By John Lott
Murder and violent crime rates were supposed to soar after the
Supreme Court struck down
gun control laws in Chicago and Washington, D.C.
But Armageddon never happened.
Newly released data for Chicago
shows that, as in Washington, murder and gun crime rates didn't rise
after the bans were eliminated -- they plummeted. They have fallen much
more than the national crime rate.
Not surprisingly, the national media have been completely silent about this news.
One can only imagine the coverage if crime
rates had risen. In the first six months of this year, there were 14%
fewer murders in Chicago compared to the first six months of last year –
back when owning handguns was illegal. It was the largest drop in
Chicago’s murder rate since the handgun ban went into effect in 1982.
Meanwhile, the other four most populous cities saw a total drop at the same time of only 6 percent.
Similarly, in the year after the 2008
"Heller" decision, the murder rate fell two-and-a-half times faster in
Washington than in the rest of the country.
It also fell more than three as fast as in
other cities that are close to Washington's size. And murders in
Washington have continued to fall.
Gun crimes also fell more than non-gun crimes.
Robberies with guns fell by 25%, while
robberies without guns have fallen by eight percent. Assaults with guns
fell by 37%, while assaults without guns fell by 12%.
Just as with right-to-carry laws, when law-abiding citizens have guns some criminals stop carrying theirs.
The benefit could have been even greater.
Getting a handgun permit in Chicago and Washington is an expensive and
difficult process, meaning only the relatively wealthy go through it.
Through the end of May only 2,144 people had
handguns registered in Chicago. That limits the benefits from the
Supreme Court decisions since it is the poor who are the most likely
victims of crime and who benefit the most from being able to protect
themselves.
The biggest change for Washington was the
Supreme Court striking down the law making it illegal to have a loaded
gun. Over 70,000 people have permits for long guns that they can now
legally used to protect themselves.
Lower crime rates in Chicago and Washington,
by themselves, don’t prove that gun control increases murders, even
when combined with the quite familiar story of how their murder rates
soared and stayed high after the gun bans were imposed.
But these aren’t isolated examples. Around the world, whenever guns are banned, murder rates rise.
Gun control advocates explained the huge
increases in murder and violent crime rates Chicago and Washington by
saying that those bans weren’t fair tests unless the entire country
adopted a ban.
Yet, even island nations, such as
Ireland
and the U.K. -- with no neighbors to blame -- have seen increases in
murder rates. The same horror stories about blood in the streets have
surrounded the debate over concealed handguns. Some said it was necessary to ban guns in
public places. The horror stories never came true and the data is now so
obvious that as of November, only one state, Illinois, will still
completely ban law-abiding from carrying concealed handguns. Forty-one states will have either permissive right-to-carry laws or no longer even require a permit.
The regulations that still exist in Chicago and Washington primarily disarm the most likely victims of crime.
Hopefully, even the poor in these areas will soon also have more of an opportunity to defend themselves, too.
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