Isolated geographies in violent crime tends to be the norm.
About a dozen years back I was living in Richmond, Virginia, which for a metro region of less than 1M people, had a homicide count of nearly 365 one year (1994 IIRC). Plotted on a map, nearly all of the homicides were in a few federal housing projects that happened to be close to the I-95 and/or I-64 drug trafficking corridors. Felon interviews have shown the dealers like the projects as rent-free . and law free . headquarters. As per drugs and violent crime, I believe there is a demonstrable connection, though all I present is causal evidence, which naturally not substantial. I was plotting U.S. homicide rates over nationally recorded history, and the shape of the curves looked odd. So I dug a bit and plotted major federal anti-drug legislation (and we'll include prohibition in the list). There does seem to be covariance between drug control and at least homicides, though other violent crimes likely have the same trending (and I think this is rational given historical and current reporting that criminal profiteering on illegal substances is the primary culprit, with the death rates highest among dealers and anyone standing near them). Guy Smith Author, Gun Facts [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.GunFacts.info <http://www.gunfacts.info/> > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:firearmsregprof- > [EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Charles Curley > Sent: Sunday, September 30, 2007 1:44 PM > To: Joseph E. Olson > Cc: List Firearms Reg > Subject: Re: Guns, swords, knives, toys, ... . Will two sticks be next? > > On Sun, Sep 30, 2007 at 02:17:30PM -0500, Joseph E. Olson wrote: > > In the UK where burglars serve no prison time at all, look at the > > latest police initiative. > > > Also interesting for the statistics mongers in the crowd: > > How worried should we be about the extent of gun crime on our streets? > Richard Ford, Home Correspondent > > Sometimes, listening to politicians, police and the media, it can > sound as if there is a gun-toting criminal on every street > corner. The truth is far more nuanced. Serious gun crime is > concentrated in particular parts of England and Wales; > internationally, the country has a low death rate from guns > compared with EU states such as France and Finland. > > http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article2324223.ece > > I thought that this was particularly interesting: > > Are drugs the key link to firearms? > > It certainly looks that way. Because the drugs market is illegal, > those involved in it must have weapons to protect themselves, to > defend their drugs territories and markets and to enforce debts. > > Research on gun crime carried out for the Home Office suggested > that "illegal drugs markets represent the single most important > theme in relation to the use of illegal firearms". > > This suggests that drug legalization would do a lot to reduce all > crimes, not just freamrs offenses > > -- > > Charles Curley /"\ ASCII Ribbon Campaign > Looking for fine software \ / Respect for open standards > and/or writing? X No HTML/RTF in email > http://www.charlescurley.com / \ No M$ Word docs in email > > Key fingerprint = CE5C 6645 A45A 64E4 94C0 809C FFF6 4C48 4ECD DFDB
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