Personal Safety, Awareness, Self
Defense and Firearm Training

Is there a connection between the number of guns and violent crime?

There have always been strong feelings on both sides of the answer to this question. Some argue that by increasing the difficulty for citizens to gain firearms, you will also reduce the level of crimes committed by firearms. Others argue that by increasing the number of legally owned firearms, you reduce the overall crime rate. Regardless of which side of the answer you come down on, the National Rifle Association (NRA) published an interesting article this week about guns and crime in 2009:

http://www.nraila.org/Legislation/Federal/Read.aspx?id=5268

According to the article, the FBI’s Preliminary Uniform Crime Report for 2009 showed that the number of murders decreased dramatically in the first six months of 2009 (see http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/2009prelimsem/index.html).

The NRA asserts that this decrease in violent crime occurred in a timeframe where firearms, ammunition, and gun ownership reached an all-time high:

“For the better part of the last 15 months, firearms, ammunition, and “large” ammunition magazines have been sold in what appear to be record quantities.”

Whatever your personal feelings on gun ownership may be, these are thought-provoking statistics.  The numbers seem to suggest that more guns need not necessarily equate to more violence.

To the contrary, it appears that a well-armed society, where individuals assume a measure of responsibility for their own safety, may in fact be a safer society for all citizens.

Think of  this question from a criminal’s point of view.  If you have the choice to commit a carjacking in rural Texas, where every pickup truck has a shotgun on a rack in the back window, or in Washington DC where firearms are illegal to be carried concealed, which state would you choose?

As you can see from two posts ago, I would feel safer surrounded by weapons carried by responsible citizens in Texas, rather than being unarmed and surrounded by criminals with illegal weapons in Washington DC.

Please send your comments and thoughts on this article to info@sealedmindset.com, or post a comment here to lend your perspective.