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No one steps on a church in MY town!!!

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Mad Dr Jeffe:
I was on slashdot today when some gun nut decided to use D.C's high murder rate as an example of why gun control doesn't work. (DC has had a ban on owning a handgun since 1976) Never mind that the District is Surrounded by two states with pretty lax gun control laws. He used the murder rate in 2000 as his example (242 people were murdered and 3553 people were robbed) and compared it to other states. What he failed to look at was  the nine year trend that shows that except for minor hiccups the Murder rate in DC has been on the decline. In 1993 454 people were murdered in city limits and there were 7107 robberies. Aggrevated assualt has also fallen from 9003 people in 1993 to 5003 people in 2001.



Sorry but it just made me mad

Entsuropi:
Hum. I disagree, but i am not sure if i should do so...

Jeffe; what was your intention in posting this thread?

Fellfrosch:
Entropy, how can you disagree with a statement of statistical fact? I wasn't aware that Jeffe had made any subjective statements.

Mad Dr Jeffe:
Disagree as much as you want.
I was bothered by the original posters use of one year to show that DC was violent because of its gun control laws. It also fails to take into account DC's unique position between Virginia and Maryland where it is easy to obtain a firearm even if you live out of state. For the most part the statistics show a decrease in murders with small peaks followed by rapid declines. The number of assaults and Rapes are down and have been down for a while. Interestingly enough one can observe the effects of the 1993 Handgun Violence Protection Act or "Brady Bill" in the trend following after the year 1993.

I do understand that not all of the murders presented above involve firearms (although the vast majority of them do) and I recognize that at least 20% of that number is caused by stabbings, poisonings vehicles and  beatings.

Tage:
"statistical fact" is an oxymoron.

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