Media Matters
Note that the 433 homicides in Chicago in 2011 were the fewest in two decades, although you certainly wouldn't know that from the media's coverage of Chicago crime in recent years, or the right-wing media's constant attacks on Chicago's gun policies.
And now comes news that it's possible (possible) Chicago will register the fewest hometown homicides since John F. Kennedy was president. How does that square with the media's portrayal of Chicago as a lawless city, and the far-right claims that gun laws do no good?
Do you really think that crime magically stops by yourself? Are you stupid and naive enough to believe that REAL bad guys (not the ones that you kiddies see on Power Rangers) will just decide NOT to interrupt your sheepish little life with a robbery of whatever-nameless-retail-establishment-you-are-unfortunate-enough-to-frequent, shoot everyone to eliminate the possibility of witnesses, slit your throat, and sodomize you in broad daylight just for good measure, will spontaneously decide to just put aside their hell-bent ways and become boyscouts overnight? Do you really believe that hardened criminals who pack a sawn-off 10 gauge gangsta style on a daily basis will suddenly decide to put aside their rape-rob-& pillage ways practically overnight?????
ReplyDeleteHardened criminals respect one thing: force, and force has been dealt on the streets and malls of Chicago by a warrior so skillfully lethal that even his aliases have become legendary. Almost single-handedly I, the humble disciple of a Great and Infamous Master of the old world, have learned the oriental ancient techniques of Ninjutsu and adapted the mythical arts to adapt to the three-dimensional combat setting of a (nameless) urban retail establishment and to make the greatest use of a modern arsenal so lethal, that the mere knowledge of such is illegal for civilians.
With the decay of society and the rotting away of the moral fiber of our country this world is getting more and more dangerous and down right mean. Who do you think protects you from the scum of this society??? The cops, the FBI, the army???Guess again, it’s the guys guarding your companies, your banks, your schools, your homes, your supermarkets, and yes smartass, even your malls. What good are the cops going to be if a shooter shows up at your workplace??? How about your kid’s school, remember Columbine? I’ll tell you what the cops will do, call the SWAT team and screw around trying to locate the front door for 30 minutes, while you or your children are shot down like prairie dogs at a drunken machinegun shoot.We are on site, when the cops are cruising around handing out speeding tickets or harrassing prostitutes. We risk our lives so you can go home to mommy at the end of the day and this is the respect we get??? Hell, I’d call some of us “heroes”, but I’m sure most of you juveniles don’t understand the meaning of such a Distinguished word.So go play Rainbow Six and frag some “tangos”, and tell your mommy to bring you some milk and cookies. Meanwhile, my ass is one the line so your fat butt can go to the mall and pick up the latest copy of “Computer Gaming Monthly” without getting jumped and sodomized in the mall bathroom.
You're boring.
DeleteNormally I would avoid feeding the troll, but one must wonder why a gun control (and questionable music) blog of all places is infested by the internet phenomenon of the "mall ninja"?
DeleteE.N. just want's to spawn a sock puppet of every viewpoint he can use to disrupt conversation. I'm just waiting to see when he spawns a jihadist called "Sword of Islam" or some such and starts bragging about how "lax gun laws" have enabled him to gather an arsenal for his planned attack on X.
DeleteMaybe he'll accidentally draw some attention that rids us of him.
Hmmm, looks a lot like the national trend which has liberated gun laws over that period. And the far-left claims gun laws do good?
ReplyDeleteYes, gun laws do no good. The rest of the nation experienced the same trend.
ReplyDeleteWasn't Chicago's handgun ban eliminated sometime last year or so? And now the trend is fewer homicides? I wonder what the gun ownership rate has done over the last year and a half or so?
ReplyDeleteThis article was quite impressive in that it managed to never give an accurate number of the number of homicides in 2012. The closest they came was to say over 500. And apparently the city government hasn't finished their 2012 homicide chart yet so they have to go with the old one.
ReplyDeleteThe article also seems to suggest that Chicago's strict gun laws are the reason homicides are falling when just earlier this year, the city claimed that the drop was a result of the police departments new strategy of targeting gangs.
While the drop in homicides is a good thing, people who write this stuff need to be careful of the claims they make because we still have half the year to go.
It will be interesting to see what effect the upcoming shall issue permit system might have.
The majority of guns used in Chicago Murders come from outside Chicago and Cook County because Gun Nuts elsewhere don't have proper control of their hardware and criminals know they can easily get weapons from dumbasses in other Pro-Gun Violence Areas.
ReplyDeleteThat's what Mike uses as an excuse when he is having one of his "we have no gun control" days. Today is Thursday, so it's a "gun control works awesome, and here's the proof" days.
Delete(it's still only a hypothesis that it rises and falls with the days of the week. I've already ruled out the lunar cycle, as it is a higher frequency of modulation than that).
Perhaps you'll answer the question: Why do guns migrate to where they're strictly regulated to commit crimes? Why don't they stay home and cause carnage?
DeleteI think the above chart came as a surprise to our pro-gun commenters. They've frequently repeated to old bullshit lines about Chicago, never bothering to even look into it. That's pretty funny really.
ReplyDeleteWhat's the surprise? It shows exactly what I already knew: Chicago has a high murder rate, but that rate has followed the national trend. The chart suggests also what I've told you for a long time, namely that gun control is ineffective.
DeleteHere's what I said just five days ago: "Undoubtly, chicago's murder rate roughly follows the national trend: rising though the 80's, peaking in the early 90's, and falling to where they are today"
DeleteNo, not a surprise. Are you still surprised everytime you see our national trend of decreasing violence?
Greg, Chicago does not have a high murder rate compared to previous years - contrary to what you guys have been implying with all your jokes about "how're those gun control laws working out in Chicago."
DeleteThe joke's on you because the gun control laws in Chicago have been working fairly well.
Mikeb, if I had said the same thing about a city with good gun laws, you'd have called me a heartless bastard.
DeleteSeriously? More with the pretending to not understand what's said? Greg didn't say that Chicago's murder rate was going up. He just said that it's high compared to other places with far more lax gun laws. Sorry Mike, but you're not fooling or convincing anyone.
DeleteWell, apparently Chicago's gun laws haven't been working as well as Houston's (a similar sized city) which saw an even bigger decline over the same time period (67% vs 53%)
DeleteAnd those numbers I gave were raw counts (which is what your table is in). Chicago has stagnated in population (a slight decrease even), while Houston has grown. Houston's murder rate decrease is close to 75%.
DeleteExplain away, Mike.
yeah, but Houston would have been even better, had they had Chicago's gun laws...
You got it.
DeleteMikeb, is it really that much fun to have a magical reasoning ring to come up with ideas for you? When something fails one place, it would succeed elsewhere?
DeleteActually, it squares pretty well. If you take the time for a little honest analysis... oh, wait, that's too "tedious".
ReplyDelete