Quote:

---

Gun homicides in the United States have fallen sharply since peaking in 1993, two studies have found.

The federal Bureau of Justice Statistics said firearms-related homicides had dropped to 11,101 in 2011 from 18,253 - a reduction of 39%.

Meanwhile, the Pew Research Center found gun homicides per 100,000 people fell to 3.6% in 2010 from 7% in 1993.

The figures were released three weeks after US senators rejected proposals to extend background checks on gun sales.

President Barack Obama has campaigned for tighter firearms laws after 26 people died in a school shooting in Connecticut in December.

Held steady

Both reports found the rate of non-lethal crimes involving guns had also fallen significantly over that period.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics, an office of the justice department, found that non-fatal firearms crimes dropped by 69% from 1.5 million to 467,300 during the period under study.

However, the justice department study also suggested that the percentage of US homicides committed with a firearm had held steady at around 70% between 1993-2011.

Despite the drop, some 56% of Americans believe gun crime is higher than two decades ago and only 12% think it is lower, according to the Pew Reseach Center.

Pew also found that African Americans made up a disproportionate share of gun homicide victims - 55% in 2010, despite accounting for 13% of the overall population.

In 2010, white people were 25% of victims but 65% of the population, while Hispanics were 17% of victims and 16% of the population.

---

Quote:

---

Looks like the media brainwashing is working.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by oldenglanddry:
Only 11,101 ? That's great, realy, ya know,.... great.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Geezer:
"Despite the drop, some 56% of Americans believe gun crime is higher than two decades ago and only 12% think it is lower, according to the Pew Reseach Center."

Looks like the media brainwashing is working.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by AURaptor:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by oldenglanddry:
Only 11,101 ? That's great, realy, ya know,.... great.

---

Gotta wonder how many of those dead were illegals, caught up in Mexico's drug war.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by DOMOKUN1:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Storymark:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by AURaptor:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by oldenglanddry:
Only 11,101 ? That's great, realy, ya know,.... great.

---

Gotta wonder how many of those dead were illegals, caught up in Mexico's drug war.

---

Not many. Which you'd know if you had read it...




Excuse me while I soak in all these sweet, sweet conservative tears.

"We will never have the elite, smart people on our side." -- Rick "Frothy" Santorum

"Goram it kid, let's frak this thing and go home! Engage!"

---

Well, in my resident county - approximately 80% of gun-related crime is criminal gangs that include a significant illegal alien component and/or drug related. Illegals are also heavily involved in marijuana growing and the resultant violent activities. Check out the book by John Nores, Cal. State Fish and Wildlife warden.

So yeah, illegals play a significant role in violent/gun crime as well as criminal gangs.

So let's punish the law-abiding citizens.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Kwicko:
How many of those who think gun crime is higher have rushed out and bought more and more guns?

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by DOMOKUN1:

Lunacy in California knows no bounds.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Kwicko:
Also, did anything important regarding guns happen in around 1994? Something that lasted around ten years?
Could it have had ANY impact on the lowering of gun homicides? Any at all?

---

Quote:

---

And where are the stats on gun suicide rates for the same time period?

---

Quote:

---

It's really not important, is it?

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Geezer:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Kwicko:
Also, did anything important regarding guns happen in around 1994? Something that lasted around ten years?
Could it have had ANY impact on the lowering of gun homicides? Any at all?

---

You mean the 'assault weapons' ban?

---

Quote:

---

As a matter of fact, the report this article is based on http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/fv9311.pdf shows that the major decrease in firearms homicides was in handgun use, while all other firearms have stayed about the same since 1994.

Quote:

---

And where are the stats on gun suicide rates for the same time period?

---

Suicides by firearm went up about 16% between 1999 and 2010. Suicides overall for the same period went up 31%.

See the CDC's WISQARS Fatal Injury report site and you can filter all sorts of data on fatalities and their causes for 1999 through 2010.
http://webappa.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/mortrate10_us.html

And for 1981 through 1998
http://webappa.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/mortrate9.html

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Niki2:


I'm giving up on this new guy. Maybe I'm paranoid, but I find his style a bit familiar, his arguments duplicates of what we always hear, he quotes from our favorite right winger's favorite sources, he hints he's from California, and I don't find that he was elsewhere first to be convincing.

---

Quote:

---

Anarchist? No - that's insane. Government has its place - and its important to keep an intact one

---

Quote:

---

this person seems (in my opinion) closed-minded, and obviously very tired of the whole gun thing - yet seems to like to post about the gun issues, and get uppity with responses?

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Kwicko:
So tell us all - did this "assault weapons ban" apply *ONLY* to rifles?

---

Quote:

---

Quote:

---

Considering that fewer people are killed each year with knives than with rifles of any kind, as has been noted here several times, I'd say not too much impact.

---

Not sure that came out the way you intended.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Geezer:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Kwicko:
So tell us all - did this "assault weapons ban" apply *ONLY* to rifles?

---

Nope. Also large capacity magazines.

Of course, there were (and are) millions of those magazines already in private hands, and they don't tend to wear out much, so restricting the sale couldn't have much effect. Besides, do you have any statistics showing that an appreciable number of handgun murders required more than ten rounds?

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Kwicko:
They don't wear out, so restricting them couldn't have an effect.

Huh. Why are you against restricting them, again? It can't have any negative effect on shooters, right?

---

Quote:

---

Do you have any statistics showing that an appreciable number of self-defense murders required more than ten rounds?

---

Quote:

---

Got that tinfoil magical mind-reading cap on again?

---

Quote:

---

Now, tell me - did you support going after Bin Laden after 9/11? Did you support anti-terrorism measures? Terrorists killed less than a tenth as many Americans as guns did that year, so clearly terrorism couldn't have much of an impact on us.

Right?

---

Quote:

---

You seem hung up on whether something is having *enough* of an impact to make it worth trying to save American lives. When it comes to the issue of guns and their availability to seemingly everybody anywhere in this country, you seem to think nothing's worth doing because nothing will help.

---

Quote:

---

Four dead in Benghazi couldn't really have an impact, could it? Far less than 27 dead in Newtown, if you're just doing the math. Hell, one dead border patrol agent on the border is even less of an impact than that!

So why do you want investigations into Fast-n-Furious or Benghazi, if there was such a tiny impact on our country or our people?

---