Gun sales surge, violent crime drops

posted at 9:13 pm on December 21, 2009 by Cassy Fiano
[ Guns ]    printer-friendly

When Obama was voted into office as president, the gun surge began. People started stocking up on their guns and ammo, mostly out of fear that Obama would start instituting anti-gun laws. The right to bear arms is one of our most cherished rights, and also one of the most attacked. Liberals just hate the thought of someone owning a gun and being able to defend themselves from a criminal… or from a tyrannical government. Part of this is because liberals are big wussies who are terrified of any thought of manly force. Another is because they can’t get the idea out of their head that holding a gun doesn’t automatically make someone a criminal. They just can’t understand that guns do not spontaneously fire without someone willingly pulling the trigger. A gun laying on a desk is harmless, until someone picks it up — but they just can’t get that.

Another thing I wonder about is if liberals don’t like the idea of people being able to protect themselves. Libs want people to be completely reliant on the government, so does that maybe factor into their paranoia about ordinary citizens owning guns? Who knows, but it’s an interesting thought.

Despite the fact that Obama has always been extremely in favor of gun control, he quickly spun that around during the election last year and has pretty much left it alone. It didn’t convince many Americans, and the gun surge continued.

Unlike what liberals would assume, though, there was also a drop in violent crime… at the same time as gun sales were skyrocketing.

Preliminary statistics released by the FBI for the first half of 2009 show that violent crime continues a downward trend that began in 2006. The figures show crime falling in all categories–robbery, aggravated assault, motor vehicle thefts, etc.–with murders down a remarkable 10 percent from the previous year.

The FBI statistics undermine a favorite argument of anti-gun groups and some mainstream media that “more guns equal more crime,” especially when you consider that the decrease in violent crime from late 2008 through the first half of 2009 occurred at the same time that firearm sales were surging.

The most popular firearms selling at that time were handguns and modern sporting rifles (AR-style rifles)–two types of firearms that anti-gunners never miss an opportunity to demonize.

This goes against everything you hear about handguns. Liberals seem to think that banning handguns would make crime disappear. In a tragic moment of irony, last year a notorious anti-gun activist was stabbed to death. It just goes to show that banning guns does nothing, nor does banning any other weapon. If someone wants to kill someone, they will find a way, even if you can’t use a gun. Heck, just look at the board game Clue. There are multiple weapons in that board game, and only one of them was a gun. So what good does banning guns really do? Even if banning guns meant that no one would use them, there are still plenty of ways that criminals could kill you. But the sad thing is, banning guns doesn’t mean that people stop using them. It means that criminals keep using them, while law-abiding citizens don’t.

A few weeks ago, someone broke into my house. I was there alone. I live with a Marine, but he can’t be there every hour of the day. In the one hour window between Matt’s departure time and mine, someone broke in. We have an alarm system and a rottweiler (who very enthusiastically tried to protect me), but he still got in, and if the burglar had a gun, what good would my rottweiler have done? Matt and I have a shotgun, and I was prepared to use it if necessary. Thankfully, I didn’t have to (my dog scared him away), but what if we didn’t have Ripley? What if we didn’t have that shotgun? When there is someone inside your house, you don’t have the luxury of waiting the five to ten minutes it takes for police to arrive. You don’t know what their intentions are or what they want to do to you. People owning guns to protect themselves is a good thing. You never think someone will actually break into your house, but trust me, it happens. And being caught defenseless is not a good thing. Owning a gun certainly does not mean you’re about to go on some sort of insane shooting spree.

But if what liberals believed about guns was true, and banning guns was necessary, then why hasn’t violent crime risen proportionately with the gun sales? Why is it that rising gun sales happened at the same time as lower crime rates?

It looks like perhaps liberals need to get their facts straight.

Hat Tip: Say Anything

Cross-posted from Cassy’s blog. Stop by for more original commentary, or follow her on Twitter!

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