Minneapolis TV Station's Reporters Puzzled by More Guns, Less Crime in the Gopher State "More people are carrying guns than ever before, but the crime rate remains low." Shocking, I know. So, people allowed to carry handguns for self-protection take the fun out of crime causing criminals to leave the business? Gee, who would have guessed that incentives matter, not progressives that's for sure. More below. "On Thursday, Minneapolis station WCCO reported on guns and crime in Minnesota. Anchor Frank Vascarello's introduction: "More people are carrying guns than ever before, but the crime rate remains low." Imagine that.
Reporter Pat Kessler also treated more guns and less crime as paradoxical. Reporting on crime and guns has been infested with the "Fox Butterfield effect." It is named after a New York Times reporter, who in November 2004 was surprised that: The number of inmates in state and federal prisons rose 2.1 percent last year, even as violent crime and property crime fell. Later, a puzzled Butterfield referred to "the paradox of a falling crime rate but a rising prison population." Butterfield never considered the idea that fewer bad guys on the streets might lead to less crime. The Butterfield effect as it applies to guns is the idea journalists are similarly reluctant to accept that armed citizens can better protect themselves and others. Potential criminals are deterred when a significant portion of the population is armed, while determined criminals limit their targets to known gun-free situations. One would expect fewer crimes as a result. Researcher John Lott has demonstrated that this is indeed the case." Cause and effect seem to be difficult for the progressive to understand. The sad fact is that progressive leftists have set themselves against reality, fighting for the things which will increase crime, death, and injury, while fighting against the things which can prevent those outcomes. "Sadly, as Lott noted in a Friday FoxNews.com column, so-called "gun-free zones" prove that fewer guns lead to more violent crime. In the case of America's schools, that endangers children (link is in original): ... (There is) one change that might have made a difference (in preventing school shootings): abolishing gun-free zones, where the defenselessness of general citizens is guaranteed by law. ... Nationwide, over 98 percent of such mass shootings attacks since 1950 have also been in gun-free zones." I will continue to advocate for the responsible position, more guns, and fewer but clear and understandable gun regulations. Thanks: Instapundit
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