Enforce Existing Laws

The Second Amendment Sisters strongly support active enforcement of existing laws against violent crime.

Murder is criminal, whether it is committed with a gun, a knife, poison or a car. And we have laws against it. Owning a gun is not a crime, unless you are a felon.

Washington, D.C. learned that gun control increases violent crime:

• Before the gun control ordinances were enacted, their murder rate was 27 murders per 100,000 people. That's high, but similar to other U.S. cities of comparable size.
• After severe gun control laws were implemented in 1976, their murder rate jumped to 80 per 100,000 people, which was significantly higher than any other city in the nation.

Orlando, Florida, learned that armed, informed women deter crime:

• When the police department instituted a program in 1967 to train women in the use of firearms for self-defense, instances of rape fell by 88%.

Surveys of criminals indicate that they fear encounters with armed civilians significantly more than encounters with police. In areas of high firearms ownership, criminals tend not to confront civilians but rather attempt crimes which do not involve interaction with their victim, like choosing to steal an unoccupied and unattended car rather than to attempt a carjacking. This is because there is a good chance the civilians are armed, and the criminals value their own lives! Increased levels of firearm ownership have this general deterrent effect on crime -- more people than just the firearms owners are protected.  In this way, armed citizens protect unarmed ones, without ever having to draw their guns!

Crime Control, Not Gun Control

By far, the majority of violent crimes are committed by repeat offenders. In State correctional facilities, fully 90% of felons convicted for weapons offenses had prior convictions. 44% of felons convicted for weapons offenses had prior convictions for violent crimes. In federal correctional facilities 75% of felons convicted for weapons offenses had prior convictions. 26% of felons convicted for weapons offenses had prior convictions for violent crimes. (Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics: Selected Findings, Firearms, crime, and criminal justice: Weapons Offenses and Offenders, [Adobe Acrobat Reader required], 1995, page 6, citing survey data published in 1991.)

In Boston, by enforcing the existing laws such as a 10 year penalty for felons found to be in possession of a firearm, as well as employing aggressive intervention strategies, youth gun-homicide was reduced to zero in 1996 and 1997.

Albuquerque announced that it will try parts of Boston's program, and cites another clear statistic: Boston's total homicide rate was reduced by 60% in six years, without adding gun control laws.

More statistics can be found by reading Guy Smith's Gun Facts