PA Bill Number: HB2235
Title: Providing for regulation of the meat packing and food processing industry by creating facility health and safety committees in the workplace; ...
Description: Providing for regulation of the meat packing and food processing industry by creating facility health and safety committees in the workplace; ... ...
Last Action: Referred to LABOR AND INDUSTRY
Last Action Date: Apr 25, 2024
Look for the right solution to curb violent crime :: 10/19/2015
The media and your social media feed seems convincing: America is awash in unprecedented, senseless gun violence. But did you know that the rate of reported gun homicides in the U.S. has actually plummeted by about half since 1993?
Pew Research Center analysis of government data shows the number of firearm homicide deaths in the U.S. has steadily fallen from a rate of seven deaths per 100,000 in 1993 to a rate of 3.6 in 2010.
In fact, according to organizations that track crime, the U.S. has become a safer place since violent crime peaked in 1993, yet many citizens are wrongly convinced that gun violence is on the upswing. The Pew Research survey shows that 56% of Americans wrongly believe gun crime is higher than 20 years ago and only 12% think it is lower. This disconnect is probably because of the 24/7 nature of news coverage today and to the politicization of gun crimes by those supporting new restrictions on availability of firearms.
Is the decline in gun violence because fewer Americans own guns? That is difficult to say, as there is no definitive data source on how many people own guns.
While the total number of gun owners is disputed, the number of Americans legally carrying concealed weapons has soared over the past decade. According to the pro-gun Crime Prevention Research Center, the number of concealed weapon permits granted by states has skyrocketed from 4.6 million in 2007 to 12.8 million this year. According to the center, the granting of concealed weapon permits has increased by 156% for men and by 270% for women since 2007. These figures do not include data from the eight states that do not require citizens to obtain a permit for carrying a concealed weapon.
Proponents of new restrictions on gun ownership correctly point out that the U.S. has among the highest crime rates in the developed world, including firearm violence. Some attribute falling U.S. gun crime to part of the overall general decline in violent crime experienced by most of the entire developed world since the 1990s. But both arguments simply do not explain why gun violence has nosedived in the U.S. as concealed carry rates have soared.
Our country must do a better job reducing violence — one murder is too many and horrific mass shootings create indescribable human losses. Yet data reveals that our society is doing something right as murder rates continue to fall. This data also illustrates that efforts to restrict gun ownership are misguided because high gun ownership simply hasn't increased crime rates.
I don't have the solution to ending violent crime in America. Perhaps there is no sweepingly effective, big government policy solution. Maybe reducing violence is best achieved by each of us making individual, critical differences. We can each do more to support mentally ill people we know, help provide better education for those without access to good schools, and just be better parents and family members. But not knowing the solution doesn't justify latching on to a wrong "solution." If we are to reduce violence, we first need to better understand and build from what has already been working. We need new and better ideas, too. What we don't need is to waste money, political capital, energy and time with groundless campaigns against gun ownership. Such efforts evoke emotion and passion that is simply misspent and distract us from finding workable solutions to reduce violence.
Leon Drolet, a former Michigan state representative, is chairman of the Michigan Taxpayers Alliance.
