Advocates of gun control talk of the concept of crime increasing as more people have guns as if it’s a graven-in-stone axiom. Evidence has been presented in many localities that suggest otherwise and now the FBI’s nationwide crime report for the 1st half of 2009 shows definitively that this concept is untrue. From the NRA-ILA:
Last week, the FBI issued its preliminary 2009 crime report, showing that the number of murders in the first half of 2009 decreased 10 percent compared to the first half of 2008. If the trend holds for the remainder of 2009, it will be the single greatest one-year decrease in the number of murders since at least 1960, the earliest year for which national data are available through the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Also, the per capita murder rate for 2009 will be 51 percent lower than the all-time high recorded in 1991, and it will be the lowest rate since 1963—a 46-year low. Final figures for 2009 will be released by the FBI next year.
There can be reasoned debate about the natures of the causes and effects listed in the report but the numbers are clear on this: gun ownership went way up in the 1st half of 2009 and crime went way down. “More guns means more crime” is a fallacy, period.
I contend that more guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens means criminals face a much higher risk-to-reward ratio when deciding to commit crimes against their neighbors and it is that change in the calculus that’s driving criminal behavior downward. That’s an educated guess and it accounts for the effects but there’s no denying that increased guns do not equate to increased crime. I look forward to seeing the report for the remainder of 2009 when it comes out.
December 31st, 2009
Posted by
ricjames |
2nd Amendment, Crime & Punishment, Politics |
2 comments
Interesting thread on Twitter is under the hashmark “#10YearsAgo” and it’s getting tweets like mad! So, how about it? Where were you 10 Years Ago?
Me? I was an IT Manager at a firm here in Northern Virginia. I was wrapping up the final items on the Y2K list we’d been working on since I joined the company in May 1998. In spite of my recommendations, the company had pressed forward with an effort to re-engineer all of the company’s proprietary programming (in FoxPro 2.5 for DOS, no less) to handle the Y2K issue. In those systems, the Y2K “bug” was a reality, not a theoretical exercise. As a final, stopgap measure to keep anything from blowing up in mid-run, the decision was made to literally power down the entire company’s core systems, coast-to-coast. (We weren’t a 24 x 7 operation, at least not on the major holidays.) At about this time 10 years ago I was standing in my HQ server room issuing the shutdown commands. In about 15 minutes, the room was nearly completely silent and the lights on the racks were all off, a situation that would not occur again until the company closed down years later.
Y2K was a disaster-flick bust and our systems suffered not a single hiccup the next day. We ran into a minor problem at the end of Q1 in 2000 because a program that was only run at that time of year was missed in the re-write but it was a minor issue by then. All told, not much happened and, yes, everyone’s microwaves and VCR’s continued to function. Ah, those were the days.
December 31st, 2009
Posted by
ricjames |
Human Interest |
one comment
I’m still getting back up to speed after returning from my holiday travel so my awareness of certain news items is, sometimes, a bit delayed. I read this morning that Rush Limbaugh is in the hospital after suffering chest pains. Having “been there, done that” myself I can attest that it’s no picnic. It’s damned scary, in fact, and I hope Rush recovers quickly.
December 31st, 2009
Posted by
ricjames |
Human Interest, Politics |
no comments
The Christmas holiday visit to Grandma’s house is done and we’re winding down to a close. At the moment we’re in the airport terminal awaiting our flight. So far, the enhanced security measures haven’t done anything to inconvenience us at all. (The day is, however, young.)
More to come.
Update: Made it. Our trip via the airlines was, frankly, uneventful and pleasant. Kudos to Delta Connection for getting the job done with no muss, no fuss.
December 30th, 2009
Posted by
ricjames |
Aviation, Blogging, Human Interest |
no comments
In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus 2 that the whole world should be enrolled.
This was the first enrollment, when Quirinius was governor of Syria.
So all went to be enrolled, each to his own town. And Joseph too went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David that is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.
While they were there, the time came for her to have her child, and she gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
Now there were shepherds in that region living in the fields and keeping the night watch over their flock. The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were struck with great fear. The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord.
(Luke 2)
December 25th, 2009
Posted by
ricjames |
Uncategorized |
no comments
I’m out of town traveling for the holidays but I wanted to extend to all of my readers a wish for a very Merry Christmas. May the spirit of the season and the grace of God fill your hearts and homes with the peace and joy of the season.
Merry Christmas to all… and to all a good night.
December 24th, 2009
Posted by
ricjames |
Uncategorized |
one comment
Headline: “Scientists Discover Fanged, Venomous Dinosaur.” For a moment, I thought this was a story about Nancy Pelosi…
December 22nd, 2009
Posted by
ricjames |
History, Human Interest, Science |
one comment
Very intriguing:
Days before Christmas, archaeologists on Monday unveiled what they said were the remains of the first dwelling in Nazareth that can be dated back to the time of Jesus — a find that could shed new light on what the hamlet was like during the period the New Testament says Jesus lived there as a boy.
The dwelling and older discoveries of nearby tombs in burial caves suggest that Nazareth was an out-of-the-way hamlet of around 50 houses on a patch of about four acres. It was evidently populated by Jews of modest means who kept camouflaged grottos to hide from Roman invaders, said archaeologist Yardena Alexandre, excavations director at the Israel Antiquities Authority,
Based on clay and chalk shards found at the site, the dwelling appeared to house a “simple Jewish family,” Alexandre added, as workers at the site carefully chipped away at mud with small pickaxes to reveal stone walls.
Nazareth holds a cherished place in Christianity. It is believed to be the town where Christian tradition says Jesus grew up and where an angel told Mary she would bear the child of God. “This may well have been a place that Jesus and his contemporaries were familiar with,” Alexandre said. A young Jesus may have played around the house with his cousins and friends, she said. “It’s a logical suggestion.”
As an amateur historian myself, this is the kind of find that just fascinates – a home that stood at a particular place in well-known history at a time when that history was being made. The concept that the walls of this place were something a young Jesus might have laid eyes upon, even been as familiar to him as the houses on my street are to me, is an exciting thing. I look forward to hearing more about this find.
December 21st, 2009
Posted by
ricjames |
History, Human Interest, Religion |
no comments
From the 3 fortune cookies we got last time we were at our favorite Chinese restaurant:
Any impatience you show will only create more stress.
As soon as you feel too old to do a thing, do it.
No one is ever too old to learn, but many people keep putting it off anyway.
Heh.
December 21st, 2009
Posted by
ricjames |
Human Interest |
no comments
I received an e-mail this afternoon from Candace Strother announcing her candidacy for the chairmanship of the LCRC. The letter referenced a web site for Ms. Strother (http://candace4chair.blog.com) and, in looking there, I see that the letter has been published online. I’ll therefore link to it directly and excerpt it here:
I am running for LCRC Chair because I believe it is imperative to keep the momentum going from our tremendous wins statewide and the gains we made here in Loudoun County. I believe that holding to our core values and promoting the central conservative issues of fiscal responsibility, limited government and lower taxes is the winning model, as it was for the McDonnell, Bolling, Cuccinelli ticket. I believe there is still much to do to grow that model at the County level. I believe I have the experience and the leadership necessary to deliver this strategy and most importantly, expand the grassroots organization and unified team effort put in place by our outgoing Chair, Glen Caroline.
Kudos to Ms. Strother on 3 counts: 1) Announcing her intentions clearly and in the open, 2) replicating all of her public communications on a publicly-accessible site, and 3) having the grasp of modern communications and grassroots tactics to have fired up a web site to begin with. Sounds like someone serious about the effort she’s preparing to undertake. I like it.
Taking a look at the list of people supporting her candidacy, you cannot deny she’s got support from a wide swath of current and former LCRC members as well as folks from both Virginia government and the private sector. As it was with Glen Caroline, the diversity of background and opinion represented in that list speaks well to Ms. Strother’s ability to bridge divides and forge a focused coalition. We’re going to need that. I am hoping to meet with Ms. Strother personally after the holidays and hear her intentions first-hand.
December 21st, 2009
Posted by
ricjames |
Politics, Virginia Politics |
no comments
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