The truth is that gun control advocates cherry pick statistics in order to make a case for taking guns away from law abiding citizens. But when you look at the raw data without any preconceptions, the story is much clearer. If you are gun control advocate, I stongly suggest you leave now before you are subjected to some obscenely offensive material.
The Brady Campaign, that fights for gun control and confiscation, rates California number one in gun control laws. Furthermore, it is the only state that allows gun confiscation just taking the word of a doctor. Yet, in 2011, California led the nation in murders by guns with 1220. Based on California's population of 37 million people, that comes out to 3.25 murders for every 100,000 people. What makes this even more telling is that when it comes to the number of legal guns per 100,000 people, California ranks 44th.
Compare that to Utah which has the second highest gun ownership in the entire country. Based on a total population of 2.8 million people, Utah has less that one murder by gun per 100,000. (26)
Now, what city has the most murders per 100,000 people (21.9) and the most armed robberies per 100,000 (242.56)? Washington D.C. But in 1976, Washington D.C. instituted the toughest gun laws in the land, yet their crime rate rose.
The Wall Street Journal filed this report on what happened to crime rates during this period:
The gun ban had an unintended effect: It emboldened criminals because they knew that law-abiding District residents were unarmed and powerless to defend themselves. Violent crime increased after the law was enacted, with homicides rising to 369 in 1988, from 188 in 1976 when the ban started. By 1993, annual homicides had reached 454.
And after that ban was lifted?
Since the gun ban was struck down, murders in the District have steadily gone down, from 186 in 2008 to 88 in 2012, the lowest number since the law was enacted in 1976.
And today, they still have some of the most restrictive gun laws on the books, yet still have the most murders of any city in America.
There was also a study done at Harvard that not only studied and reported crime rates and gun ownership rates in the US but around the world. The results are real eye openers.
