there were 14% fewer murders in Chicago compared to the first six months of last year – back when owning handguns was illegal. It was the largest drop in Chicago’s murder rate since the handgun ban went into effect in 1982.
Note also how this occurred during a time of extreme economic distress. So two “liberal” shibboleths — that guns and poverty cause crime — have been hammered here.
[Update a few minutes later]
South Florida officials are worried that they might actually be punished for blatantly violating the law.
Good. Fine them and remove the criminals from office. Make some examples.
As much as I love guns and think everyone should have at least two, I think we need more information than was presented in the story.
For a time, Drudge was posting links daily about the murders in Chicago and Anderson Cooper was doing specials on the violence there. Awareness about what was going on there was very high in the rest of the country. So, we could assume that there was pressure on elected officials to do something.
Did the city officials do anything that helped the number of murders to drop?
Do we know if people in parts of Chicago where murders were most frequent were also buying guns?
I’m too lazy to do any research.