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April 2013
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George Rebane

In doing some research for the upcoming Breaking Bread episode on the Second Amendment, I found this clear summary of America’s murder rate.  It is compiled by the Death Penalty Information Center using FBI statistics. These numbers and the trend overwhelm the infrequent episodic mass killings that have occurred over the last years.

MurderRate
Guns account for approximately 75% of the means used to murder people in America according to factcheck.org (I thought it would have been higher).  The rate of guns used for murder has been going down for the last twenty years, while gun ownership has been steadily rising.  In 2007 Americans owned about 89 guns for every 100 people.  And other gun violence numbers also going down are ‘gun aggravated assault’ and ‘gun robberies’ which in 2011 were the lowest since 2004.  All this goes to illustrate and highlight the bogus nature of the recently failed gun control bill in Congress, and the misleading arguments used by the nation’s gun control crowd even before the Second Amendment considerations are included.
 

[Addendum]  Apropos to the ongoing gun control debate, the following is a verbatim extract from one of several such emails that are circulating among conservatives, and fueling the polarization of Americans.  I post the email in its entirety to let our liberal readers understand what also fuels the emotions of the Right; emotions that go beyond the more reasoned and measured arguments usually made by conservatives in defense of the Second Amendment, and the private ownership of arms and the concealed carry of guns.  The Brunswick, Georgia mother most certainly could have used one, and should have had one to protect herself and her baby.  The murder is reported by CNN here, and the Crime Library site gives some background here on the alleged killer’s family.


I have no corroboration of the additional claims made about Elkins in the second paragraph.  But since these allegations can be verified, I think it’s plausible that a profitable enterprise would result from making book with a progressive or two on which of these claims being ultimately verified as true.


ElkinsMugshotIn late March 2013, 17 year old De’Marquis Elkins shot and killed a 13 month old baby who was sitting in a stroller.  Elkins shot the infant in the face after the mother refused to give him money.  He also shot the mother in the leg and the neck in Brunswick , GA.

De’Marquis Elkins is not a member of the NRA.  He did not use an assault rifle.  He did not get his stolen pistol from a gun show.  His favorite music is rap.  He did not attend Christian school, nor was he home schooled.  He did attend multicultural public education, and was not instructed in the Ten Commandments.  His Momma was on welfare, got food stamps, and lived in public housing.  His daddy was not around, and his two brothers have a different daddy.  He already has a record for violent crimes.  He is gang member.  His mom, grandma, and Aunty all voted for Obama.  He never earned his hunter safety card, nor did he shoot CMP, Junior NRA, or 4H Air Rifle Competitions.  He was never instructed in gun safety from his father or grandfather.  His public education and family taught him that the white man owes him something.  He went to collect it.  He has no plans on getting married, but does have a Baby Momma, and no, he is not supporting her baby.  He smokes dope.  He does respect Kayne West.  While he has no job, nor is looking for one, he is well fed.  He has no skills outside of crime.  He speaks Ebonics, and is not capable of doing a professional interview, even though he spent 11 years in public education.

He is one of millions.  This is what we are up against.  Make no mistake that people like Elkins will have their guns.  There are people wanting to deny you the right to arm yourself.  Your tax dollars are paying for the continuation of a system that breeds pieces of shit like this one.

[27apr13 update]  Here is an eye-opening survey of gun policy attitudes held by the ‘boots on the ground’ law enforcement community.  It was conducted recently by the PoliceOne.com organization and involved a very impressive sample size of over 15,000 law enforcement officers nationwide.  It throws a new light on the kind of reports we get from the lamestream. 
Download PoliceOne Gun Policy Survey.

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115 responses to “US Murder Rate History [Addended] (updated 27apr13)”

  1. Ben Emery Avatar
    Ben Emery

    Why is it the annihilation of the 4th amendment is rarely a point of conversation on RR? Regulating a US Constitutional right is well within the powers of our so called representative government. To argue otherwise is to argue outside of reality. Background checks, registration of weapon and ammo, and proficiency courses are what I would call a regulated militia.

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  2. Gregory Avatar

    Ben, just what does “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated” have to do with anything in this thread
    It’s hard to regulate a right that was put in place with “shall not be infringed” tacked on the end just to make things clear.
    By the way, did you realize that felons and the mentally ill cannot be imprisoned or fined for violations of registration laws of guns or ammo? It’s that pesky 5th Amendment… you can’t punish them for not admitting they were breaking the law in the first place.

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  3. Ben Emery Avatar
    Ben Emery

    Greg,
    It has to do with the insane defense of the 2nd amendment that it cannot not be touched while other amendments get shredded without so much as a peep.
    It isn’t hard to regulate a right when “regulate” is written directly in the amendment.
    “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”

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  4. Gregory Avatar

    Ben, what “insane defense”?
    The 2nd was finally incorporated into US law only a couple years ago, with the SCOTUS essentially writing it means the same thing as its analog in the Connecticut state constitution…
    “Every citizen has a right to bear arms in defense of himself and the state”
    (enacted 1818)
    Self defense is a basic human right. Do you disagree?
    Ben, the uninfringed right of the people to keep and bear arms is what ensures the well regulated militia that is necessary for the security of a free state. That’s also clear from the SCOTUS DC v.Heller decision, who finally managed to translate an elegant 18th century grammar into modern American standard English for folks like you whose analysis stops when they find a character string they want to see, like “regulate”.

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  5. Gregory Avatar

    A rhetorical countercharge made by Frisch is that the pro-2nd amendment crowd were also ‘wallowing in the blood of the children’ in the aftermath of Sandy Hook.
    The same old calls for criminalizing ugly guns and large magazines came immediately after the shootings, from the likes of DiFi and from the likes of Steven Frisch. Frisch and Pelline both were even criticizing the NRA for not responding to the rhetoric fast enough for their liking.
    Here’s another Frischie quote from the Pelline echo chamber last December:
    And lets not forget who here in our local community is propping up this “armed security in the schools” canard…it is the George Rebane, Russ Steel, Walt, Greg … Todd Juvinall, Tea Party, crazy mother fuck%$, who hate government, but will support armed schools to protect their right to have a semi-automatic rifle. The only thing that can rationalize expanding government in their eyes is keeping their guns in their cold, dead, hands.
    Besides not being a “mother fuck%$”, “Tea Party” supporter or a hater of government and not supporting the NRA vision of of armed schools or for that matter not being an NRA member, perhaps I should feel scared by the Frisch call for me to keep my guns in my cold, dead hands. Sounds like a veiled death threat to me.
    Frisch, you owe lots of people apologies and have no right to be upset at my “wallow in the blood of children” comment. You were, and continue to, you bloody mother fck%$.
    For the record, I don’t own any of the guns DiFi wanted to ban, or at least had in the ban. It may be that she’d like to ban them all.

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  6. George Rebane Avatar

    Gregory 1114am – Wow! that is an eye-opener. Thanks for showing us what they really think – an education indeed.

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  7. Gregory Avatar

    George, you’re welcome.
    Pelline is a serial suborner of libel, and Frisch seems to think he can show one face to friends while demanding to be treated as a gentleman here.

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  8. Todd Juvinall Avatar

    Greg, good find. I do not hate government either but want it smaller. Schools already have cops so if the press did their job America would know that. I respect my mother who is 84 now and would never even use the term theFrisch used (is he self describing?), I have class which the portly one does not. Funny how he cries foul here and then calls us all by name on other blogs. I think he is unhinged really.
    I have never owned a gun (I protect myself with throwing knives, LOL!). My guess is theFrisch has been such a failure in private business that he assumes everyone else must be. I give him no more than a fleeting thought anyway. What a hoot.

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  9. Gregory Avatar

    Crickets from Frisch.
    BTW I just noticed that Frisch is on an Advisory Council for Capital Public Radio which may have something to do with all those mentions of the Sierra Business Council on the air … I’m guessing it has something to do with SBC shoveling a little cash their way. If any of you “mother fuck*%$” are Capital Public Radio subscribers you may want to send a comment to the station about the company they keep.

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  10. Fuzz Avatar
    Fuzz

    George, the position of the anti-gun control side that I see presented here and elsewhere is often too generalized to be useful.  Let’s use background checks as an example.  Did you see the CNN undercover gun buy at several gun shows in the South?
    http://www.cnn.com/video/?hpt=hp_c3#/video/politics/2013/04/11/ac-pkg-savidge-gun-show-gun-buying.cnn
    If so, you saw why universal background checks ARE so necessary.   Without exchanging names, ID’s, paperwork, receipts, or anything else, between buyer and seller, the CNN crew visited gun shows in 4 southern states and bought an S&W MP45, two Glock 17’s, and a Bushmaster.  The basic theme among private sellers was, ” if you’ve got the cash, it’s yours.”   Mayor Bloomberg did an undercover gun show buy and there, even when it was stated to the seller that the buyer would probably not pass a background check, the gun was sold anyway (which is illegal). So a) Adam Lanza decides he’s going to shoot up the school, but can’t get into his mother’s gun safe.  b)  he also can’t go to a gun shop because he’s been diagnosed with schizophrenia, but c) …. Bingo!…. he goes to the gun show down at the county fairground and 20 minutes later walks out with a Glock 9mm that is untraceable.  No names were exchanged, no sales receipts, no nothing.  Now, the crowd that thinks the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms should be a store, not a government agency, would watch this video and still not be swayed.   They don’t want to address what’s shown because they want sales to be this open.   When Adam Lanza decides to “infringe” on the lives of their children, thats just the “price of freedom”.  For the group that says, “OK, background checks at gun shows but not for private sales between family and friends.”  If that goes through, you’ll see the biggest jump in “friendship” in the history of the US.  “Meet Ralph… he’s been my lifelong friend for the last 45 minutes.”  To show you how bad this is, the NRA even successfully opposed the tagging of gunpowder, which the ATF wanted to help detect the origin of a bomb.  The ATF had no interest in the average shooter, but the paranoid NRA sees a government agent behind every bush, and their corporate backers want no possible effect on their sales.  So, how does the NRA deal with the gun show scenario?  They want that level of sales freedom but they also don’t want Lanza getting a gun.  Now, obviously, Lanza could probably go out on “the street” and buy a gun for $50.  That happens all the time in gang neighborhoods.  But does that reality negate the need to stop what’s going on as shown in CNN’s video?  What’s your view on this?

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  11. George Rebane Avatar

    Fuzz 723pm – Points well made. I don’t see a way around background checks to stop the problems you outlined. My druthers are to have a generalized background check that certifies you as a sane, responsible, etc citizen. That documentation can be kept by a central clearinghouse that has the means to handle and adjudicate appeals in a timely manner. Getting a clean ‘bill of health’ there confirms you for purchasing all kinds of products and services that may ingeniously be turned against society by bad guys.
    In that situation a gun dealer need only confirm your identity (the technology for this exists) and check with the clearinghouse as to your qualifications as a buyer. A code can be attached to the seller’s record that verifies that a clean background check was obtained with the sale of the product. Should the product turn up as having been illegally used, the seller is indemnified, and the buyer identified. The disposition of the product by the buyer to others is already covered under existing laws. Not perfect, but a starting point. Other thoughts?

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  12. Fuzz Avatar
    Fuzz

    George, I think your approach is sensible and doable. Determining the criteria for acceptability regarding mental issues is beyond my pay grade. It would (hopefully) stop Lanza from easily getting a gun at the gun show and force him to canvas “the street” in search of a gun. In smaller or more upscale neighborhoods, his search might have been difficult. Any reasonable road blocks we can put in his way, without unduly burdening law abiding citizens, is the least we can do to prevent more slaughter of the innocent.

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  13. George Rebane Avatar

    Please check out the gun policy survey in the 27apr13 update to the post.

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  14. Fuzz Avatar
    Fuzz

    George, I’m not familiar with the PoliceOne website, which appears to be a major national website for members of the law enforcement community. (450K members would so indicate.) The survey response, though numerically large, represents @ 4% response of the 400K queried. Assuming this reflects the majority opinion of the membership, it appears our law enforcement community generally believes the following:
    BUY A GUN! KEEP IT ON YOUR PERSON, AND KEEP IT EXPOSED OR CONCEALED…. YOUR CHOICE.
    (72% support the concept of of “open carry” of which 41% think it’s misguided in practice. So what does that mean? Wear it openly but not in church? A full 91% support concealed carry.)
    A LEGALLY ARMED CITIZEN IS THE MOST EFFECTIVE MEANS TO REDUCE CRIME RATES. (76%…. total of 4 + 5 level response)
    DO NOT PASS ANY NEW GUN LAWS BECAUSE WE WILL NOT ENFORCE THEM (64%). Only 18% said they would enforce new laws. 71% favor “public statements” that new laws will NOT be enforced. A more interesting way this position question could have been asked is: “Regardless of how the SCOTUS has adjudicated cases involving the 2nd Amendment, if I personally feel they have violated the letter and spirit of the Amendment, I will not enforce their judgements. The same goes for any other legislative, executive, or judicial body.”
    The response to question 10 amazed me. The majority category response was that mental health background checks WOULD NOT reduce instances of mass shootings. So, let’s not check Adam Lanza’s mental history, even though he has no criminal record???
    Survey conclusion: If you are a responsible citizen, concerned about reducing crime, you should buy a gun, and carry it on your person. Enforce current gun laws, but pass no new ones. Raise your children right, and provide more help for the mentally ill.
    Final thoughts: Do I really want to carry a gun? I’ve never considered it but the survey indicates it’s my civic duty to do so. I suppose a small 9mm wouldn’t be too intrusive but I would feel funny packin heat on a daily basis. In my current mental state, I pose no threat to anyone. I hope I stay that way. I hope everyone else does too.

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  15. George Rebane Avatar

    Fuzz 1214pm – Good points. A 4% sample size from a population of over 400K is huge. Consider that a random sample of 10K respondents from any sized population gives maximum error bounds of about +/-1% at the 95% confidence level. Public policy today is debated and made in response to polls with sample sizes that often yield errors in the 5-10% ranges.
    The weakness of background checks providing significant reduction of ‘gun deaths’ can be seen from the post’s graph, and from the history of such rare massacres, most of which were carried out by people who would have passed any reasonable and broadly applied background check ever contemplated. The first time loner perp, motivated by some ideology or redress of grievances, is impossible to detect.
    So far we have correctly decided that the current (declining) cost of gun deaths through broad private ownership of guns is worth the alternatives as envisioned by our Founders. And the growth of concealed carry weapons to their historical proportions would definitely reduce the frequency, no matter how rare, of extended shooting rampages through probabilistic arguments alone.

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