Sure it did, hell the frontier was as full of dead people. Not to mention that probably the worst thing you could do is give everyone in a big city a gun until they prove they are the psychotic sociopath people suspect they are. Not to mention how many firemen, paper boys, and Avon ladies would get whittled into kindling for doing their job.
In his book,
Frontier Violence: Another Look, author W. Eugene Hollon, provides us with these astonishing facts:
- In Abilene, Ellsworth, Wichita, Dodge City, and Caldwell, for the years from 1870 to 1885, there were only 45 total homicides. This equates to a rate of approximately 1 murder per 100,000 residents per year.
- In Abilene, supposedly one of the wildest of the cow towns, not a single person was killed in 1869 or 1870.
Zooming forward over a century to 2007, a quick look at Uniform Crime Report statistics shows us the following regarding the aforementioned gun control “paradise” cities of the east:
- DC – 183 Murders (31 per 100,000 residents)
- New York – 494 Murders (6 per 100,000 residents)
- Baltimore – 281 Murders (45 per 100,000 residents)
- Newark – 104 Murders (37 per 100,000 residents)
It doesn’t take an advanced degree in statistics to see that a return to “wild west” levels of violent crime would be a huge improvement for the residents of these cities.
The truth of the matter is that the “wild west” wasn’t wild at all … not compared to a Saturday night in Newark.
Dispelling the myth of 'The Wild West' - Minneapolis gun rights | Examiner.com
Well they would have to arm themselves wouldn't they? So then we have nervous people with guns going to houses owned by nervous people with guns. Do you feel there is any chance of this situation going wrong?
Explain to me then why, since 1989 when Florida became the first state to force police to issue concealed carry licenses to honest citizens, the murder rate in the USA has dropped over 40%?????
The program was so successful in Florida that most other states followed suit, in 80% of US states it is ridiculously easy to legally carry a concealed handgun.....and their murder rate continues to drop....to levels lower than Canada in some of the most gun-crazy states (Check out the first posts on this thread)
BTW, carrying a handgun does NOT make one nervous......
Tell those people who have had their children and loved ones murdered how lucky they are not to have a dull life.
I get that you're kidding but shouldn't the argument be a little more than a few gags? What's more I feel that the law abiding gun owner is a myth.
Canadian gun owners are less likely than other Canadians to commit homicide.
Based upon statistics from the Homicide Survey and the Canadian Firearms Program, the probability of a licensed Canadian firearms owner committing murder is less than one-half that of the typical Canadian.
In any given year, there were between 7 and 17 people accused of homicide who possessed a valid firearms licence or an FAC (Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, 2006).
In 1997, 17 people with Firearms Licenses murdered people.
In 1998, 10 people with Firearms Licenses murdered people.
In 1999, 11 people with Firearms Licenses murdered people.
In 2000, 7 people with Firearms Licenses murdered people.
In 2001, 11 people with Firearms Licenses murdered people.
In 2002, 14 people with Firearms Licenses murdered people.
In 2003, 14 people with Firearms Licenses murdered people.
In 2004, 16 people with Firearms Licenses murdered people.
In 2005, 11 people with Firearms Licenses murdered people.
According to the Canadian Firearms Program, the number of people with valid firearm licences is just under 2,000,000 (RCMP, various years).
December 2005 1,979,054
December 2002 1,912,939
Depending upon the year, the homicide rate for licensed Canadian firearms owners varied from 0.35 per 100,000 to 0.85 per 100,000 firearm owners. In other words, less than one licensed firearm owner per 100,000 gun owners is accused of murder in any given year.
Over the same time period, the Canadian national homicide rate ranged from 1.74 per 100,000 to 2.06 per 100,000 people in the general population (Beattie, 2009). In other words, approximately two people out of every 100,000 Canadian residents are accused of murder. Thus, the likelihood of a licensed Canadian firearms owner committing murder is less than one-half that of the typical Canadian. It follows that, on average,
Canadians who do not own firearms are more likely to commit homicide than those who do.
Presentation by Dr. Gary Mauser | NFA, National Firearms Association, Canada gun information