Newsflash: Criminals, it seems, don’t obey laws.

Another leftist bugaboo that leads people astray: gun control.

A 1997 Justice Department report on murders in the U.S. shows that our country has a murder rate of seven victims per 100,000 population per year. There are a number of well-known examples of countries with more liberal gun laws and lower murder rates than the U.S. One is Finland, with a murder rate of 2.9. Israel is another example; although its population is heavily armed, Israel's murder rate is only 1.4. In Switzerland, gun ownership is a way of life. Its murder rate is 2.7.

By contrast, consider Brazil. All firearms in Brazil must be registered with the government. This registration process can take anywhere from 30 days to three months. All civilian handguns are limited in caliber to no more than 9mm. All rifles must fire handgun ammunition only. Brazilians may only buy one gun per year. At any one time, they may only have in their possession a maximum of six guns: two handguns, two rifles and two shotguns. To transport their guns, citizens must obtain a special police permit. CCW permits are available but are rarely issued.

Therefore, it should not be a revelation to anyone that Brazil has a thriving black market in guns. Virtually any type of gun is available, for a price. Incidentally, Brazil's murder rate is 19 victims per 100,000 population per year.

It's a strange obsession for "the world" to have. The irony is that most murder in the US is in the cities that have stringent gun control (on those seeking to legally register weapons) - a few to be specific: Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago, New York City, Washington DC, and Atlanta. They have gun control laws because murders were numerous and frightened people who needed to see something done about it. They rose because this convinced cagey malcontents that crime was much easier when decent people couldn’t have them. Strangely enough, if police numbers and powers could solve such a problem, why are there still murders in a police states like Cuba which has a higher murder rate than the US does?

The former Soviet state of Lithuania is now an independent democratic country. But it still retains some vestiges of Stalinism. Lithuania's citizens must obtain a police permit to buy a gun. All guns are registered with the government. Somehow these restrictions are not deterring the criminal element; Lithuania has an unenviable murder rate of 11.7.

That notwithstanding, study after study is commissioned. Surprised to find that 51 studies did not prove the conclusions that they want, they continue to grope for a reason to believe that the gun, not the absent morality of the murderer is at fault.

Oddly enough, there are much higher violent crime rates in many parts of the world, but to my memory, the BBC hasn’t run a ‘global call in’ show about them, but will do so regularly for a well publicized murder in the United States. The only thing missing is doing it with relish, but they reserve that for the callers.

Consider how dwelling on handguns can be more of a distraction to controlling crime that a benefit:

An estimated 24.3% of the 1,430,693 violent crimes (murder, aggravated assault, rape, and robbery) committed in the United States in 1999 were committed with a firearm.

Leaving 75.7% of all other violent crimes that don't involve a firearm. Anti-gun types who convince themselves of all manner of things then have to then find causes other than "the gun did it."
The distraction presented by the gun to Pavlov’s dog convinces him that guns are somehow not a means, but the inspiration to the crime instead.
The malice and nihilism, the amoral nature of the unparented, all the genuine causes of crime are forgotten. After all, these are the same folks who see incarceration or any other sort of punishment itself as a violation of people. They are the sort of people who wonder why crime rates deom "in spite of filling prisons."


Stop it. You’re killing me.


All of these countries have gun control laws.