believed crime had increased in their communities, up from 38% just a year earlier. Therefore, more and more people have realized that if they want to be safe, they have to be prepared to protect themselves.

The result has been a dramatic increase in gun sales, as well as a sharp increase in the number of concealed carry permits issued in many states. Additionally, several states have chosen to stop infringing on the right to bear arms by deregulating concealed carry with constitutional or unlicensed laws.

Americans today are often misinformed about the causes of crime and how to stop it, as well as how effectively individuals can stop it, says Lott, who keeps a tally of mass murderers. arrested by armed citizens on its website (crimesearch.org).

Meanwhile, an article in The Atlantic magazine, titled Stop Asking What Caused the Crime Spike, is a poignant example of the continued denial of the true causes of crime. This article attributes the sudden rise in crime to inequality. He then argues for a series of social prescriptions that avoid talking about catching and locking up criminals. President Joe Biden (D) has also given numerous speeches promoting gun control policies and blaming guns and gun sales for violent crime, as if some statistic indicated it was true . Biden, like many gun control advocates (people who now call themselves gun safety supporters), is pointing an accusing finger at law-abiding gun owners and their freedom, as s ‘they were committing crimes, instead of focusing on policies which are too often making it easier for criminals to continue preying on others.

President Biden doesn’t seem to understand that armed, law-abiding citizens make it more risky for criminals to commit crimes, Lott said. Biden never seems to grasp the value of deterrence. He did not criticize progressive prosecutors who refuse to prosecute violent criminals, judges who freed large numbers of inmates from jails or bail reform measures that immediately put violent criminals back on the streets. Instead, he blames armed citizens for crimes committed by criminals who, by the way, almost always obtained firearms illegally.

More than 22 million Americans today have concealed handgun licenses, not including the millions who carry legally without a license in the 25 states who now have some form of constitutional carry. Statistically, these people do not commit crimes, but we are supposed to believe that armed citizens are at the root of this crime outbreak. Absurdity. Lawful gun owners are not to blame. Criminals are. If we really want to protect the innocent, we must use current laws to prosecute violent criminals.

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