CRIME RATE DOWN, GUN OWNERSHIP UP

TEN YEAR TREND. . . Gun prohibitionists at work in Congress, in state capitols and in city government in New York, San Francisco and Chicago argue that availability or even the mere presence of firearms in the community leads to crime. But government statistics clearly prove them wrong, and Investor’s Business Daily has prepared an analysis of information from the U.S. Justice Department supporting the recent findings of the National Academy of Sciences to the effect that government restriction on firearms do not have an effect on crime.

That conclusion follows a similar finding by the Centers for Disease Control in October 2003, which analyzed 51 studies to find no evidence that gun control has an effect on crime. In fact, there has been a steady decrease of violent crime, especially during the preceding ten years in America, while approximately 4.5 million new guns were sold into the marketplace each year, increasing gun ownership during the decade-long drop in crime.

During the period of decreasing violent crime, the rate of incarceration in the U.S. rose to near record levels, indicating that controlling criminals has a direct impact on crime, while gun control does not.