“Gun Crime” in major cities is hijacking headlines from coast to coast.
Surely, one might think, crime – fueled by ugly black rifles – is soaring.
FBI crime stats show the “estimated rate of violent crime was 368.9 offenses per 100,000 inhabitants.” That is a 3.9 percent reduction in the rate when compared with 2017 stats, but the real lesson emerges when we look long term.
For example, Bearing Arms reports that the 2018 rate of violent crime was barely above the 1971 rate of 396 offenses per 100,000 inhabitants.
Ironically, one of the greatest differences between 1971 and 2018 is that there are exponentially more privately-owned firearms now than there were when the 1970s began. Rather than leading to more violent crime, as the left would suggest, the existence of millions of millions more privately-owned guns correlated with a lower rate of violent crime.
OK – but what about Minnesota?
Yep. Down. In a state with nearly 300,000 people with permits to carry – more per capita than Texas – violent crime, homicide, even property crime are down even more sharply:
The Minnesota Department of Public Safety Bureau of Criminal Apprehension on Monday, July 8, released its Uniform Crime Report for 2018…Incidents of violent crime were down 6.7% in 2018 as compared to the year prior, with murder, aggravated assaults and robberies down from 2017 levels, the report showed. And rape and involuntary sex trafficking reports increased in 2018.
Property crime offenses also decreased in 2018, with burglary, larceny and arson offenses shrinking compared to rates in 2017. Motor vehicle theft, by contrast, increased for the third year in a row…
But…but…guns!.
104 Minnesotans murdered last year, 59 were killed with a handgun.
Which is, if I recall correctly, a lower per capita rate than 2016. I’ll look it up. I’m also going to guess nearly none of those were people with no criminal records, with carry permits.
This is probably why the narrative here in Minnesota has changed. Gang violence – which does seem to be increasing – is not called “gang violence” now, but “gun violence”. Almost every time I see “gun violence” used now in the media it is actually a gang violence story.
Interesting is that out of those 102 homicides, about 50 occurred within the city limits of Minneapolis and St. Paul. So outside those cities, it appears that the state’s homicide rate is 50/5 million, or 1:100,000.
In other words, when you get away from the street gangs and such in the big city, Minnesota’s homicide rate is the same as Japan’s. That is pretty d**n impressive in my book.