Gun Control Reduces Crime?

This is perhaps, the greatest myth that is perpetrated today by national gun ban groups. No empirical study of the effectiveness of gun laws has shown any positive effect on crime. In areas having greatest restrictions on private firearms ownership, crime rates are typically higher, because criminals are aware that their intended victims are less likely to have the means with which to defend themselves. If gun laws worked, the proponents of such laws would gleefully cite examples of reduced crime. Instead, they uniformly blame the absence of tougher or wider spread measures for the failures of the laws they advocated. Or they cite denials of applications for permission to buy a firearm as evidence the law is doing something beyond preventing honest citizens from being able legally to acquire firearms.

Let’s use Washington D.C. for example, crime in Washington has risen dramatically since 1976, the year before its handgun ban took effect. According to research done by Duke, “Washington, D.C., now has outrageously higher crime rates than any of the states (D.C. 1992 violent crime rate: 2832.8 per 100,000 residents; U.S. rate: 757.5), with a homicide rate 8 times the national rate (1992 rate 75.4 per 100,000 for D.C., 9.3 nationally.)” Duke goes on to say, “No wonder former D.C. Police Chief Maurice Turner said, "What has the gun control law done to keep criminals from getting guns? Absolutely nothing... [City residents] ought to have the opportunity to have a handgun."” Criminals in Washington have no trouble getting either prohibited drugs or prohibited handguns, resulting in a skyrocketing of the city's murder rate. Duke mentions “D.C.'s 1991 homicide rate of 80.6 per 100,000 population was the highest ever recorded by an American big city, and marked a 200% rise in homicide since banning handguns, while the nation's homicide rate rose just 11%. Since 1991, the homicide rate has remained near 75 per 100,000, while the national rate hovers around 9-10.” Again, these statistics are taken from a state that does not allow their citizens to legally own a firearm. Do you still think we should ban guns altogether? Clearly, criminals do not bother with the niceties of obeying laws, for a criminal is, by definition, someone who disobeys laws. Those who enforce the law agree.

Below, is a great video that will put things into perspective:

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_YTM_eAWnQ

Source: http://www.duke.edu/