WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Gun-related homicides and other crimes involving guns have fallen sharply over the last two decades in the United States, but most Americans believe firearms crime is higher now than 20 years ago, according to an analysis and a separate poll released on Tuesday.
Some 11,101 gun-related homicides were reported in the United States in 2011, a figure that is down 39 percent from the 1993 peak, the Justice Department reported. Nonfatal firearm crimes declined by 69 percent to 467,300 in the same period.
Amid an intense national debate about gun control - which flared anew in the wake of a December shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, that left 26 people dead - some 56 percent of Americans believe that gun crime is higher now than it was 20 years ago, the Pew Research Center said its poll showed.
Only 12 percent of Americans realize that gun crimes have fallen, the center said in a statement. The Pew survey was based on a March 14-17 survey of 924 adults and had a margin of error of 3.9 percentage points.
The drop in gun crime mirrors a general fall in U.S. violent crime. The Justice Department study found that for fatal and nonfatal firearm crimes, most of the decline occurred from 1993 to 2002.
In 2011, about 70 percent of homicides and 8 percent of nonfatal violent crimes, such as rape, sexual assault, robbery and aggravated assault, were committed with a firearm, mainly a handgun.
From 2007 to 2011, about 1 percent of victims in nonfatal violent crimes reported using a firearm to defend themselves.
The Justice Department findings were based on data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics National Crime Victimization Survey, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, and the Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System.
Politicians are distorting facts to trick the public into supporting their own agendas? SHOCKER!
21st-century-classical-liberal:
if there are any followers here who are regular posters in the gunblr tag feel free to say hi
I post all gun and gun law content on my other tumblr these days: http://gunsgeargallantry.tumblr.com/
I’d have no problem with Jim Carrey’s Cold Dead Hand video if it were actually funny instead of being a 6 minute ad hominem attack on gun owners, southern culture and penis capacity.
“In my perfect future, homosexuals can not only marry, they can defend their marijuana fields themselves with fully automatic assault rifles!” - Austin Petersen
Nailed it.
At long last, MSNBC gives us some real news that we can all use!
I happened, per chance, to be flipping through the channels last night when I came upon MSNBC’s Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell. This final bit of the program had to do with the fact that, according to O’Donnell, the “assault weapons” ban that was dropped in the Senate earlier this week is not really dead yet and there is still hope for the ban to be included in a future Senate bill!According to O’Donnell, the plan to introduce this legislative ban is a simple one: simply add it as an Amendment and have the Senate vote on it. The interesting thing about this is that THIS IS EXACTLY what Feinstein did in 1993 with the original assault weapons ban!
According to O’Donnell:
“…The question is always the same: what happens to a bill if a certain controversial provision is in it from the start and what happens if it’s left out? And, leaving it out does not mean the controversial provision won’t end up in the bill through the amendment process, which is exactly how Dianne Feinstein’s original assault weapons ban ended up in the Crime Bill in 1993…Senator Dianne Feinstein offered it as an amendment on the Senate floor and argued her case and, in on November 16th 1993, there was a roll call on the Senate floor and Dianne Feinstein’s amendment #1152 to the Crime Bill and the Feinstein Assault Weapons Ban passed with 56 votes…”
In other words, to pass a ban on firearms, the democrats in the Senate will add it as an amendment to - more than likely - a popular bill and, as soon as the GOP members refuse to vote on said popular bill, the democrat’s will scream: “See! We told you so! Their simply obstructionist! They refuse to vote on this bill that the American people want!” The MSM will, naturally, follow suit in portraying the importance of this popular bill and portraying the GOP as insensitive and uncaring in order to shift public sentiment towards the democrats, heck, I’m sure we’ll see Obama on TV stumping for it as well as stating that the Senate minority has to “listen to the American people” or, that the Senate GOP “has to get their priorities straight.”
Shortly thereafter, several GOP Senators will start caving in since they have - more than likely - attached riders to the popular bill that they want passed for their constituents back home. At which point, Harry Reid & Co. will legislatively sweeten the deal for the GOP Senators who may be on the fence as to whether or not they should vote for the bill with Feinstein’s weapons ban.
How do I know? That’s exactly what happened in 1993! Several of the GOP Senators that voted for the bill stated that they supported it because it would expire in 10 years, at which point, they could reevaluate the situation. Feinstein’s new ban NEVER expires, it becomes law if passed and the freedom of law-abiding citizens to purchase what ever gun they so wish to buy for their protection/hobby/collection/investment comes under governmental scrutiny.
Make sure that you know your Senator’s office number so that you can flood it with calls the moment the Senate Leftists try to take away our right to own and posses firearms.
I just puked all over myself.
Dianne Feinstein is the worst thing ever. WORST.
Picked up wifey’s new gun this weekend. She’s pretty excited to get to the range next week. @marlymar27_la #gun #guns #gunblr #handgun #ruger #sr40 #merika
How the market is disarming government
Gun manufacturers are refusing to sell or service government agencies who support the disarming of citizens.



