RSS
Home
The world according to Brady
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
.jpg)
In a previous article, we examined how Right-to-Carry (RTC)–state laws empowering private citizens to have greater freedom to defend themselves in public–seems to provide a safety benefit for law enforcement. Officers defend their lives less often because there are fewer violent criminals committing less violent crime, and armed citizens in RTC states account for the majority of America’s justifiable homicide, further reducing the violent predator pool.
Each year, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence publishes a report card, grading each state on how well they did with enacting “sensible” gun laws. Highlighting Brady’s over-arching agenda, in 2007, 10 of their 12 “top” states (11 states plus District of Columbia) are not RTC.
These “best” Brady states, with an average Brady score of 50.25, also had a 2007 violent crime rate averaging 512.4 incidents per 100,000 population. Brady’s 12 “worst” states, with a Brady score averaging 4.42, had an average violent crime rate of 392.2.
There is another dataset that sheds light on how law enforcement, violent crime, and the Brady scores all correlate to show what kind of world Brady envisions for our future.
Each year, the FBI publishes the number of full-time law enforcement employees by state. When collating states’ LEO rate (officers per 100,000 population) with violent crime rates and Brady grades, an interesting trend appears.
When sorted by Brady score, as the Brady score decreases, so does the 2007 LEO rate. At face value, this could indicate that states with lower Brady scores don’t care about public safety, proving that Brady is onto something.
(Orange lines are linear regressions, an analysis tool which indicates the overall trend in the dataset.)
However, as the Brady scores decrease, so do violent crime and murder rates.
When separated by RTC status, the correlations become even more obvious.
Right-to-Carry Versus Violent Crime and Brady Score | ||||
LEO Rate | Violent Crime | Murder | Brady Score | |
RTC | 224 | 400.5 | 4.9 | 11.0 |
Non-RTC | 288 | 524.3 | 6.8 | 48.6 |
% Difference | 28.6 | 30.9 | 38.6 | |
States with higher Brady scores have larger police forces, but this does not translate into a safer place to live. Whether or not this means that the Brady Campaign supports larger but less efficient, government (i.e. more taxes, less service) will be examined in the next article in this series.
References
Photo courtesy of Oleg Volk.
Violent crime data derived from U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Law enforcement data derived from FBI.
Charts from Excel spreadsheet; email request for workbook.
*************************************
For in-depth analysis of the issues surrounding gun control, read Four Hundred Years of Gun Control: Why Isn’t It Working?, which deconstructs the gun control agenda and motivates more people to support our civil right of self-defense.
Check out other Gun Rights Examiners:
- Atlanta: Armed customer stops robbery
- Austin: Women on Target: Preparing women to defend Liberty
- Boston: Derrick Z. Jackson’s hot air, will Obama listen?
- Charlotte: The gun debate (explained for liberals)
- Cleveland: Crimes against Senior Citizens show need for defensive arms
- DC: How would Churchill vote in Virginia's Democratic primary for Governor on Tuesday?
- Denver: Holocaust Museum shooting short-circuited by a gun
- Los Angeles: Pocket knife ban models the gun control formula.
- Minneapolis: Dirty Deeds in Virginia
- National: GAO report blames U.S. gun laws for Mexican crime
- Seattle: Political hypocrisy and social bigotry swirling around edges of PrideFest
- St. Louis: When gun bans are not enough--the war on . . . pocket knives?
- Wisconsin: Gun rights advocates make progress
Related Articles:
Comments
Perhaps once a year, a movie comes out that keeps me in my seat, waiting to see what happens next. Sometimes, a great historical drama appears, like …
According to the United Nations (UN) Charter, their purpose is maintaining “international peace and security,” and “promoting and …
- National - David Codrea
- Cleveland - Dan White
- Los Angeles - John Longenecker
- St. Louis - Kurt Hofmann
- Charlotte - Paul Valone
- Denver - Dan Bidstrup
- DC - Mike Stollenwerk
- Minneapolis - John Pierce
- Seattle - Dave Workman
- Atlanta - Ed Stone
- Wisconsin - Gene German
- Boston - Ron Bokleman
- Grand Rapids - Skip Coryel
- Cheyenne - Anthony Bouchard
- Phoenix - Douglas Little
- Knoxville - Liston Matthews
- David Hardy - Arms and the Law
- Gun News Daily
- War on Guns
- The High Road
- Say Uncle
- NRA News
- Free Republic
- Jeff Soyer - Alphecca.com
- Snowflakes in Hell
- Nicki Fellenzer - The Liberty Zone
- Dave Kopel
- Massad Ayoob
- A Keyboard and a .45
- The Real Gun Guys
- Wake Up America
- Clayton Cramer - Civilian Gun Self-Defense Blog
- Oleg Volk - A Human Right
- National Rifle Association
- Texas State Rifle Association
- Keep and Bear Arms
- California Rifle and Pistol Association
- Gun Owners of America
- Second Amendment Foundation
- USA Carry
- Canadian Shooting Sports Association
- Canada's National Firearms Association
- Ted Nugent
- Georgia Carry
- Open Carry
- Armed Females of America
- Future of Freedom Foundation
- Second Amendment Sisters
- Liberty Belles
