I recently suggested in my column, The Firearms Lawyer (that I write for the FEDERAL WAY MIRROR), that violent crime has increased in Phoenix. Apparently it has actually gone down!  But Arizona’s violent crime rate is still well above the national average.

A recent Wall Street Journal story shows that crime has actually been going down over most of the U.S. “For the first quarter of 2010, violent crime was down 17% overall in the city (of Phoenix), while homicides were down 38% and robberies 27%, compared with the same period in 2009.”

Despite the fact that the violent crime rate has gone down in Phoenix, the murder rate was 2.4 times the national average in 2003. Phoenix has recently seen an eight percent increase in rapes, according to the statistics, while the murder rate from 2008 to 2009 has dropped 26.2 percent. In 2003, Phoenix was ranked number seventeen in the U.S for violent crime with Tucson number eighteen.  Thus, the benchmark for Phoenix was already fairly high!

Using statistics going back to 1985, Phoenix’s highest murder rate was in 1994, when there were 231 murders. The city had 1,076,108 people, and a murder rate of 21.5 murders per 100,000 residents. The highest total number of murders was in 2003, when there were 241 murders.

The Phoenix rate for murder probably still lags behind cities like Chicago and Detroit. According to the Washington Times, “The latest figures show that Chicago had racked up 122 homicides for the year, exceeding the 116 killings over the comparable period in 2009, a very bad year… It’s no coincidence that the Windy City is already the U.S. gun-control capital.”

Arizona, on the other hand, is a very gun friendly state. None of the above can tell us whether the murders are being committed by people that are in Arizona illegally.

Nor is there any way to know whether Arizona’s violent crime rate would be higher or lower if Arizona adopted a draconian prohibition on firearms such as the gun ban that exists within the Windy City’s boundaries.  Statistics cannot tell us whether immigration is good or bad for the United States. Even if it could be proven that more illegal immigrants would make the United States safer (or more economically viable or culturally rich) making it easier to come here illegally breeds contempt for the law! 

The argument that we should let people come across the border unchecked is particularly unfortunate in that it has now been substantiated that the U.S. government has detained many citizens of countries like Yemen, Somalia and other Asian and African nations that spawn terrorism while they were crossing into the U.S. at the border near Nogales.

It is absurd to imagine that outlawing guns would actually make the streets safer but even if a gun ban could make the streets safe, violating the Constitution is in itself lawless!  Governmental lawlessness threatens our way of life more than garden variety criminal activity or terrorism.  While some folks might actually propose to amend the Bill of Rights and do away with the Second Amendment, banning guns as Chicago has done, is a form of legalistic anarchy!

The perception is that illegal aliens in Phoenix are perpetrating a great deal of violent crime. Some folks in Arizona apparently believe that, despite the increase in federal personnel to patrol the border,  failure to police the border is threatening the social fabric of their state. I would be interested to know how violent crime rates for Seattle, Tacoma and Federal Way compare to Arizona cities like Phoenix and Tucson.

But well-documented evidence shows that the cartels are smuggling immigrants in from Mexico and warehousing people, often against their will in houses within Phoenix.  Kidnapping was very high in Phoenix in 2009 and widely predicted to spread beyond Phoenix.

But imagine no violent crime in King County or Pierce County for the previous ten years. Would I choose to stop wearing a pistol? 

The fact that journalists around the world are constantly targeted for violence suggests that even if the rate of violent crime were to plummet to zero percent, a blogger or journalist that discusses subjects like terrorism, Mexican cartels and active shooters could become a target for the kind of people about whom he or she writes. Or someone that writes about Scientology might be targeted- or in favor of or against abortion!  And criminals often target witnesses to their crimes.

In the U.S., we have seen a few isolated attacks against journalists such as the attack against Chauncey Bailey.  Bailey was allegedly gunned down by Black Muslims in Oakland, California after he exposed criminal activity by writing about it in an Oakland newspaper.  Mr. Bailey was an acclaimed civil rights advocate that has been honored by President Obama and recognized by others that appreciate his struggle for justice.

The statistics manufactured by pro-gun advocates can be just as questionable as those manufactured by the gun grabbers! Statistics are interesting and shed some light on most subjects but  you can always find some numbers that suit your purposes!  The principal of remaining prepared and ready to defend what we hold dear should preempt arguments about statistics!

Even though the violent crime rate is apparently going down all over the U.S., a violent predator may come looking for you just because you said something (or saw something) that someone doesn’t want other people to know about!   The First Amendment freedom to speak the truth as we see the truth becomes very hollow indeed when the sociopaths are looking for you- regardless of crime statistics!  Statistics will not protect you or me or our friends and loved ones from violent predators in Federal Way or Phoenix!