“On Capitol Hill on New Year’s Day, an unsettling event occurred that had been reported nearly 1,400 times in the District in the previous year: Property was taken at the point of a gun,” washingtonpost.com reports. “It happened about 9:30 p.m., well after nightfall, as the victims were walking in the 200 block of 8th Street SE, a largely residential area near Eastern Market and Independence Avenue SE, D.C. police said.” It seems odd that the WaPo would highlight this trend. It indicates that a great many of these armed robberies would best be countered by what NRA Veep Wayne LaPierre famously called “a good guy with a gun.” And that’s without considering deterrence. Oh wait. Liberal paper. Right. This is proof that D.C. needs more gun control. To stop bad guys from getting guns. My bad. Here’s the report by the numbers . . .
In the year from Dec. 31, 2012 to this past Dec. 31, D.C. police reported 1,397 robberies in which a gun was shown, brandished or pointed.
With 103 homicides reported in the same period, the figures suggest that the likelihood of being robbed with a gun in the city is about 14 times greater than that of being slain by any means.
The number of gun robberies in 2013 was 97 fewer than in the previous year, a drop of more than 6 percent. It was, however, about 11 percent more than the 1,261 gun robberies reported to police in 2011.
Robberies, particularly those involving weapons, are often considered a key measure of crime and safety. More numerous and widespread than slayings, they have a strong effect on residents’ perceptions.
Right. ‘Cause it’s perception rather than the actual fact of a crime that matters. Politically. Personally, I’d rather have a gun. As I do. But then I think it best to be able to defend my life, rather than hope me and mine will emerge from an armed robbery intact.
In Wednesday’s incident, police said they located two suspects on 8th Street but about three-quarters of a mile away, south of the Southeast Freeway. Two arrests were made.They said some of the victims’ property was found a couple of blocks from the robbery scene. The rest, was seized during the arrest along with a weapon, the police said.
No injuries were reported.
Hello? What about the dozens of armed robberies that didn’t go so well? Here’s one from October’s Washington Post:
Police are searching for four armed men who broke into a house in Southeast Washington early Wednesday, held the occupants against their will, and beat some of them. Police said one victim was sexually assaulted.
By choosing a story with a happy ending, the Post insinuates that carrying a firearms for self-defense is unnecessary. We need more police! Crap. People need to be able to defend themselves against criminal predation using the best possible tool for the job: a gun. Period.
OK, I’m officially confused.
The WaPo keeps referring to “gun robberies.” Do they mean armed robberies? Or do they mean robberies where a gun was stolen? Or do they mean robberies committed by a gun? This Bloomberg-speak is SO confusing…
DC does not allow carry but if memory serves me you are allowed to have a gun loaded in your business and home. I’m not sure if you have to be a resident too though. Thank you Mr. Heller!
Washington DC needs to be pre-victimized in its entirety. That’s what it’s trying to do to the rest of the nation.
Five Finger Death Punch, Bad Company
For some reason I can’t get embedding to work…
Three years. That’s how long it took to strike down this stupid ordinance that Chicago enacted in the face of numerous federal court decisions. Sure, this exact issue hadn’t yet been decided, but that’s the point; Chicago, New York, it’s the same playbook. Alter things a little, pass them again, and screw over gun owners while it ponderously makes its way through the courts. It’ll be years before the “Safe Act” gets to where it could be heard by SCOTUS. Either it gets upheld out of political fear or struck down, but in the latter case it all starts again. Heads they win, tails we lose.
Until there’s a decision with balls from the Supreme Court this is how it will continue to go, and even legal victories will be Pyrrhic- remember, we’re paying the legal bills for the state to screw us over.
What a waste…that Tavor, and Savage 110BA 338 lapua =(
The most important thing I left out was as 40 yards I was placing all of my rounds in a pie plate with one hand shooting. This is one awesome hand gun.
Benelli definitely leads the market in shotgun design. Even though I don’t own any Benelli’s anymore (prefer the fit of the softer shooting Browning Maxus), I have always been a fan of the SuperNova (a highly underrated shotgun) and the Montelfeltro (which I’ll shoot when my age advances and I find carrying a 5.5 lb 20 gauge agreeable chasing pheasants).
My dad carries the 20 gauge Ultralight when we run after the corn chickens and the 28 gauge Ultralight might be the prettiest, cutest gun I ever handled in my life and is my personal obscure object of desire. If I ever hit a $2K superfecta, my first stop will be to my LGS to buy that masterpiece.
Open carry is here to stay, and people and cops better learn to deal with it. There will always be in-your-face OCers who “don’t do it right.,” but that’s no reason to ban it. We don’t repeal the First Amendment when people say or print asshole things.
I’d like to know how many open carriers have committed crimes while open carrying. A mass murderer would open fire as soon as he entered in the mall, not saunter around with an Orange Julius waiting for more victims.
I’m hoping for a question of the day asking who actually has a lawyer to call. I sure don’t.
Why not “He tried to kill me….” and then get that trance-like look as if you’re in shock….
“Good advice?” (feigning and/or exaggerating physical/emotional distress after a self-defense event)
It probably is … but only because the State equates exercising our rights (to be armed, to defend ourselves, and to remain silent so that we do NOT incriminate ourselves) with criminal behavior.
We have to get out in front of this and educate the State and the public.