What you gotta say Now Mr. Duggan???

What do you have to say, now that I have the REAL numbers for Texas Crime? Not just the number of CCW holders, but for ALL crime in the state of Texas???

Read 'em and WEEP!!

From The Texas Crime Report for 1999,
Published by the Texas Department of Public Safety
For your edification, I have reproduced here the facts concerning Crime in the State of Texas
for the period of 1994 to 1999. Those entries that are bold indicate a decrease in crime from the previous year.
Those numbers in red indicate a rise in crime from the previous year. Texas' "Shall Issue" CCW law came into effect in 1995.

Year

Population

Index

Murder

Rape

Robbery

Aggravated
Assault

Burglary

Larceny
Theft

Motor
Vehicle
Theft

TOTAL

1994

18,378,000

Volume

Rate

2,023

11.0

9,101

49.5

37,639

204.8

81,079

441.2

214,691

1168.2

624,035

3,395.6

110,772

602.7

1,079,340

5,873.0

1995

18,724,000

Volume

Rate

1,694

9.0

8,526

45.5

33,666

179.8

80,377

429.3

202,637

1,082.2

632,523

3,378.1

104,939

560.5

1,064,362

5684.5

1996

19,128,000

Volume

Rate

1,476

7.7

8,374

43.8

32,796

171.5

80,572

421.2

204,335

1,068.3

659,397

3,447.3

104,928

548.6

1,091,878

5,708.3

1997

19,439,000

Volume

Rate

1,328

6.8

8,007

41.2

30,513

157.0

77,239

397.3

200,966

1,033.8

645,174

3,319.0

101,687

523.1

1,064,914

5,478.2

1998

19,760,000

Volume

Rate

1,343

6.8

7,914

40.1

28,672

145.1

73,648

372.7

194,872

986.2

606,805

3,070.9

96,614

488.9

1,009,868

5,110.7

1999

20,044,000

Volume

Rate

1,218

6.1

7,629

38.1

29,424

146.8

74,165

370.0

190,347

949.6

614,478

3,065.6

91,992

459.0

1,009,253

5,035.2

Volume is the total number of crimes committed for each category.
Rate is the number of crimes committed per 100,000 population.

Some of you may ask, what do these numbers tell us? Simple, far from the gloom and doom that Mr. Duggan preaches, there is no indication that having a "Shall Issue" CCW law has resulted in wild west style shoot outs. Far from that. In fact, it shows a decline in crime, especially violent crime.

Rape and Robbery have gone down each year, from 1994. And with one exception, Murder went down each year as well. With the exception of 1996, Burgarly is down EVERY year. Motor Vehicle Theft is down. CRIME In GENERAL is down throughout the state of Texas!!

It seems to me that Mr. Duggan thinks we can't control ourselves as well as Texans can. By innuendo, he's implying that we're more violent than Texans are. AND, take another look at those numbers. Every year, while crime went down, the population was going up!!

And even though over all crime made a slight come back in 1996, in 1997, even though the volume was higher, the rate was lower than it was for 1995.

Shame on you Mr. Duggan, you and the "Not quite" Million Mommies for trying to pull the wool over our eyes. Well, I'm not gonna let you get away with it!!

UPDATE!!!!

"In Texas, which has 215,582 licensees, only 178 people have lost their permits due to felony convictions since 1996. Only three have gone to jail for murder or attempted murder. Florida, one of the first states to embark on this experiment, issued more than 72,000 licenses in the past year, while revoking only 241."

One hundred seventy eight out of 215,582!!! That's less than 1/10th of 1 percent!!! Come now Mr. Duggan, certainly you don't think that Michiganders are worse than Texans??....Or do you????

What do you think?? Email me at albert@albertlowe.com with your questions or comments.