Posted on 04/10/2012 6:25:49 AM PDT by marktwain
New York City police commissioner Ray Kelly is under criticism for his "stop-and-frisk" policies that took 800 guns off the streets in 2011. Kelly sees his actions as saving lives, but pro-gun groups like the NRA do not.
Nevertheless, Kelly is sticking to his proverbial guns to get firearms off the streets, whether they be new or old.
He told the NY Daily News: “But here is the thing about old guns. They can be around a very long time, and then you load them and pull the trigger and they still work, against a cop or anybody else.”
“These are the guns that are turning our city into a shooting gallery. We had three cops shot last year. This year we’ve had eight shot already, and it’s only Easter. I’m tired of this!”
A major problem for Kelly is that many of the guns that turn up in New York City come from southern states where gun laws are more lax.
This is why Kelly longs for a national gun law: "There is no easy solution to this problem. Absent a comprehensive anti-gun strategy throughout the country, as opposed to a pro-gun strategy. In New York, we have every law we need on the books. The problem isn’t this state, it’s all the other ones.”
“We got another happy ending last night, because no New York City cop died. But eventually we’re going to run the limit on happy endings. And yet somehow thereseems to be no appetite, oneither side of the aisle in Washington, to do anything to help us.”
Listen jerk, I did not draw any conclusions as to whether NYC’s low violent crime rate is because of the strict gun control laws or in spite of it. I was simply correcting a factual error with respect the common misconception that NYC has a high violent crime rate. It does not. I don’t need a lecture from you about gun control, gun laws, Nazi Germany, or Communist China. Do a little research instead of spouting the talking points and you might discover a number of “Red State” urban areas with similiar if not higher population densities than NYC that have very few restictions on the ownership of firearms and the right to carry a firearm, but have violent crime rates that are significantly higher than NYC’s rate. You will also find a number of densily populated “Blue State” cities with gun control laws as strict if not stricter than NYC that have crime rates significantly higher than NYC. These are facts. I’m not drawing conclusions and I’m certainly not suggesting that we should trade our 2nd Amenedment Rights for a low crime rate. What I am saying is there doesn’t seem to be a meaningful correlation between violent crime and gun control or the lack of gun control.
There certainly are illegal guns under the US Constitution. Licenses fall under the Reserved Powers which belong to the states. If you have a license to carry a gun in North Carolina, you can NOT carry that gun legally in New York. Therefore, you broken the law and have an illegal gun. In fact, you can be charged in Federal court because you involved more than one state.
NYC crime statistics for 2009 :
Violent crime rate 28.5 % above the National Average
Property Crime rate 44.3 % below the National Average
Charlotte Mecklenburg crime staistics for 2009
Violent crime rate 68.3 5% above the National Average
Property crime rate 64.8 % above the National Average
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