BELLEVUE, WA – For the third straight year, violent crime has declined in all categories while gun sales climbed, gun ownership expanded and more citizens are carrying firearms for personal protection; proof positive that gun prohibitionists have been consistently and undeniably wrong, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today.
The FBI released its 2009 report on Crime in the United States, showing that murder declined 7.3 percent, robberies fell 8 percent, aggravated assault dropped by 4.2 percent and forcible rape has declined 2.6 percent. Meanwhile, the National Shooting Sports Foundation notes that gun sales in 2009 were up dramatically.
“What the data tells us is exactly the opposite of what the gun ban lobby has predicted for several years,†said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “Their dire predictions that America’s streets would run red have been shown up as a fraudulent sales pitch for public disarmament.
“No matter how gun prohibitionists try to spin this,†he continued, “the bottom line is that they have been consistently and demonstrably wrong, and they know it. On the other hand, gun rights organizations have been consistently right when we argued that increased gun ownership would not lead to higher crime rates, and might even have a deterrent effect, because even property crimes are down, according to this year’s report.
Gottlieb is co-author of America Fights Back: Armed Self-Defense in a Violent Age and Assault on Weapons: The Campaign to Eliminate Your Guns.
“America has turned a corner on crime,†he observed, “and it is time to turn our backs on the failed liberal gun control agenda. Their gun ban policies were wrong and the courts have said so. Their gun prohibitionist philosophy has clearly proven itself bankrupt, and for the third consecutive year, the FBI data says so.â€