Tale of Two Cities: Cincinnati murders up 5th straight year, Detroit crime down
Officials in Michigan are crediting a new tough-on-gun crimes policy, modeled after Project Exile in Virginia, for inspiring part of the downward trend in crimes committed with firearms in Detroit. As we recently reported, the FBI has observed a 10.5% drop in crime across the state of Michigan in the first two years since passage of a concealed carry law there. For the first time in 40 years, Michigan's crime rate has dropped below Ohio's.
According to the Detroit News, reported shootings in Detroit through November this year are down 2 percent from last year and down 21 percent from November 2001. The city’s murder rate has fallen 11 percent so far this year.
Some residents are noticing the drop in crime in their neighborhoods, said Lorraine Ozment, a longtime east side activist. But many feel protecting their safety is something they largely have to do for themselves, she said.
“A lot of people still feel like they have to protect themselves,” Ozment said.
At least they have that legal choice in Michigan. In Ohio, there is no way for a person to bear firearms for self-defense without risking criminal arrest and prosecution. And the result? Crime is up 5% in Ohio in the same two year period in which Michigan's dropped, and cities like Cincinnati are experiencing a record-high number of homicides.
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As reported in the Cincinnati Enquirer recently, Cincinnati's homicide rate jumped more in the last three years than the rate of killings in larger and historically more dangerous cities. For the fifth straight year, more people have been slain in Cincinnati than in the year before.
"It's safe to say that we have a crisis," said Councilman David Pepper, chairman of City Council's Law & Public Safety Committee. "We're now in the company of cities that have reputations of being very dangerous."
While shootings in Detroit are down since passage of a concealed carry law, Cincinnati has seen an increase in non-fatal shootings: 296 through the end of October, compared with 246 in all of 2002 and 184 in 2001.
Senator Eric Fingerhut and other anti-gun extremists claim Ohio will face a crisis of violence with passage of a concealed carry law. But as noted by Cincinnati officials, the crisis already exists. And as experienced in Michigan and 34 other shall-issue CCW states across the nation, the most effective way to reverse that trend is to give the choice of self-defense to law-abiding citizens.
Ohio's Crime Clock (see top-right corner of homepage at www.buckeyefirearms.org) indicates that in the wake of political delays of HB12 which began in the Senate and from Governor Taft last June, an estimated 18 murders, 122 rapes, 197 robberies and 652 assaults in Ohio WOULD NOT have occurred if HB12 was made law.
To fight against legislation which has such proven results is nothing less than gross negligence, and they're getting people killed.
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