In a notable address to Congress, John Lott, founder and CEO of the Crime Prevention Research Center, quickly detailed the facts about crime the mainstream media has no interest in reporting. He appeared as an expert witness before a subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Judiciary Committee. Before he spoke, Rep. Andy Biggs (R) said, “Milton Friedman noted John Lott has few equals as a perceptive analyst of controversial public-policy issues.” This is a statement that, no doubt, would make any member of the mainstream media present groan (if, that is, given the insular worldview of so many of today’s media members, they even know who Milton Friedman was). As much of the media won’t report on this, here are the highlights.
“I desperately want to do something to stop the horrific violence … but I want to do something that actually matters. Unfortunately, many of the proposals won’t help or will actually make matters worse,” said Lott in his testimony.
• Over 92% of violent crimes in America do not involve firearms. The U.S. Department of Justice’s National Crime Victimization Survey for 2020 shows 4,558,150 rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults, and the FBI reports 21,570 murders. Of those, firearms were involved in 350,460 of those crimes, which means that firearms were only involved in 7.9% of these violent crimes.
• While the U.S. media doesn’t give much coverage to mass murders in other countries, over the 20 years from 1998 to 2017, the U.S. had less than 1.13% of the world’s share of mass public shooters and 1.77% of its mass public murders. That’s much less than the U.S.’s 4.6% share of the world population.
• Like many other mass murderers, the killer in the 2022 attack at a Buffalo, N.Y., grocery store targeted defenseless people. He even wrote in his manifesto: “Attacking in a weapon-restricted area may decrease the chance of civilian backlash. Schools, courts, or areas where CCW are outlawed or prohibited may be good areas of attack. Areas where CCW permits are low may also fit in this category. Areas with strict gun laws are also great places of attack.” The national media often refuses to report the fact that 94% of mass public murders occur in places where civilians are banned from having firearms.
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