That time again?
Why, it seems like just yesterday the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Ownership was telling me which states had less violent crime. And now, they’re doing it again. They just do it backwards:
Since 2001, RTC states, where more people carry guns in public, consistently average a “D”. Brady continues to be unhappy with the country’s direction regarding gun control: between 2001 and 2005, RTC states increased from 32 to 38 and Brady downgrade the U.S. average from “C-” to a “D+.” Their response is curious, since the national violent crime rate fell 7.0% during this time frame.
Even worse for Brady, violent crime trends are not spread equally across all states. RTC states (average Brady grade “D”) saw an aggregate 7.8% drop in violent crime, while non-RTC states (average Brady grade “B”) saw a 5.2% decrease. Even when Brady grades synchronize with violent crime trends, it fails to give an accurate picture: Brady dropped the national average grade from “C-” to “D+” in 2005, the same year that the violent crime rate increased 1.3%. This would seem to make sense, as a lower grade is supposed to reflect less safety for citizens. Unfortunately for Brady, most of that increase occurred in non-RTC states, which saw an aggregate increase of 2.8%, while RTC states increased 0.6%. Using Brady’s criteria of grading each state as an equivalent entity, non-RTC states averaged a 5.6% increase in violent crime, while RTC states averaged a 0.6% increase. Since 2001, the violent crime differential between RTC and non-RTC states increased from 26.0% to 27.5%, meaning that RTC states are becoming relatively more law-abiding compared to non-RTC states.
I notice the press is eating the Brady ranks up. But I bet no press outlet notes the correlation above.
Update: Ouch: I notice they are no longer using grades, but are instead scoring and ranking. I’m guessing probably because so many states scored so poorly, all those Ds and Fs were an embarrassment to their effectiveness.
February 1st, 2008 at 11:08 am
Irritates me that states in which you must ask permission and get a .gov issued permit to carry a gun are called right to carry
February 1st, 2008 at 11:12 am
No, they’re called “shall issue” by people who have any knowledge of the subject. Incidentally, this doesn’t include 99 percent of reporters. Stossel maybe, but he is hardly run of the mill.
February 1st, 2008 at 11:18 am
Do you have a working link to the source of your data? The link on your other page is broken.
February 1st, 2008 at 11:25 am
ben, I do not. and google reveals nothing.
February 1st, 2008 at 2:07 pm
We need to work harder here in Utah; we scored a 4 out of 100. I’d like to see that number go down some.
February 1st, 2008 at 8:20 pm
Im calling BS on it though, Ohio is only 20th? The Brady’s can’t even get their own list right, we have preemption here in Ohio, I demand a recount!