Ten Commandments of Gun Ownership

[happygeek]

If you watch the news you might be under the impression that the United States is in bad shape when it comes to crime. Every night on the local news you hear about murders and other violent crimes. It could lead anybody to believe that society is in free-fall. But is this really the case?

It turns out all major crimes are trending down from their 50-year highs in the 70s, 80s and 90s. In fact, one crime was near a 50-year low in 2010 when indexed per 100,000 people. More on that in a moment. Whether we are talking about assault, vehicle theft, burglary, rape or murder, all indicators are down from their highs.

I've seen those numbers, the problem (from a gun control perspective) is that they went up after 1968 and didn't start falling till 1991. The 68 GCA correlated with a 23 year violent crime/homicide spike ...

 

[Red Wind]

I've seen those numbers, the problem (from a gun control perspective) is that they went up after 1968 and didn't start falling till 1991. The 68 GCA correlated with a 23 year violent crime/homicide spike ..

Absolutely correct. I thought you'd like that graphic,happygeek!

 

[gym]

Many crimes don't show up in charts and go unreported, especially in poor neighborhoods and if federal cases are involved. Most of these home invasion type crimes go unreported unless someone is shot or killed, many people just don't want to deal with all of their personal information being put in the newspaper or on TV.
If someone tried to rob you and you pulled your gun, and didn't shoot him, are you going to call the police? In cases where I was 'convince" a couple of bad people to leave on their own, it somehow seemed useless to call police and spend the day filling out paperwork when in a city as large as NY, the likelihood of ever catching 2 average looking people is slim to none in crimes of opportunity. I would say you could probably double those crime rates and still be shy a few, it's like the census, I have never had anyone call me or pay me a visit to see who I was or where I lived, and if they go by voters registration, at least half the public "conservatively" doesn't vote.
Out of 200 kids who worked for me in the 70-90's, when there was an election maybe 20 of them voted when we would allow them extra time to go vote.
That's why I don't believe in statistics,, and why there are always these big upsets.
It's like the unemployment numbers, or anything else. If they actually could count the amount of illegals and people who "fell off the employment roster" and just stopped looking, and stopped paying taxes, it would be 15-20% instead of 6.7.

 

[JRH6856]

It's like the unemployment numbers, or anything else. If they actually could count the amount of illegals and people who "fell off the employment roster" and just stopped looking, and stopped paying taxes, it would be 15-20% instead of 6.7.

The unemployment rate only measures the percentage of people "in the workforce" that are unemployed. To be in the workforce, you must be actively seeking employment. If you don't have a job, don't want a job, are not looking for a job, or don't need a job because you won the lottery, you are not part of the workforce and not counted. So we really don't know how many people are actually unemployed.

And yes, it is similar for other stats. They may be giving you an accurate description of only a very small, and perhaps irrelevant, part of the overall picture that remains unseen.

 

[larryh1108]

As long as the way stats are collected remain the same, they are used to show trends, etc. I don't think anyone truly believes the actual numbers they come up with because of the reasons mentioned here. However, if you compare the percentages over the years, you get an idea of how they compare.

 

[happygeek]

That's why I don't believe in statistics,, and why there are always these big upsets.

When it comes to violent crime I'm sure a sizeable percent aren't reported to the FBI, however as far as I've ever heard their homicide stats are pretty accurate. At any rate, have the anti-gunners offered up their own believable stats that show a decrease in the violent crime and/or homicide rate following their landmark 68 GCA?

 

[JRH6856]

As long as the way stats are collected remain the same, they are used to show trends, etc. I don't think anyone truly believes the actual numbers they come up with because of the reasons mentioned here. However, if you compare the percentages over the years, you get an idea of how they compare.

So how does a comparison of irrelevant meaningless numbers result in anything but an irrelevant meaningless trend?