My friend Jonathan Stray put together an entirely fact-based FAQ on American gun violence for The Atlantic. Everybody can learn something from this. →
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Open source, procurement, and gov tech.
My friend Jonathan Stray put together an entirely fact-based FAQ on American gun violence for The Atlantic. Everybody can learn something from this. →
Comments are closed.
I don’t often read the Atlantic but this was fantastic. Mr. Stray did an excellent job presenting facts, relevant political plans and historical attempts separately but complementary to one another. Thanks for sharing.
There are a few trends missing from the UCR that would have been interesting additions–particularly, I think it’s interesting to know that while the stereotypical self defense scenario people imagine involves a stranger like a bank robber or a mugger or a home invasion, the FBI’s data suggests that the victim and offender are strangers in only about 14% of all homicides. Women are far and away more likely to be killed by a sexual partner. Men are far and away more likely to be killed by a friend or acquaintance.
Sam-
My question would be that if there were no ability for someone to conceal carry as a method of self defense, would those percentages change? Sure, these are statistical facts, but if the scenario were to change, the numbers would certainly change, as well. Another thing I didn’t see was any statistic that showed how many violent crimes were committed with illegally obtained firearms or by felons who were illegally carrying versus crimes committed by persons legally carrying on a national scale.
Tom,
I am still looking for the article, but the Washington Post reported recently that in the District of Columbia, where no civilians are allowed to legally carry a concealed weapon, the percentage of homicide victims who knew their assailants is not wildly different from other cities with similar demographics but do have concealed carry laws. I’m not inclined to think that concealed carry is a delimiting factor that defines how many of us go around killing random strangers.
I did try to clarify my comment by including those legally carrying versus those who carry illegally. I would suppose that there would be wildly different numbers- as in there are many more people committing violent crimes who carry firearms illegally versus those who carry legally. Not arguing- just noting something that the report doesn’t really address. Of course, if you are carrying legally and you commit a crime with said firearm, you then are carrying illegally- I guess I can’t win!