Chicago topped nation in 2003 homicides [America's murder capital..]

NJ.COM ^

[Piranha]

The census data is available on the US Census bureau's website. By doing my own calculation:

DC had 40 murders per 100,000 (based on 247 murders and a population of 607,000);

Baltimore had 37 murders per 100,000 (based on 271 murders and a population of 736,000);

Detroit had 36 murders per 100,000 (based on 365 murders and a population of 1,028,000);

Chicago was fourth, with 21 murders per 100,000 (based on 599 murders and a population of 2,784,000);

LA had 19 murders per 100,000 (based on 658 murders and a population of 3,485,000);

St. Louis had 17 murders per 100,000 (based on 69 murders and a population of 397,000); and

NY had 8 murders per 100,000 (based on 596 murders and a population of 7,323,000).

[BureaucratusMaximus]

Last I heard a few days ago Chicago runs 22 per 100,000 per year, while Baghdad runs 5 per 100,000 per year. Troops to Chicago? lol

Don't laugh...troops is what would be needed to root out the scumbags in 2-3 distinct neighborhoods in Chicago.

[El Gato]

Raw numbers are statistically irrelevant. Murders per capita is a better statistic to use. Either the AP reporter is ignorant, or has an agenda

Since it's AP, probably both. However they at least do mention that NY had fewer murders, with 3 times the population. So if they had reported it per capita, Chicago would likely come off even worse.

[El Gato]

All you have to do is bookmark it.

Or you can just search by poster for "*bang_list" (w/o the quote marks, but with the *).

[DMZFrank]

I am a retired police officer and a certified police firearms instructor. I support right to carry because it is a basic human right (to keep and bear arms) supported by the United States Constitution. I support the possession of homeland defense rifles (gun grabbers call them "assault weapons") by every law-abiding citizen because they are the weapons most suitable for modern-day militia use. My support of the Second Amendment is unequivocal.

Having said all this, I think we do a disservice by positing the notion that we are all equally at risk from homicide and therefore deserve the right to carry to prevent it. My experience as a police officer taught me that the OVERWHELMIG majority (between 70 and 80%) of homicide perpetrators AND their victims, particularly in big cities, are persons with extensive criminal records who are already disqualified from legal firearm ownership. These people frequently have extensive felony records and patterns of reckless and irresponsible behavior.

This does leave those relatively few genuinely innocent victims who might benefit from the right to conceal carry. Has a tactical measure I suppose it is useful to present the right to conceal carry has a needful protection for the contemporary homicide problem in Chicago. But the real reason for firearm ownership is for service in the "well-regulated militia" (which meant in the contemporary vernacular of the founders well drilled and properly organized) that the founders envisioned has the counterweight to oppressive government necessary to the security of a free state. Self-defense is an incidental benefit corollary to this right. We need to stop letting these politicians and gun grabbers separate the need for gun ownership from the Constitution.

[#3Fan]

The other laugh was that Iraq was crawling with all sorts of firepower, but they still had Saddam due to a feudal and/or a tribal culture. I figure their secret police had the populace terrified.

The numbers I cited were from the last few months. But yeah I see what you're saying that the media keeps trying to subtly prop up Saddam as some kind of great leader to try to delegitimize the war. I don't think liberals ever met a tyrant they didn't love. If they knew that Hitler stood for the same things then they do now, they would love him too.

[#3Fan]

Don't laugh...troops is what would be needed to root out the scumbags in 2-3 distinct neighborhoods in Chicago.

They're safer in Iraq. :^)

[Dan from Michigan]

Chicago? That's impossible. Guns are banned there......

[Dan from Michigan]

Detroit's count was at 951,000 last I heard, but it's still dropping.

It used to have 1.8 million....

[Dan from Michigan]

That's still less than Strathclyde Scotland back in 01....

Pop 380,000 - 82 murders.

[neverdem]

The numbers I cited were from the last few months. But yeah I see what you're saying that the media keeps trying to subtly prop up Saddam as some kind of great leader to try to delegitimize the war. I don't think liberals ever met a tyrant they didn't love. If they knew that Hitler stood for the same things then they do now, they would love him too.

I didn't write it well enough to get my point across. Instead of "firepower" I should have written small arms. How much the Kurds and Shi'ites were allowed access to them, I'm not so sure. But I saw stories on TV news about gun stores in Baghdad that implied there was hardly any gun control. That is consistent with all the celebratory gunfire at weddings, etc. all over the place in Iraq.

The point I was trying to make was that even though they had enough small arms to start a revolution to depose Saddam on their own, they were unable to get it organized, yet they still had murder rates lower than the rates of major cities in this country.

[#3Fan]

I didn't write it well enough to get my point across. Instead of "firepower" I should have written small arms. How much the Kurds and Shi'ites were allowed access to them, I'm not so sure. But I saw stories on TV news about gun stores in Baghdad that implied there was hardly any gun control. That is consistent with all the celebratory gunfire at weddings, etc. all over the place in Iraq. The point I was trying to make was that even though they had enough small arms to start a revolution to depose Saddam on their own, they were unable to get it organized, yet they still had murder rates lower than the rates of major cities in this country.

Yeah, Baghdad is a case study of nearly unlimited gun freedoms. A murder rate 4 times lower than that of a city with the most liberal anti-2ndA mayor and governer, Chicago.