Doesn't seem particularly informative to compare California with "the rest of US", which includes New York, DC, etc. It would be interesting to see how much the needle moves on the "Rest of the US" sample just by removing Chicago, for example. This is hardly "proof" of anything.
"Although to their credit, more intellectually savvy right-wingers have now chosen to highlight Chicago instead of New York City as their “gun control doesn’t work” punching bag city, even this argument is problematic. While Chicago is much more dangerous than New York, making this a more promising line of argument for gun proponents, even the windy city compares favorably with many other US cities in states with weaker gun restrictions. Although Chicago does have a serious gun violence problem, it is still safer than New Orleans, Las Vegas, Miami, St. Louis, Richmond, Memphis, Atlanta, Kansas City, Baton Rouge, Jackson, Birmingham, Gulfport (MS) and Ft. Myers (FL), all cities in states with lax gun control laws.
State wide data shows that gun deaths are higher per capita in the states of Alaska, Louisiana, Wyoming, Arizona, Nevada or Mississippi, than they are in the cities of New York or Chicago. Indeed an Alaskan is four times more likely to die from gun violence than a resident of New York City. Of course these figures are when we include all forms of gun violence combining deaths by murder, suicide and accidental deaths.
However, even when we look at gun homicide rates alone neither Chicago nor New York City make it near the top of the list of most dangerous American cities. In 2011, the FBI Uniform Crime Reports reveal both New York City and Chicago had lower overall homicide rates than Atlanta, Baton Rouge, Birmingham, Danville (VA), Dayton (OH), Ft. Myers (FL), Gary (IN), Gulfport (MS), Jackson (MS), Kansas City (KS), Kansas City (MO), Little Rock, Memphis, Miami, New Orleans, North Little Rock (AR) Pine Bluff (AR), Richmond (VA), Rocky Mount (NC), St. Louis, and York (PA)."
Doesn't seem particularly informative to compare California with "the rest of US", which includes New York, DC, etc. It would be interesting to see how much the needle moves on the "Rest of the US" sample just by removing Chicago, for example. This is hardly "proof" of anything.
ReplyDeleteActually, contrary to popular perception, the numbers from both Chicago and New York support that stricter gun laws work.
Deletehttp://www.examiner.com/article/gun-rights-advocates-should-stop-using-new-york-city-and-chicago-as-examples
"Although to their credit, more intellectually savvy right-wingers have now chosen to highlight Chicago instead of New York City as their “gun control doesn’t work” punching bag city, even this argument is problematic. While Chicago is much more dangerous than New York, making this a more promising line of argument for gun proponents, even the windy city compares favorably with many other US cities in states with weaker gun restrictions. Although Chicago does have a serious gun violence problem, it is still safer than New Orleans, Las Vegas, Miami, St. Louis, Richmond, Memphis, Atlanta, Kansas City, Baton Rouge, Jackson, Birmingham, Gulfport (MS) and Ft. Myers (FL), all cities in states with lax gun control laws.
State wide data shows that gun deaths are higher per capita in the states of Alaska, Louisiana, Wyoming, Arizona, Nevada or Mississippi, than they are in the cities of New York or Chicago. Indeed an Alaskan is four times more likely to die from gun violence than a resident of New York City. Of course these figures are when we include all forms of gun violence combining deaths by murder, suicide and accidental deaths.
However, even when we look at gun homicide rates alone neither Chicago nor New York City make it near the top of the list of most dangerous American cities. In 2011, the FBI Uniform Crime Reports reveal both New York City and Chicago had lower overall homicide rates than Atlanta, Baton Rouge, Birmingham, Danville (VA), Dayton (OH), Ft. Myers (FL), Gary (IN), Gulfport (MS), Jackson (MS), Kansas City (KS), Kansas City (MO), Little Rock, Memphis, Miami, New Orleans, North Little Rock (AR) Pine Bluff (AR), Richmond (VA), Rocky Mount (NC), St. Louis, and York (PA)."
Sorry akremer, you're wrong. Try again.