Facts Over Feelings: 2A Edition
A Closer Look at Crime Statistics | Update on Gators and Guardian
Hello, SMF Family! Our team has been looking over recent crime statistics across the nation and wanted to share some of our findings. The media and the White House claim that homicides are down, proving the success of gun control. Last year, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre made bold claims in attributing President Biden’s gun control efforts as life-saving efforts:
“…gun homicides are declining for the first time since sharply increasing from 2019 to 2020. It is also an encouraging sign that President Biden’s historic actions to address our nation’s gun violence epidemic are helping save lives. Yet, it’s not nearly enough at a time when guns are the leading killer of kids and at epidemic levels. President Biden continues to call on Congress to enact commonsense, meaningful reforms including banning assault weapons and high capacity magazines, and enacting universal background checks that save lives.”
With statements like, supported by favorable statistics, the gun control crowd paint themselves as heroes and champions. The question is: does the data really support the claims? Let’s dive into the data.
The Claim: The FBI Claims Homicide Rates are Declining from 2019 Numbers.
While FBI data being parroted by the media is reporting a marked decrease in homicide rates across the nation, the CDC data is in direct contrast to those claims. The FBI data shows a 6.6% drop in murders from 2020 to 2022, while the CDC shows a slight increase of 0.5%. Compared to the data from 2014-2019, the FBI shows a 20.8% increase by 2022 compared to a 27.9% increase for the CDC. These are significant differences, particularly since the CDC data refutes what the media continues to claim that, at least through 2022, homicides are declining.
Also of note, the FBI data shows the peak in 2020, with drops in 2021 and 2022, while the CDC shows the peak in 2021, with 2022 still higher than the year (2020) that the FBI claims was the peak. As Dr. John Lott reports “
There are number of possible problems with both sources. The FBI is currently facing a large number of police departments that have stopped reporting data starting in 2021. In 2022, 32% of police departments stopped reporting any data to the FBI and another 24% only partially reported data. There are other questions regarding whether the FBI has been accurately reporting the data that police departments have given them. On the CDC side, which depends on medical examiner reports, families often put pressure on the CDC to not count deaths as suicides so they are then sometimes counted as homicides.
With nearly a 1/3 of American cities not reporting crime data to the FBI, the numbers do not reflect the reality of crime in our nation. (You can see which agencies did not report, Here). Many of those non-reporting cities also happen to be led by the loudest voices calling for gun control and bans, defunding police, while adopting criminal-friendly policies. These factors collectively show politics in action with anti-gun politicians demanding 100 percent gun control with 2/3 of the crime data.
The Claim: Gun Control Makes Communities Safer
As seen above, we are told that disarming Americans and banning so-called “assault weapons” is literally saving lives, but is that claim true? Let’s take a look at Washington state data – as we know, from SMF’s several firearms cases, the State is openly attacking our second amendment rights.
As of May 2024, Washington state is in second place for America’s most dangerous state. And better yet, thanks to Inslee and Ferguson, Washington is in first place for property crime rates!!! Keep in mind that the statistics below were taken from the FBI crime data based only on reports from participating agencies in Washington state. While most Washington agencies report, several do not.
The above data shows the number violent crime in Washington and the associated type of weapon for the commission of the crime. Here are a few things to note:
Crimes utilizing personal weapons (includes the use of fists, legs and bodily pushing as well as acid, intact bottles, bricks, clubs, explosives, scalding water, and tire irons) far exceed the number of crimes committed with firearms.
“Other firearms” is not defined.
More crimes were committed with no weapon than were committed with a firearm.
Let’s face it - data can be manipulated depending on the author of the study. Take, for example, the use of the phrase “gun violence.” When we are presented with “gun violence” studies, here is how that phrase is defined:
“But gun violence victimization includes additional violence not captured by measures of morbidity and mortality (hospital data). In fact, gun violence not resulting in physical injury constitutes the majority of gun violence in the U.S.”
This type of comprehensive definition is not used for other weapons used in the commission of violent crime. When gun control proponents cite studies lacking in data to show the true impact of “gun violence,” why are we simultaneously told that gun control laws work? Similarly, why do the media and politicians focus on FBI numbers while completely ignoring the CDC data? We know why, and you know why.
Our cities are rampant with crime, addiction, lawlessness and soft-on-crime policies. Meanwhile failing policies that encourage these behaviors are touted as successes, and we’re told that the gun-owners are responsible for criminal activity. If the goal is to “make us all safer,” why the effort to defund the police, why not rely on good, comprehensive data or adopt policies that makes it harder to be a criminal, rather than making it more difficult to be a law-abiding citizen? If the goal is to “make us all safer,” why does the media offer no historical consideration that clearly demonstrates the necessity of self-protection from tyranny?
Is safety really the goal? No, no it is not. Control is the goal – hence, the name, GUN CONTROL.
Today, Silent Majority Foundation filed a Notice of Supplemental Authority in our Washington v. Gators Custom Guns and Guardian Arms v. Washington cases. With the recent decision striking Minnesota’s Young Adult Carry Ban in Worth v. Jacobson, SMF introduced pertinent case law regarding the “history and tradition of weapons regulation.” We will share more on the positive impact of this decision on our second amendment cases in our next Substack. Stay tuned.
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