In the past few years, there has been a growing public outcry calling for increased gun control measures and restrictions. The unthinkable acts of violence from Aurora, Colorado to Newtown, Connecticut have only strengthened this call for sweeping changes to the way guns are used and regulated. World-wide media outlets have continuously misrepresented facts in an attempt to scare the general public into embracing increased gun control measures. We, as a nation, should focus more on controlling criminals that use firearms than controlling the guns themselves.
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) crime statistics, in 2011 there were 1,203,564 violent crimes nationwide, which translates to 386.3 violent crimes per 100,000 inhabitants, nationwide. Violent crimes are defined by the FBI as the following: murder and non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) completed a study in 2012 comparing the murder rates of countries from around the world. In the UNODC study, the United States is shown to have had 4.8 murders per 100,000 inhabitants, which ranks at number 102 in the world. To place that number in perspective, the country with the most murders was listed as Honduras with 91.6 murders per 100,000 people; Cameroon had 19.7.
The FBI statistics show that the majority of crimes involving the use of a gun occur in large cities that have the strictest gun control laws in the country. In 2012, in Detroit, Michigan, 333 people were killed by a gun; this equates to 47.5 per 100,000 residents (FBI). New Orleans, if it were a country, with a rate of 62.1 gun murders per 100,000 people, would rank second in the world (Thompson).
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Milwaukee, Wisconsin. “The 2011 Milwaukee Homicide Review Commission.”
City.Milwaukee.gov. 2012. Web. 14 Oct. 2013.
State of Georgia. General Assembly. Safe Carry Protection Act. SB 101. Legis.ga.gov. Georgia General Assembly. 25 Mar. 2013. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.
“United Kingdom—Gun Facts, Figures and the Law.” University of Sydney, 2013. Web. 16 Oct. 2013.
United Nations. “Intentional Homicide, Count and Rate per 100,000 population (1995-2011).” United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Web. PDF. 2012.
United States. Department of Justice Crime Statistics. Justice.gov. 7 May 2013. Web. Excel Document. 14 Oct 2013.
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In 2012, there were an estimated 14,827 murders and non-negligent manslaughter crimes reported by all agencies in the United States according to the Uniform Crime Report at the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Murder and non-negligent manslaughter are defined “as the willful (nonnegligent) killing of one human being by another.” A 1.1 percent increase occurred from 2011 to 2012. But it should be noted, this is a 9.9 percent drop from the figure for 2008 and a 10.3 percent decrease from the number of murders recorded in 2003. Of the murders that occurred in 2012, it is estimated that 43.6 percent were reported in the south, 21.0 percent were from the Midwest, 21.0 percent were accounted from the west, and 14.2 percent were from the northeast of the United States. There were 4.7 murders for every 100,000 people in 2012. The murder rate went up 0.4 percent from 2011 to 2012. It went down in 2008 by 12.8 percent and dropped 16.9 percent from 2003. The majority of offenders were over the age of eighteen and they accounted for 9,096 of offenders in 2012. According to the Uniform Crime Report, the number of offenders who murdered in 2012 totaled 14,581. The majority of these offenders were male, totaling 9,425. Female offenders totaled 1,098, and 4,058 were unknown offenders. Black males topped the list as far as race was concerned with 5,531 committing murder. White males followed with 4,582 offenders. There were 4,228 classified as race unknown regarding offenders who murdered in 2012. The victim data reported was 9,917 male victims and 2,834 female victims. Of those victims, 11,549 were over the age of eighteen.
United States. Department of Justice. Crime in the United States 2000 Federal Bureau of Investigation Uniform Crime Report. Washington D.C., 2000.
Table 1 of the Preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report, January-June, 2015 demonstrates the percent change by population group. The population group is broken down into cities and counties according to population. According to table 1, the crimes with the highest arrest rates were murder, rape, and aggravated assault, followed by robbery and motor vehicle theft. Murder, rape, and aggravated assault fall under Violent Crime Index whereas robbery and motor vehicle theft
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This rate of violence is having a detrimental effect on the health of our nation and poses significant threats to the security of our future. With this information in mind, I see no other course than to recommend significant reforms to our nations gun control. This should begin with congressional laws which would require increased background checks, psychological testing, greater surveillance of gun sale transactions (especially those conducted over the internet), prevent the sale of assault weapons and the restriction of commercial advertisement pertaining to gun sales. (Richardson EG, Hemenway D. 2003).
During most of America’s recorded history, measuring crime and violence was not an accurate science. Crime statistics were recorded at local levels, but oftentimes this was not a priority of law enforcement agencies. Furthermore, statistics were often skewed to reflect better performance of these agencies than was the case. Only recently, during the last generation, has crime statistics been measured on a national level to determine crime patterns. The easiest crimes to measure, because of their nature, were homicide and auto theft.
. U.S. Dept. of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, "Capital Punishment 2005," appendix Table 4(2006)
Federal Bureau of Investigaiton. (2010, December 22). Preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report, January –June, 2010. Retrieved from http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjs/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s./2010/preliminary-crime-in-the-us-2009