MSNBC is not a news outlet that anyone would consider to be biased toward private gun ownership. The mass media in general has earned a reputation as being "anti-gun," and MSNBC has been no exception.
Take, for example, Chris Matthews, of MSNBC's Hardball, proclaiming "I want to see people disarmed." Or how about him coming unhinged (as did his coworker, Dr. Nancy Snyderman), about peaceable, legally armed political protesters? Another MSNBC stalwart, Ed Schultz, advocates disarming evey NBA player.
That being the case, one would hardly expect MSNBC to point out that in a time characterized by huge numbers of new gun purchases, and people obtaining concealed carry permits en masse, violence committed with firearms is in dramatic decline.
That, however, is just what they are pointing out, in "Record numbers now licensed to pack heat: Firearms deaths fall as millions obtain permits to carry concealed guns."
Americans overall are far less likely to be killed with a firearm than they were when it was much more difficult to obtain a concealed-weapons permit, according to statistics collected by the federal Centers for Disease Control. But researchers have not been able to establish a cause-and-effect relationship.
In the 1980s and ’90s, as the concealed-carry movement gained steam, Americans were killed by others with guns at the rate of about 5.66 per 100,000 population. In this decade, the rate has fallen to just over 4.07 per 100,000, a 28 percent drop. The decline follows a fivefold increase in the number of “shall-issue” and unrestricted concealed-carry states from 1986 to 2006.
The CDC data only extends through 2006, but the trend appears to have continued, with the FBI reporting violent crime at a 35-year low in 2008 (and homicide at a 43-year low). In the first half of 2009, murders dropped by another 10%, during a time of unprecedentedly high gun sales.
The MSNBC article cites an estimate of 6 million people licensed to carry concealed firearms (including a record number of Missouri applicants in the last year). The Violence Policy Center, in arguing its case that somewhat relaxed concealed carry laws are "dangerous," points to 151 killings, including suicides, by concealed carry licensees--since May 2007. That's a homicide plus suicide rate of something like .00083% per year (and even that assumes one killing per permit holder--since some have accounted for more than one of those 151, the percentage is actually even lower).
I have said over and over again, that I'm not much of one for justifying rights via statistics. I firmly believe that rights remain rights, despite the existence of people who will abuse them--and no matter the number of such people. Still, if the Violence Policy Center and Brady Campaign want this to be an argument about numbers, we can beat them on that, too.
Oh, by the way, the MSNBC article mentions that 40 states have "shall issue" concealed carry laws--make that 41.
Atlanta: Ed Stone | Austin: Howard Nemerov | Boston: Ron Bokleman | Charlotte: Paul Valone | Cheyenne: Anthony Bouchard | Chicago: Don Gwinn | Cleveland: Daniel White | DC: Mike Stollenwerk | Denver: Dan Bidstrup | Fort Smith: Steve D. Jones | Grand Rapids: Skip Coryel | Knoxville: Liston Matthews | Los Angeles: John Longenecker | Minneapolis: John Pierce | National: David Codrea | Parkersburg: Nicholas Arnold | Phoenix: Douglas Little | Pittsburgh: Dan Campbell | Seattle: Dave Workman | St. Louis: Kurt Hofmann | Tucson: Chris Woodard | Wisconsin: Gene German
Comments
Somebody's getting fired at MSNBC. An act of honest journalism has been committed.
This makes me maybe want to change the channel to MSNBC once in a while, but I'll have to think about it more...
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