You’re Safer Than The Media Thinks
From a fine editorial in the McClatchy News Service we get word from a recent government study that it’s unlikely that you will be the victim of violent crime committed by a stranger:
That study shows strangers committed about 38 percent of non-fatal, violent crimes including rape, robbery and assault in 2010, the most recent data available. Of that amount, only an average of 10 percent used a firearm while committing the crime. In other words, fewer than four out of every 100 non-fatal, violent crimes were committed by a stranger.
Additionally, only about one-fourth of homicides are committed by strangers. The overwhelming percentage of homicides – and of all violent crimes, for that matter – is committed by a friend, relative or other acquaintance.
I remember something my cousin told me when I first moved to Vermont about 18-years-ago: “If someone sticks a gun in your face, you already know the reason why.”
3 Responses to “You’re Safer Than The Media Thinks”
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on 04 Feb 2013 at 5:36 am # JD(not the one with the picture)
When the “great white fright flight” brought people from California to Montana in the early 90’s, I used to tell the immigrants that being in Montana didn’t mean no one would shoot them, but if it happened it wouldn’t be a gangbanger with a cheap pistol, it would be someone they knew with a quality gun. It was fun to watch their eyes bug out.
on 04 Feb 2013 at 8:04 am # comatus
“There is nothing proper about what you are doing, but do make sure to do it properly.” –Cicero, or so they say.
Ever notice how earnestly a man asks advice about what gun to buy for his wife? Certain girl-gun bloggers claim this is a manifestation of yon patriarchy. Guys I hear from see it as enlightened self-interest, most often expressed as “I don’t want to lay there and suffer.”
on 04 Feb 2013 at 8:03 pm # Matthew Carberry
Funny how “acquaintance” is used by anti’s to downplay the risk of crime in public (and thus call carriers paranoid) by noting, correctly, that the majority are criminals whacking their coworkers over business disagreements.
But, when the anti’s want to harp on the dangers of “guns in the home”, the fact that the majority of the killings cited by Kellerman were those same cases of “Pancho shooting Lefty” is downplayed and suddenly it’s parents killing children and each other because of evil guns.