My Daughter Has Better Research Skills Than This Guy

The Crime Report has this article from Mansfield Frazier, who serves as the executive director of Neighborhood Solutions, Inc. in Cleveland.  The title of the article is "It's Time for Single Issue Politics on Guns."  As most gun ban activist, Frazier talks about how few crimes are committed with firearms in foreign countries:

And for those gun lovers who contend we really don’t have a gun problem in this country (they persistently and loudly shout “guns don’t kill people, people kill people”) consider what David Sessions recently wrote in The Daily Beast.

“In Britain in 2008, there were 39 gun murders; in the U.S. in 2009, there were 9,146—that’s right, even adjusted for our larger population, the American rate is 47 times higher,” Sessions wrote.

“Japan’s recent gun bans have virtually eliminated gun murder in their country. In our country, the states with the strictest gun laws have the lowest rates of gun crime.”

First, let me tackle that generalization about the states with the strictest gun laws have the lowest rates of gun crime.  Maryland has much stricter gun laws than Virgina, but has a higher rate of violent crime than Virginia.  The number of violent crimes per 100,000 people was also higher in California, NY, and CT, all states with stricter gun laws than Virginia (I just picked these and it is not an all inclusive list).  Yes, I know Sessions said "gun crime" but if a criminal is using violence against me, I don't care if he is using a gun, a knife, or a baseball bat, he is still committing a violent crime against me.

Secondly, all of these people conveniently fail to talk about the overall crime rate in those countries.  So, let's take a look at Britain.  Last month, John Lott pointed out this tidbit of information via a 2009 Daily Mail article.  It corresponds to the same time frame that Sessions used.

Official crime figures show the UK also has a worse rate for all types of violence than the U.S. and even South Africa - widely considered one of the world's most dangerous countries.

The figures comes on the day new Home Secretary Alan Johnson makes his first major speech on crime, promising to be tough on loutish behaviour.

And what do those figures show?

The figures, compiled from reports released by the European Commission and United Nations, also show:

• The UK has the second highest overall crime rate in the EU.
• It has a higher homicide rate than most of our western European neighbours, including France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
• The UK has the fifth highest robbery rate in the EU.
• It has the fourth highest burglary rate and the highest absolute number of burglaries in the EU, with double the number of offences than recorded in Germany and France.

But it is the naming of Britain as the most violent country in the EU that is most shocking. The analysis is based on the number of crimes per 100,000 residents.

In the UK, there are 2,034 offences per 100,000 people, way ahead of second-placed Austria with a rate of 1,677.

So, all is not well in the UK even without firearms.

But that isn't the only example of Frazier's lack of basic research skills.  He ends talking about how we have to end the "widespread possession of automatic weapons."  Problem is, none of the incidents he cites were committed with automatic weapons, nor is there "widespread possession" of such firearms as they are heavily regulated.

One would think The Crime Report would have a higher standard of credibility for the articles they share with the criminal justice community.

Virginia Shows Nation How to Keep Communities Safe

It never fails that when a violent crime takes place, or a police officer is shot, more times than not, it is a repeat offender that committed the crime, someone that should have never been on the street.

The Washington Post reported last month that a study released by the Pew Center on the States indicates that other states could learn something from Virginia.

How Virginia has achieved lower-than-average recidivism rates is difficult to pin down, experts said. One likely factor, though, is lack of parole.

The state did away with parole in 1995 after get-tough-on-crime initiatives by then-Gov. George Allen (R). Prisoners are required to serve at least 85 percent of their sentences. By keeping prisoners behind bars longer, the effect is to “age them out of their crime-prone years,” said Brian Ostrom, a researcher for the National Center for State Courts who has extensively studied Virginia’s prison system.

It just shows that keeping violent criminals behind bars reduces crime, and makes communities safer.

Wytheville Woman Sues town, County Over Husband's Shooting

The Roanoke Times story can be found here. Basically, it appears from the article that the women and her husband had been promised that the killer, Douglas Albert Jaccard, would not be released on bond after having been arrested on indecent liberties charges. The suit claims that the intake magistrate noted Jaccard was:

angry and paranoid and likely to attempt to obstruct justice or threaten, injure or intimidate a witness, juror or victim.

It appears the magistrate presumed correctly. Joseph Bane, and Jerry Covey were shot by Jaccard, a neighbor on Dyer Road in the Barren Springs community in Wythe County in 2008, two days before he was scheduled for a hearing on the indecent liberties charges. After he shot Bane and Covey, Jaccard burned down the Banes' house. During the manhunt, he shot at deputies.

Jaccard was originally held without bond based on the magistrate's note but later, Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Frank Slavin, who is named in the lawsuit, agreed to a $10,000 bond in August of 2008. Banes' widow claims they were not notified and that the Commomwealth's Attorney's office did not take proper precautions or impose sufficient conditions when granting the bond.

This is a sad story that is repeated far to often in large cities around the country. A repeat offender is given bond, or worse, given light sentences only to create more mayhem. It is not a story you hear as often in small towns in rural America like Wytheville or Wythe County.

Jaccard was sentenced to in March to five life terms and 48 years in prison -- one life term each for first-degree murder, burglary, arson and two counts of attempted capital murder; 20 years for malicious wounding; three years for each of four counts of using a firearm in the commission of a felony; five years for possessing a firearm as a convicted felon; five years for possessing explosive materials as a convicted felon; and three years each for two counts of taking indecent liberties with a minor for propositioning a teenage boy.

More Guns Equal Less Crime

We all know that firearms sales have been through the roof since last October. That means there were more guns in the hands of law abiding citizens in 2008 than in 2007. The FBI released preliminary violent crime statistics yesterday and guess what - violent crime was down in 2008 from 2007.

FBI: Violent crime dropped in 2008, preliminary data show:
U.S. violent crime in 2008 dropped 2.5 percent from 2007;
Murders declined 4.4 percent but rose in towns of fewer than 10,000 people;
Drop in violent crime would be third consecutive year-to-year decline;
Violent crime in the United States has largely been on the decline over the past two decades. In 2005, however, a surprising increase prompted headlines of an end to the drop in violence. Monday's figures show that the downward trend has resumed. After the 2005 violent crime increase of 2.3 percent, the figures increased only 1.9 percent in 2006 and then dropped 0.7 percent in 2007 before the decline of 2.5 percent in the preliminary 2008 figures.

More bad news for the statists who want to limit our firearm freedom. Crime decreases while firearm ownership increases. Kind of hard to sell gun control as a solution to violent crime when it is decreasing.