Violent Night in Chicago - Four Dead (Just ordinary murder - not Wilding)

WGN-TV ^ | June 11, 2011 | Staff

[wideawake]

Sorry, I know I'm boring you all to tears, but here's one more data point.

Baltimore and memphis are almost identical in many ways:

Population: 620,000 (Baltimore) vs. 646,000 (Memphis)
African-American population percentage: 63.2% (Baltimore) vs. 62.6% (Memphis)
Non-Hispanic White population percentage: 31% (Baltimore) vs. 29% (Memphis)
Median household income: $30,000 (Baltimore) vs. $32,000 (Memphis)
Unemployment: 11.4% (Baltimore) vs. 10.7% (Memphis)
Households below poverty line: 19% (Baltimore) vs. 21% (Memphis)
Average August temperature: 88 (Baltimore) vs. 91 (Memphis)

But they are very different regarding two other statistics:

2010 Homicides: 223 (Baltimore) vs. 93 (Memphis)
Homicides per 100,000: 35.9 (Baltimore) vs. 14.4 (Memphis)

That's almost two and half times as many homicides for Baltimore.

Here's another important difference: it is almost impossible for a law-abiding citizen in Baltimore to legally own a firearm. Under Tennessee law a person cannot be charged with possession of an unlicensed firearm if it is used in self-defense.

[Soul of the South]

Didn’t Houston’s crime rate jump dramatically when the Katrina victims were resettled there?

[wideawake]

Don't know about total crime, but homicides spiked dramatically. Katrina hit August 29, 2005.

Houston homicides:

2004 272
2005 334
2006 376
2007 351
2008 294
2009 281
2010 267

Remember than New Orleans in 2004 had a much higher per capita murder rate than Detroit, Baltimore or Memphis despite being whiter than any of those cities.

[PiperShade]

Anyone not understanding these events needs to learn a little more about the street gangs now taking control of our urban areas. These seemingly “random” slayings could well be a “blooding ritual” - where victims are chosen because they are harmless and unaware - in order to bind the shooter to the gang. For reasons I can’t comprehend, most civilians still cling to the concept gangs are reluctant to shoot. In fact, they’re anxious to shoot; and don’t much give a damn who..... >PS

[abb]

For sure it’s not just a Chicago issue.

http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2011/06/nopd_responds_to_four_murders.html

NOPD responds to four murders in less than 24 hours

[Red in Blue PA]

Wonder what the numbers would be if people were allowed to carry and defend themselves?

Thugs aren’t so tough when the victims may shoot back.

[Red in Blue PA]

Wonder if the powers that be could learn from these numbers????

Murders in Philadelphia. Note the state applied Right to Carry to the city in 1995.
1990 500
1995 432
1996 423
1997 418
1998 338
1999 292
2000 319
2001 309
2002 288
2003 348
2004 330
2005 380
2006 406
2007 392

[Red in Blue PA]

That should almost be a question on Form 4473.

Seems as though some groups of people simply cannot control themselves.

[Red in Blue PA]

Under Tennessee law a person cannot be charged with possession of an unlicensed firearm if it is used in self-defense.

Didn't know that.

Seems like a very common sense law.

[The Theophilus]

I would also add that cities with growing populations seem to buck the crime trends - declining cities like Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland, Baltimore, Philadelphia seem to become increasingly violent.

To be declining, doesn't that mean that people are leaving? Who are leaving and why? Welfare checks are mailed to wherever you are, whereas paychecks are sent only to where the job is. Those who leave to find work leave behind the jackals who prey upon whoever remains. IOW, the proportion to crims to vics increases as the "good people" leave.

An interesting study is Memphis - for a while there it seemed to be growing, but over the past few years population has dipped to 1980 levels while violent crime has dipped somewhat as well.

That would seem to correlate well to the CRUSH program implemented in Memphis a few years ago. Prediction: text messages run through a CRUSH similar program will be the tool law enforcement uses to deal with flash mobs and other bozos who use wireless technologies to advertise their future crimes.

[wtc911]

As far as NYC is concerned, my opinion (gained through 45 years of adult observation), is that, with some notable exceptions (S. Jamaica, Bushwick, Brownsville, parts of da boogie-down et al) much of Black NYC is upwardly mobile and more fully integrated into the mainstream of the city.

Places like Harlem, Flatbush, Springfield Gardens, Fort Greene (and others) are proud of their successes and their resilience. There are still problems in these areas but they are not of epidemic scale.

Additionally, NYC is a global destination for anybody and everybody, including Black Americans from other areas. These foreign and domestic immigrants are here to work, they don't have time for the bullshit. I don't think that is true of other US cities.

There is no doubt that crime is on the rise but we still have a long way to go to sink to the levels of the mid 70s through the mid 80s....those days were undeniably flat-out dangerous.

[wideawake]

I agree. I got that nugget from John Lott’s blog.

[sbMKE]

Good thing Chicago has a handgun ban and Illinois doesn’t allow concealed carry. /s

[Borges]

Chicago is a declining city? Is that in terms of population.

[PiperShade]

Just track the gangs.......

MS13 was the worst, (ISFA homicides) for a while, but gangs, like other pernicious infectious diseases, mutate. >PS

[wideawake]

Population. 200,000 people have left Chicago in the past decade.