Hello,
I really could use a little help here......
1. Can anyone provide National FBI stats for the last 10, 20, or 30 years in regards to violent crime trends? I would prefer something in graph form. It's my understanding and what I have read that violent crime has been on a decline for the last 20 or 30 years. I just need a good graph for presentation purposes.
2. Can anyone provide similar stats/graph for the state of Alabama?
Ralph
The FBI’s Uniform Crime Report is usually a good source for that. They have a “crime data explorer” which is a basic visualization tool that might show the high level stats in a graphical form. I always recommend going to the actual numbers in the report, but if you’re looking for a very high level graph this might work.
I would also strongly recommend you dig a bit deeper than just showing the graph. There are lots of things that can cause high level stats to change which may or may not be answering the question you are actually after. As an example, year 1 and year 2 could have the exact same events occurring, but a difference in how the reports were created could lead to different results on the high level graph. (Not saying that happened, just that high level stats are only a good reference when the underlying data is understood). When you’re looking at comparing 30 years of data, this becomes a bigger factor.
https://www.fbi.gov/services/cjis/ucr
You might need the detailed data anyway if you’re looking at longer timelines and/or state specific data. The graph should be fairly easy to do in excel.
On the study itself, I assume the goal is to present some sort of policy recommendation to reduce homicides/suicides/accidents with firearms? Make sure they follow up with analysis of “what happens if this recommended policy is enacted?” I may be biased (degree in economics and all) but this is a question that behavioral economics might be well positioned to help with.
For example, a likely answer to “how do we keep people from committing suicide
with guns” will likely be some form of “don’t let them have guns”. Let’s assume for sake of argument that this is a legitimate answer. How do you accomplish getting guns away from the suicidal person? And what are the consequences of those policies?
As a side note, this is where a lot of anti-gun people say that we get too into the weeds. The problem is that WE have to live with the exact letter of the law while they don’t. They don’t care how “assault weapon” or “transfer” is defined, but for us it is the difference between being a law abiding citizen and committing a felony. Details matter.
Friends and family are one option to keep firearms away from someone who is likely to attempt suicide, but if the suicidal person doesn’t want to give up their guns, what then? Also note that universal background checks would make it more difficult for a family member to remove guns from the possession of someone who is suicidal. If you’re talking about anything more than a handful of guns, it would be cost prohibitive (and time intensive) to go through the transfer process for each gun. Not to mention that the cost/time is doubled because you have to use the same process to give the owner back his/her guns. So one gun? Sure. But what about 20 guns? Or 100 guns? What if they are NFA weapons? You might be lucky to have the transfer approved in 6-8 months...for each transfer. And that’s not even getting into the monetary value of the collection (which with NFA weapons could easily get into six figures).
Using government to take the firearms is even more of an issue, especially considering there is legislation in various states that amounts to essentially the government confiscation of firearms without due process. And like it or not, there is a concern in this community that the government (or people using the government) will make use of any new laws to make it more difficult or illegal for people to possess firearms. We already know that this is a reason that people do not seek help for mental illness, and any policy increasing the government’s ability to remove firearms from an individual (or make them a prohibited person) for the mere act of seeking help is only going to make more people fearful of going to physicians to get help.