MURDER CAPITALS OF AMERICA AND THEIR GUN LAWS

"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them." 
- Richard Henry Lee, a Virginia delegate to the Continental Congress,
in 'Federal Farmer' No. 18, January 25, 1788


"What, Sir, is the use of a militia? It is to prevent the establishment of a standing army, the bane of liberty .... Whenever Governments mean to invade the rights and liberties of the people, they always attempt to destroy the militia, in order to raise an army upon their ruins." 
- Rep. Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts, I Annals of Congress 750, August 17, 1789

A LESSON IN DATA MANIPULATION:
LOOK AT THE ABOVE CHART.
THE "A" IS FOR THE 7 STATES WITH THE STRICTEST GUN LAWS, BUT NOTICE THAT THE "HIGHEST" RATE OF THE ONE STATE (WHICH IS MARYLAND, BTW) IS HIGHER THAN ALL BUT 1 OF THE 4 STATES THAT GOT A GRADE "B", AND IS HIGHER THAN ALL BUT 2 STATES THAT RECEIVED A GRADE "C", IS HIGHER THAN ALL BUT 2 STATES THAT SCORED A GRADE "D", AND IS AS HIGH AS OR HIGHER THAN 6 STATES WHO RECEIVED A "FAILING GRADE OF "F".

THIS MEANS THAT THE STATEMENT "states with stronger laws have fewer gun deaths" MADE BY THE "LAW CENTER TO PREVENT GUN VIOLENCE" IS...FALSE.
SOME STATES WITH "STRONGER" LAWS HAVE FEWER GUN DEATHS, ONLY SOME.
AND SOME STATES WITH "LOOSE" GUN LAWS HAVE FEWER DEATHS THAN THOSE WITH "STRONG" ONES.

IT APPEARS THAT STATES WITH A GRADE OF "C" OR "D" ARE FARING QUITE WELL, TOO, WHEN WE COMPARE THE "As" TO THE "Bs" AND "Cs".
EIGHT STATES WITH AN "F" GRADE SEEM TO BE HOLDING THEIR OWN AGAINST THE "A" STATE MARYLAND.
MAYBE THAT SWEEPING GENERALIZATION ABOUT STRICT GUN LAW STATES SHOULD BE REASSESSED?
LET'S BE HONEST, AT LEAST.

WHY MANIPULATE DATA AND LIE WHEN THE FACTS ARE OBVIOUS?
 

IS THE ABOVE STATEMENT TRUE? THINK CAREFULLY... DO CRIMINALS APPLY FOR GUN PERMITS, OR LEGALLY ACQUIRE GUNS?
WOULD A CRIMINAL SUBMIT TO A BACKGROUND CHECK?
DOES ANYONE OUT TO COMMIT A CRIME GIVE ONE HOT DAMN ABOUT THE LAW, ANY LAW?

MOST VIOLENT GUN CRIMES ARE COMMITTED BY THOSE PREVIOUSLY ARRESTED AND BY CONVICTED FELONS, CONVICTED PRIOR TO THE NEW CRIME.
WOULD ANYONE WHO NEEDED A GUN TO COMMIT A CRIME OR ANY FELON WALK INTO A GUN STORE TO BUY ONE?

WHAT THE 'LAW CENTER' BLATANTLY LEAVES OUT OF THEIR 'REPORT'...
Sixty-seven percent (67%) of murderers and 73% of those convicted of robbery or assault had prior convictions.

SOURCE:
U.S. Department of Justice
Office of Justice Programs
Bureau of Justice Statistics
Special Report
"Violent Felons in Large Urban Counties", July 2006

An estimated 70% of violent felons in the 75 largest counties had been arrested
previously.
Seventy percent of violent felons had a prior arrest record, and 57% had at least one prior arrest for a felony.
Sixty-seven percent of murderers and 73% of those convicted of robbery or assault had an arrest record.
* A majority (56%) of violent felons had a prior conviction record.

NOW ASK YOURSELVES: 
Since the majority of violent crimes are committed in large urban counties and are committed by those with prior police records, how many of those do you think will try to obtain a gun legally?

SO, NO, UNIVERSAL BACKGROUND CHECKS WOULD BE ACCEPTABLE TO LAW-ABIDING CITIZENS AND MOST AMERICANS AGREE TO HAVE THOSE DONE, BUT CRIMINALS WON'T.

NOT UNIVERSAL BACKGROUND CHECKS, NOT MANDATORY PERMITS, NOT ANYTHING WILL KEEP A CRIMINAL, INTENT ON OBTAINING A GUN, FROM GETTING ONE

"WHERE GUNS ARE BANNED, ONLY CRIMINALS WILL HAVE GUNS" IS OFTEN QUOTED BY THOSE WHO WISH TO OWN GUNS, BUT THE ORIGINAL QUOTE WAS EITHER THIS...

"The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws of such a nature. They disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes.... Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man."
- Thomas Jefferson, Commonplace Book (quoting 18th century criminologist Cesare Beccaria), 1774-1776  

OR THIS...
"Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed, as they are in almost every country in Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops."
- Noah Webster, An Examination of the Leading Principles of the Federal Constitution, October 10, 1787

THOSE STATEMENTS ARE BY MEN WHO HELPED FRAME THE CONSTITUTION AND THE BILL OF RIGHTS.
IT NEEDS NO "INTERPRETATION" AS ALL MADE IT CLEAR... AMERICANS MUST KEEP AND BEAR ARMS.

AND THEN CAME THE MODERN-DAY TAKE-OFF ON THAT:

“When guns are outlawed, only the Government will have guns. The Government - and a few outlaws. If that happens, you can count me among the outlaws.”
― Edward Abbey


CHICAGO, JULY 4th WEEKEND, 2017, 102 SHOT, 14 DEAD.
"That's not adding people that are fighting for their life in the hospital now who may be on life support and might succumb to their injuries," said Andrew Holmes, a community activist.
"It sends a bad message - that we have a lot of illegal guns on the street." Holmes said.

[ONE NEWS SOURCE SAYS 15 DEAD.]
Police said most of the shootings happened Monday night on the South and West sides of the city and said they believe several of the shootings were motivated by gang retaliation.
Alcohol was a factor in many others.

IS ANYONE CALLING FOR THE FEDS TO BAN GANG MEMBERSHIP OR BAN ALCOHOL AGAIN?
NOPE.

Chicago Police have contended that gang members face worse sanctions from their gangs for losing a gun than they do by the courts for illegally possessing one.

WHATEVER THE REASON, IN 2016, CHICAGO SAW A SHARP RISE IN ITS MURDER RATE, FROM 485 IN 2015 TO 764 IN 2016.    

CHICAGO GUN LAWS, NOT THE 'STRICTEST IN THE NATION', BUT CLOSE:
-You need a Firearm Owner Identification card to buy rifles, shotguns and handguns.
-NO open carry.
-The state police issue licenses for the concealed carry of handguns to qualified applicants age 21 or older who pass a 16-hour training course. However, any law enforcement agency can object to an individual being granted a license "based upon a reasonable suspicion that the applicant is a danger to himself or herself or others, or a threat to public safety".

-ALL "assault weapons" are banned.

-Possession of automatic firearms, short-barreled shotguns, or sound suppressors, sound moderators, or silencers is prohibited.

-Preemption for the regulation of handguns and handgun ammunition, and for the transportation of all firearms. Preemption for laws regulating assault weapons
-Preemption overrides the home rule guideline.

-Some local jurisdictions have enacted various magazine capacity restrictions.

-Illinois has state preemption for the transportation of any firearm and ammunition.
-A gun owner can be charged with a crime if a minor under the age of 14 gains access to their firearm when it is unsecured (i.e. not locked in a box or secured with a trigger lock) and causes death or great bodily harm.

-Air guns that are larger than .18 caliber and that have a muzzle velocity greater than 700 feet per second are also regulated as firearms.
-Chicago formerly prohibited the sale of firearms within city limits, but on January 6, 2014, a federal judge ruled that this was unconstitutional.
The judge granted the city's request for six months to pass new laws regulating gun shops.
-On June 25, 2014, the city council passed a new law, allowing gun stores but restricting them to certain limited areas of the city, requiring that all gun sales be videotaped, and limiting buyers to one gun per 30-day period.

-Store owners must make their records available to the police, and employees must be trained to identify possible straw purchasers.
With the passage of the gun shop ordinance, Chicago also struck a previous ban on the transfer of ammunition.
-On January 18, 2017, a federal appeals court ruled that the city's revised gun shop law was unconstitutional.

HOW MANY IN ILLINOIS ADHERE TO THIS ADDITIONAL WEAPONS LAW, DO YOU THINK?

In Illinois it is illegal to possess a switchblade, throwing star, or ballistic knife. A knife with a blade more than three inches in length is considered a dangerous weapon, and it is illegal to carry such a knife with an intent to inflict harm on another person's well-being.
Some local governments have knife laws that are more restrictive than those of the state.
In Chicago it is illegal to carry a knife with a blade more than two-and-a-half inches in length.

THAT'S THE "BASIC" LAW, BUT THERE ARE MANY OTHER 'RESTRICTIONS' IN LOCAL ORDINANCES.  

STATES WITH "LOOSEST" GUN LAWS    
Determining who has the strictest and loosest gun laws isn’t a straightforward task.
Nonetheless, several organizations track and monitor state laws on guns.
To develop this list of states with relatively loose gun laws, we looked at sources like the 2015 Gun Law State Scorecard, produced by the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, Guns & Ammo’s 2015 ranking of the best states for gun owners, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence’s State Scorecard, and the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action.

Based on that information, these seven states have some of the fewest restrictions on guns in the U.S.:1.ARIZONA
2.ALASKA
3.WYOMING
4.VERMONT
5.KANSAS
6.KENTUCKY
7.MISSISSIPPI
UTAH SOMETIMES MAKES THIS LIST, DEPENDING ON WHAT SOURCE YOU CHOOSE.
PLEASE KEEP THESE 7 IN MIND AS WE SEE WHICH CITIES HAD THE HIGHEST 'GUN VIOLENCE' IN 2015-2016.

Feb 7th 2017
After steadily falling for a quarter-century, the NATIONAL homicide rate jumped by 11% in 2015.
Last year, an escalation of gang violence in Chicago increased the number of killings there from 485 to 764.

Chicago had the most murders of any U.S. city in 2016, but the city’s murder rate of roughly 28 per 100,000 residents likely “only” ranked 8th.

BUT THAT SAME ARTICLE STATES THAT...
St. Louis, Missouri has had the country’s highest murder rate each year since 2014.

Baltimore, Maryland likely had the country’s second-highest murder rate for the second-consecutive year with roughly 52 murders per 100,000 residents, with Detroit, New Orleans and Cleveland probably rounding out the top five.

MISSOURI?
YES, IT IS AN "F" STATE.

MARYLAND?
VERY STRICT GUN LAWS.
MARYLAND HAS AN "A-" RANKING FOR STRINGENT GUN LAWS AND MANDATORY BACKGROUND CHECKS.

IN MARYLAND, a person must submit their fingerprints to the police department when trying to purchase a handgun. In order to get a license, they require that someone provides actual evidence that they need a firearm to protect themselves.

DETROIT, MICHIGAN?
MICHIGAN GOT A "C" RANKING AND HAS MANDATORY BACKGROUND CHECKS.

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA?
LOUISIANA WAS AN "F" STATE.

CLEVELAND, OHIO?
OHIO GOT A "D".

OTHER SOURCES CALL ATTENTION TO THE FOLLOWING AS HAVING VERY HIGH MURDER/HOMICIDE RATES.

CAMDEN, NEW JERSEY.
BUT NEW JERSEY IS AN "A-" STATE!
NEW JERSEY HAS MANDATORY BACKGROUND CHECKS.
America's most dangerous city Camden, New Jersey

New Jersey gun laws don't curb violence in Camden - USA Today


MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, 2016:
Milwaukee’s murder rate is the second highest in the Midwest — trailing only Detroit, Michigan.
The city’s murder rate has spiked 70.6% from half a decade ago — one of the sharpest increases of any U.S. city.

BUT WISCONSIN HAS A "C-" RANKING FOR "GOOD GUN LAWS" AND MANDATORY BACKGROUND CHECKS.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA (WASHINGTON, D.C.)
POPULATION , 670,377, MURDERS IN 2016, 162; HIGHEST MURDER RATE IN THE U.S., PER CAPITA (PER 100,000 CITIZENS) WITH 24.2%.


Washington D.C.’s murder rate is on the rise. The 162 murders in the city last year represented a 50.0% increase from 2011 and a 54.3% spike from 2014.
Of the all the murders that took place in the District of Columbia last year, only 29 have been solved.

YET D.C. HAS TIGHTER GUN CONTROL THAN CHICAGO!
AND D.C. HAS MANDATORY BACKGROUND CHECKS.

In Washington, D.C., all firearms must be registered with the police, by the terms of the Firearms Control Regulations Act of 1975. The same law also prohibited the possession of handguns, even in private citizens' own homes, unless they were registered before 1976.
However, the handgun ban was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in the 2008 case District of Columbia v. Heller. The Supreme Court ruled that the Second Amendment acknowledges and guarantees the right of the individual to possess and carry firearms, and therefore D.C.'s ban on handguns was unconstitutional.

THE D.C. LAW AS IT STANDS: In addition to each firearm being registered with the police, the rules require that D.C. residents undergo an NCIC background check and submit to fingerprinting. The firearms registry photographs the applicant. Residents must take an online gun safety course. Residents must also declare at what address it will be kept. There is a 10-day waiting period from purchase of firearm to possession, and a 30-day period between purchases of successive handguns. Each firearm is registered to an individual only, meaning couples who wish to own firearms must purchase two separate firearms.Handgun models are limited to any handgun appearing on any one of the California, Massachusetts, Maryland or DC Police "approved rosters" by make/model.

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA
Philadelphia had 280 homicides last year, more than in all but half a dozen other U.S. cities.
By the beginning of 2016, nearly half of the city’s murders from the previous year remained unsolved.
City officials have blamed the poor homicide arrest rate on the city’s “stop snitching” culture, which originated in Baltimore and is designed to discourage cooperation with police investigations.

PENNSYLVANIA WAS RANKED AS A "C" STATE AND REQUIRES BACKGROUND CHECKS.

CRIME RATES OR MURDER RATES, WHICHEVER WE CHOOSE, BOTH ARE ON THE RISE.
St. Louis, Missouri has struggled with a high crime rate since the 1960s and today has the highest violent crime rate of any U.S. city. There were 1,817 violent crimes reported per 100,000 St. Louis residents in 2015, nearly five times the national rate.

There were 1,708 violent crimes reported per 100,000 in Wilmington, Delaware in 2015, the fifth highest violent crime rate of any U.S. city.

YET DELAWARE HAS STRICT GUN LAWS,  A "B" RANKING AND MANDATORY BACKGROUND CHECKS.

HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT.
There were 1,141 violent crimes per 100,000 residents in Hartford, Connecticut in 2015, one of the worst violent crime rates of any city.
CONNECTICUT RANKED AN "A-" AND HAS MANDATORY BACKGROUND CHECKS.
There were 1,596 violent crimes for every 100,000 city residents in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 2015, more than triple the violent crime rate in the next most dangerous Wisconsin city and the sixth-highest violent crime rate of U.S. cities.

Due in part to the city’s high crime rate, Milwaukee was one of a handful of U.S. cities selected in 2016 to receive federal assistance to reduce violence.

BUT BACK TO CHICAGO...
Police also point to the fact that most guns used in Chicago crimes are bought outside the city or even the state.
"MOST GUNS USED IN CHICAGO CRIMES"?
ALL CRIMES?
MURDERS/HOMICIDES ONLY?
"MOST GUNS" AREN'T RECOVERED BECAUSE "MOST" CRIMES ARE NOT SOLVED.

Chicago Police Solved Just 26 Percent of the City's 472 Homicides in 2015

90% Of Shootings UNSOLVED In Chicago!


Aug 24, 2016, Reuters News
Chicago's murder clearance rate, a measurement of solved and closed cases, is one of the country's lowest, another sign of problems besetting police in the third biggest city in the United States.
Last year, Chicago police had 480 murder cases and solved 223 murders that had been committed IN 2015 OR BEFORE, for a clearance rate of 46 percent.

Chicago, with a population of 2.7 million, has more shootings and homicides than any other U.S. city, according to FBI and Chicago police data, and more shootings by law enforcement than other major cities, according to police department figures on officer-involved shootings compiled by Reuters. Its police department is under federal investigation for the use of lethal force by its officers.

One detective who retired two months ago said investigators are overwhelmed. "You get so many cases you could not do an honest investigation on three-quarters of them," he said in an interview.

SO, NO, THERE IS NO WAY FOR THE STATEMENT "MOST GUNS ARE BOUGHT OUTSIDE CHICAGO" TO BE TRUE,
"MOST" CRIMINALS ARE STILL OUT THERE. ...WITH THEIR GUNS.

BESIDES, MANY "ILLEGAL GUNS" HAVE THE IDENTIFYING NUMBERS FILED AWAY, ERASED, SO HOW DID THEY MANAGE TO TRACK DOWN THOSE FEW GUNS THEY MAY HAVE CONFISCATED WITH NO IDENTIFIABLE CLUES ON THEM?
THEY COULD NOT MAKE A TRULY HONEST STATEMENT ABOUT THE ORIGIN OF "MOST" GUNS, SO WHY DID THEY?
OBVIOUSLY,THIS IS A BIT OF A STRETCH, MAYBE EVEN A HOPE, BUT WHY?

I WOULD HAZARD A GUESS THAT THERE IS ALMOST NO STREET IN CHICAGO WHERE YOU CAN'T BUY A GUN, IF YOU KNOW WHO'S SELLING THEM.

IT'S THE SAME IN JUST ABOUT EVERY TOWN IN AMERICA.
CRIMINALS FIND WAYS TO ACQUIRE GUNS THAT LAW-ABIDING CITIZENS DO NOT KNOW EXIST.

Another detective who retired this year said an even bigger problem was the fear of gangs.

"People see homicides but they are afraid to get involved," he said. "Detectives are out on an island. No one wants to help them."

According to Chicago police data, 61 percent of homicides last year were gang related, the highest proportion for at least 10 years. Intelligence-gathering can be difficult.


YOU SEE, IT DOES NOT TURN OUT THAT STRICT GUN LAWS, MANDATORY BACKGROUND CHECKS, A STRONG POLICE FORCE, OR AN "A" GRADE RANKING STOPS CRIMES OF VIOLENCE OR CRIMES COMMITTED WITH GUNS.
THAT IS A NICE FAIRY TALE, THAT STRICT GUN LAWS DETER GUN VIOLENCE, BUT COMPLETELY UNREALISTIC AND UNPROVABLE BECAUSE SUCH A THING DOES NOT EXIST.

AMERICA HAS A CRIMINAL ELEMENT AND IT ISN'T GOING AWAY, ONLY INCREASING EACH YEAR.
IF EVERY STATE CONFISCATED EVERY GUN FROM EVERY PERSON TODAY, BEFORE THE SUN RISES TOMORROW, CRIMINALS WHO WANTED THEM WOULD HAVE GUNS.
CRIMINALS KNOW HOW TO OBTAIN "ILLEGAL WEAPONS"...AVERAGE CITIZEN DOES NOT.
WHO LOSES?
AVERAGE, LAW-ABIDING CITIZEN.
WHAT IS AN UNARMED CITIZEN?
A TARGET FOR CRIME...AND A SLAVE TO A WELL-ARMED GOVERNMENT.

"A free people ought not only to be armed, but disciplined..."
- George Washington, First Annual Address, to both House of Congress, January 8, 1790



"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms."
- Thomas Jefferson, Virginia Constitution, Draft 1, 1776


"On every occasion [of Constitutional interpretation] let us carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying [to force] what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or invented against it, [instead let us] conform to the probable one in which it was passed."
- Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Johnson, 12 June 1823.

"Guard with jealous attention the public liberty.
Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel.
Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force.
Whenever you give up that force, you are ruined....
The great object is that every man be armed.
Everyone who is able might have a gun."
- Patrick Henry, Speech to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 5, 1778





//WW