People like to talk about Europe a lot for comparisons to the US where gun crime is concerned, but several European countries which are the most respectful of gun rights also have lower homicide rates than their far more restrictive neighbors.
Switzerland, the Czech Republic, and Austria all allow citizens to acquire firearms that would be illegal in a few US states, and yet their homicide rates are all well below 1 per 100,000.
It’s the same reason why comparably-sized US cities can have completely opposite homicide rates, even when the safer city is in a state with far less restrictive gun laws. Look at cities with similar populations like Boise versus Buffalo. Or Gilbert, Arizona vs. Newark, New Jersey.
Politics — and law and order — are downstream from culture. Safer cities are more cohesive, with cultures and values that are better entrenched in their populations. That’s why they are, in general, safer with less crime. Gun control laws have nothing at all to do with it.
Try as they might, anti-gunners can’t replicate the effect of strong social cohesion with legislation like “assault weapon” bans or magazine capacity limits. It insults our intelligence when they insist these broken cities that are run by their allies — frequently for decades — are only a few more “common sense gun control” laws away from salvation.
Konstadinos Moros is an Associate Attorney with Michel & Associates, a law firm in Long Beach that regularly represents the California Rifle & Pistol Association (CRPA) in its litigation efforts to restore the Second Amendment in California. You can find him on his Twitter handle @MorosKostas. To donate to CRPA or become a member, visit https://crpa.org/.