Ammo.com reported on how effective the gun crime laws are. John Lott research follows with information on who are committing the gun crimes and who the victims are.
THE INEFFECTIVENESS OF GUN CRIME LAWS
For instance, the ATF has initiated 34,436 gun crime cases. But how many have actually resulted in a conviction? 6,315, with 5,338 convictions. The federal government prosecutes only 18% of all cases initiated. That is pathetic.
We don’t need more gun laws. We need them to follow the gun laws we have. The gun control laws we now have are not impactful.
How Effective Are The Gun Crime Laws?
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- The amount of State gun laws nearly doubled between 1991 and 2016 (Source).
- The first Federal gun control law was passed in the 1934 National Firearms Act, which limited civilians’ access to machine guns, suppressors, short-barreled shotguns, and others (Source).
- Between 1886 and 2023, the Supreme Court of the United States interpreted the Second Amendment to include the right of the individual to keep and bear arms six times.
- Homicides (all methods) increased 27% from 1968 to 2021.
- Homicide rates increased 28% while incarceration rates fell 15% during the 2020 pandemic.
- The 1994 Crime Bill authorized $12.5 Billion dollars for law enforcement, while the ATF receives $1.5 billion annually to enforce Federal firearm laws.
- The ATF seized more than 360,000 firearms in 2021 (Source).
Economic Costs of Enforcing Gun Laws
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- ATF – 2022 – $1.5 Billion
- NICS – 2022 – $8.4 Billion
- Criminal Justice System – 2022 – $12.62 Billion
*Compare this to $2.8 billion in medical costs yearly.
This is the definition of insanity.
Homicides in the U.S. are now 27% higher than before the 1968 Gun Control Act (per capita). They declined by nearly 20% after the 1994 Crime Bill and remained low until 2015. Homicide rates sharply increased in 2019.
THE LATEST RESEARCH FROM THE CRIME PREVENTION RESEARCH CENTER
Who Is Committing the Gun Crimes
John Lott’s latest research has come up with interesting statistics.
Between January 1st, 1998, and October 25th, 2023, 52.5% of attacks used solely handguns, and 16.8% used only rifles of any type—thirty-five percent of attacks used solely rifles or rifles in conjunction with another type of gun.
59.3% of the US population was non-Hispanic white in 2022, with 4% being Middle Eastern, so about 55.3% are non-Middle Eastern whites. With 55% of the murderers and victims being non-Middle Eastern whites, whites are slightly below their share of those involved in these attacks.
With all the discussions about the racial motives of shooters, blacks are underrepresented as a share of the victims. Blacks comprise 16.7% of the murderers but only 9.9% of the victims. That 9.9% is less than their 13.6% of the general population.
Hispanics are underrepresented as a share of mass murderers. 10.8% of these mass murderers are Hispanic compared to Hispanics, making up 18.9% of the general population. But their 17.1% share of the victims is close to Hispanics’ share of the general population.
Compared to Middle Easterners at 4% of the general population, they are overrepresented as a share of mass murderers (6.9%) and underrepresented in terms of victims (0.9%).
Asians make up 6.1% of the population, but they are overrepresented in both mass murderers (7.8%) and even more overrepresented as victims (9.7%). Interestingly, 44% of the Asians murdered in these attacks were murdered by other Asians.
Trans individuals are well over-represented in terms of attacks. There are three estimates of the percentage of adults who are trans (CDC’s Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) and Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) finds 0.5% between 2017 to 2020, Gallup shows 0.7% in 2021, and the Census puts it at 1% in 2023). These numbers are clearly increasing over time, so an average for 2018 to 2023 years would probably overestimate the rate, but the average is 0.73%. Trans share of mass public shootings over the 2018 to 2023 period is 7.4 times their share of the population.
From January 1st, 1998, to October 25th, 2023, 51% of mass murderers have seen mental health care professionals before their attacks.
In 2022, about 6% of the US were veterans, but almost 20% of mass public shooters over the 1998 through 2023 period were veterans.
Also, most gun crimes are committed in gun-free zones. Dr. Lott found that 94% of mass public shootings occur in gun-free zones. They also mostly occur in places with strict gun laws.
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