ZombieHunter
Member
I've written the following letter to the editor. I plan on submitting it to several newspapers in Maryland where we recently fired 64k employees to save money but then turned and bought a 70 million dollar piece of land that no one wanted. I decided that in a state such as mine where people are always after the almighty dollar approaching the CCW issue from a dollars and cents perspective could be both different and poignant. I know some people dislike using Lott's stats b'c they're basically an aggregation of several studies but damn it they work and I like them. They're also what I happen to have available. I've posted the letter below along with my sources. Thoughts, opinions, revisions are welcome.
I’ve been giving a lot of thought to Maryland’s fiscal irresponsibility in light of our State’s decision to furlough 64,000 state employees and then spend $70 million on a piece of land that no one wanted. My problem stems from the Judiciary Committee’s treatment of House Bill 2 [HB2] submitted by Dan Riley (D) from Harford County. Available research shows this bill would have reduced robberies by 2%, rapes by 5% and murders by more than 7%. Thinking beyond the obvious, all those lives not destroyed by violence, one starts to wonder about the economic benefits therein. 50,000 violent crime cost Maryland over $1 billion in 2007. A 2% reduction would save over $20 million a year and 1,000 violent crimes.
In addition to this passive financial gain, HB2 would have brought in actual cash without raising taxes on anything. Extrapolating from similar laws already in place in Pennsylvania and Virginia, states already benefiting from this crime reduction, 1 out of 45 Marylanders would happily pay $30 a year, more than $3.5 million. What could be done with $3.5 million? New schoolbooks, cancer research, Bay restoration, renewable energy research are just a few things that come to mind.
By now I hope you’re asking yourself why you never heard about HB2 and the lives it could have saved and money it would have raised. Well the answer is simple really. Dan Riley wanted to restore your right to self-defense, he wanted to give you the same right citizens in 40 other states already have; Dan Riley wanted to make conceal carry permits shall-issue. Why didn’t it work? Because the Judicial Chairman Joe Vallario pigeon-holed it. $25 million dollars and 1,000 violent crimes a year, I think we deserve better than this.
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/ascii/viocrm.txt
http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/mdcrime.htm
I’ve been giving a lot of thought to Maryland’s fiscal irresponsibility in light of our State’s decision to furlough 64,000 state employees and then spend $70 million on a piece of land that no one wanted. My problem stems from the Judiciary Committee’s treatment of House Bill 2 [HB2] submitted by Dan Riley (D) from Harford County. Available research shows this bill would have reduced robberies by 2%, rapes by 5% and murders by more than 7%. Thinking beyond the obvious, all those lives not destroyed by violence, one starts to wonder about the economic benefits therein. 50,000 violent crime cost Maryland over $1 billion in 2007. A 2% reduction would save over $20 million a year and 1,000 violent crimes.
In addition to this passive financial gain, HB2 would have brought in actual cash without raising taxes on anything. Extrapolating from similar laws already in place in Pennsylvania and Virginia, states already benefiting from this crime reduction, 1 out of 45 Marylanders would happily pay $30 a year, more than $3.5 million. What could be done with $3.5 million? New schoolbooks, cancer research, Bay restoration, renewable energy research are just a few things that come to mind.
By now I hope you’re asking yourself why you never heard about HB2 and the lives it could have saved and money it would have raised. Well the answer is simple really. Dan Riley wanted to restore your right to self-defense, he wanted to give you the same right citizens in 40 other states already have; Dan Riley wanted to make conceal carry permits shall-issue. Why didn’t it work? Because the Judicial Chairman Joe Vallario pigeon-holed it. $25 million dollars and 1,000 violent crimes a year, I think we deserve better than this.
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/ascii/viocrm.txt
http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/mdcrime.htm
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