innocent bystander gun downed for no reason - baytown tx

[liberT]

As much as the left hates it, the actual lesson of history is: More guns, less crime.

[MechAg94]

What always needs to be added to that is the general attitude of the people and politicians that comes along with more guns generally also pushes more prosecution, harsher penalties, better self defense laws, etc. To me, it is a package deal.

On the other side of the coin, the general liberal attitudes that support gun control tend to also encourage crime and suppress self defense.

[MechAg94]

Based on your feelings or UCR?

Based on life experience, knowledge and wisdom.

Not based on Stats because you were much more likely to be the victim of violent crime in the past than today. Just in '75 almost no one would hear about a crime like this while now that is all you hear about.

My parents moved out of Houston in the late 70's. The murder rate was pretty high at that time compared to today. Lots of reasons for it partly due to leadership in the city and the state. If you ever watch the old Dirty Harry movies and look at the attitudes of the police leadership and political leadership. That wasn't just movies.

[misterlarry]

Carry 24/7 folks.

[The Annoyed Man]

This was not a random shooting. The victim was the live-in boyfriend of the shooter's baby momma.

I was going to say that there has to be more to this than meets the eye. At the very least, the vic was a bystander who opened his mouth when keeping it closed would have been the better decision. But "baby-momma's boyfriend" is just as believable.

[anygunanywhere]

On the one hand, it seems more dangerous out there these days, but on the other we see that crime stats are going down. Other than the possibility of someone fiddling with the stats ( a la Chicago and Great Britain), why then do many of us still feel it's more dangerous than in days gone by?

Personally, I believe the bad guys are far quicker these days to just shoot/stab someone - there might be less crime, but that which exists can easily become unreasonably violent. I don't care enough to try and figure out why - I'll leave that to the sociologists, etc - all I have to do is be aware that even small encounters can turn deadly.

Good point. Also a lot of the crime is hitting closer to home in the form of home invasions. The thug mentality is much worse than the old hollywood juvenile delinquent stereotype.

[Excaliber]

On the one hand, it seems more dangerous out there these days, but on the other we see that crime stats are going down. Other than the possibility of someone fiddling with the stats ( a la Chicago and Great Britain), why then do many of us still feel it's more dangerous than in days gone by?

Personally, I believe the bad guys are far quicker these days to just shoot/stab someone - there might be less crime, but that which exists can easily become unreasonably violent. I don't care enough to try and figure out why - I'll leave that to the sociologists, etc - all I have to do is be aware that even small encounters can turn deadly.

The level of viciousness does seem to have gone up considerably.

The 24 hour news cycle and the "if it bleeds, it leads" mentality has a lot to do with how the level of crime feels as opposed to how it is.

If you want to see what's actually happening around a given location, here's a neat resource that gives you anywhere from a couple of days to a couple of weeks (depending on activity levels). Really small towns may not have available data feeds, but it works for most locations.

[Canon1d4]

On the one hand, it seems more dangerous out there these days, but on the other we see that crime stats are going down. Other than the possibility of someone fiddling with the stats ( a la Chicago and Great Britain), why then do many of us still feel it's more dangerous than in days gone by?

Personally, I believe the bad guys are far quicker these days to just shoot/stab someone - there might be less crime, but that which exists can easily become unreasonably violent. I don't care enough to try and figure out why - I'll leave that to the sociologists, etc - all I have to do is be aware that even small encounters can turn deadly.

The level of viciousness does seem to have gone up considerably.

The 24 hour news cycle and the "if it bleeds, it leads" mentality has a lot to do with how the level of crime feels as opposed to how it is.

If you want to see what's actually happening around a given location, here's a neat resource that gives you anywhere from a couple of days to a couple of weeks (depending on activity levels). Really small towns may not have available data feeds, but it works for most locations.

Thanks for the link, didn't know that was available