Cato Daily Dispatch
August 25, 2003
http://www.cato.org/
http://www.cato.org/dispatch/08-25-03d.html

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VIOLENT CRIME AT 30-YEAR LOW

“All the indicators, from the sagging economy to the increase in newly
released ex-cons on the street, had led many criminologists to predict the
crime rate would go up. But it’s not – at least according to the National
Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), released Sunday by the Bureau of Justice
Statistics. It found that violent crime and property crime are at a low not
seen since 1973,” reports the Christian Science Monitor (
http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0825/p01s01-usju.html ).

“In 2002, there were 23 violent crimes per 1,000 people, compared with 25
victimizations per 1,000 people in 2001. A decade ago, the victimization
rate was twice as high, meaning there’s been a 54 percent drop in violent
crime since 1993.”

In “Fighting Back: Crime, Self-Defense, and the Right to Carry a Handgun”, (
http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-284.html ) attorney Jeffrey R. Snyder
writes that “shall-issue” concealed-carry gun laws may be one way of curbing
violent crime.

“Citizens have the right to defend themselves against criminal attack-?and
that the last thing government ought to be doing is stripping its citizens
of the most effective means by which they can defend themselves,” says
Snyder. “Carrying a handgun in public may not be for everyone, but it is a
right that government ought to respect.”