TLDR Version -
1) Conceal Carry laws have either no effect or very small effect deterring crime.
2) gun ownership and gun violence have high positive correlation.1) Conceal Carry laws have either no effect or very small effect deterring crime.
3) Gun ownership and general violence have high positive correlation.
4) Florida is a sucky state to live in violence wise5) at least we dont live in Alaska.
Detailed Info(read if you are pro gun, its more favorable to you than you expect)
(all data linked at bottom)
Lots of people have pointed to a recent study showing more deaths in summer time linking it to being social and out in the warm weather.... which does not explain Alaska which is both the most violent state overall and the state with the highest rate of gun deaths and cold and the fewest people per square mile (1.3). As apposed to Hawaii which is both the least violent and has the lowest overall gun death rate, as well as lowest raw number of gun deaths, and is warm and reasonable densely populated (218.6/sq mile)..... What about Conceal Carry Laws? Turns out, no one really knows (circa 2011). The biggest proponents say it has a small but measurable impact. The biggest detractors say it has no measurable impact. No one has linked it to higher crime rates but all links to lower crime rates are suspect. The best science can really say is that it does not seem to have any effect PROBABLY because the majority of CC licenses are taken out by upper class white men with little reason to draw who frequent safe neighborhoods and are rarely mugged.
Multiple new studies have found a more convincing link between high gun ownership and high violent crime.
"A new study, however, throws cold water on the idea that a well-armed populace deters criminals or prevents murders. Instead, higher ownership of guns in a state is linked to more firearm robberies, more firearm assaults and more homicide in general. [5 Milestones in Gun Control History]"
"A new study, however, throws cold water on the idea that a well-armed populace deters criminals or prevents murders. Instead, higher ownership of guns in a state is linked to more firearm robberies, more firearm assaults and more homicide in general. [5 Milestones in Gun Control History]"
However even these studies admit that its correlation, not causation:
"The results do need to be interpreted with caution — this study method proves that more guns are linked to more gun crime and overall homicide, but not that access to guns directly causes this criminal uptick, said study researcher David Hemenway, the director of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center."
"The results do need to be interpreted with caution — this study method proves that more guns are linked to more gun crime and overall homicide, but not that access to guns directly causes this criminal uptick, said study researcher David Hemenway, the director of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center."
Very interesting, those numbers
Gun related non-fatal injuries have been on the rise for years:"There were 55,544 non-fatal injuries in 2011 resulting from assaults involving guns — up from 53,738 in 2010 and 44,466 in 2009, the CDC's database shows. Since 2001, the rate of gun injuries is the second highest in 11 years when adjusted for population."
"Information collected regarding types of weapons used in violent crime showed that firearms were used in 67.9 percent of the nation's murders, 40.3 percent of robberies, and 22.5 percent of aggravated assaults. (Weapons data are not collected for rape.) (See Expanded Homicide Data Table 7, Robbery Table 3, and the Aggravated Assault Table)"
To be fair I found a number of opinion pieces that stated high gun ownership is correlated with low crime, however not a single one of them cited sources, used the CDC or FBI, or in fact did more than give an opinion..... I left them out.
I
I Was UNABLE to find an article that gave sources to show guns and high crime were not correlated.
The ten states with the toughest gun laws according to a randomly chosen news site are listed here with their ranking (higher number is safer) and gun mortality rates per 100000 people.
PA 27th 11.2
MD 35th 9.7
IL 40th 8.6
CA 42nd 7.7
NJ 45th 4.7
RI 46th 5.3
CT 47th 4.4
NY 48th 4.2
MA 49th 3.1
HI 50th 2.6
PA 27th 11.2
MD 35th 9.7
IL 40th 8.6
CA 42nd 7.7
NJ 45th 4.7
RI 46th 5.3
CT 47th 4.4
NY 48th 4.2
MA 49th 3.1
HI 50th 2.6
Again, a nice neat and somewhat interesting correlation, not causation.
and of course Florida is #23 with 11.9 deaths per 100000.
and just for the fun of it, here is another random news website ranking the most dangerous states to live in (alaska is number one....always) and FL come sin number 9, with a really dumb theory on why:
9. Florida
Violent crimes per 100,000: 460.0
Population: 19,552,860
Total 2013 murders: 972 (3rd highest)
Poverty rate: 17.0% (tied-14th highest)
Pct. of adults with high school diploma: 86.8% (19th lowest)
There were nearly 90,000 violent crimes reported in Florida in 2013, or 460 per 100,000 residents. Rapes and aggravated assaults largely contributed to the state's high crime rates, despite the incidence of rape falling more than 11% between 2012 and 2013. Property crimes were also high, with more than 3,100 committed per 100,000 Floridians in 2013, compared to only 2,700 nationwide. The warm climate and more densely populated areas may have contributed to the high volume of crimes committed. According to a study published by Matthew Ranson, an environmental economist at Abt Associates — a public policy research and consulting firm — warmer weather may contribute to higher crime rates: "Warm weather lets people mix socially… And it is only a matter of probability that sometimes that mixture may prove volatile."
This article is where I got a lot of pointers to good info - however it is 3 years old: http://www.factcheck.org/2012/12/gun-rhetoric-vs-gun-facts/
the FBI numbers:
https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2014/crime-in-the-u.s.-2014/offenses-known-to-law-enforcement/violent-crime
https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2014/crime-in-the-u.s.-2014/offenses-known-to-law-enforcement/violent-crime
the CDC numbers:
Firearm deaths by state: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosmap/Firearm.htm
Florida overall mortality rate: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/states/FL_2014.pdf
state pop density:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_population_density
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