Here’s an interesting article, doesn’t paint a pretty picture of gun control in the Bay State.
From 2008 through 2013, the number of people shot by officers and state troopers has grown every year. Over that time period, there have been 86 shootings, 67 of which were determined to be justified. Two were classified as accidental, and two led to recommendations that the officers be retrained. The rest remain under investigation. Last year, Boston officials investigated six officer-involved shootings, compared with 1 in 2012. State Police investigated 17 in 2013 compared with 14 in 2012.
Those are some scary numbers. Why do they think this is?
Police cite two major causes for the uptick in violent confrontations: perpetrators, often mentally ill, who are quick to attack police, and the growing availability of illegal guns.
“Guns are everywhere,” said State Police Colonel Timothy Alben. “When I started in this department in 1983, if you stopped a car and you seized a firearm, that was a rare occurrence. Today, this is a routine occurrence.”
Every year, he said, State Police seize hundreds of illegal guns — they confiscated 477 illegal firearms from Jan. 1, 2013, to Oct. 31, 2013, the most recent numbers available. Boston police seized 663 firearms in 2013, 125 more than the year before.
In 1983 this state didn’t have the crazy gun laws it has today, yet they claim it was better then. Hmmm…. Further:
Between 1987 and 2011, the rate of violent crime in Massachusetts dropped 19 percent, according to the state Executive Office of Public Safety. In Boston, the total number of major crimes — such as homicides, armed robberies, and assaults — were down 6 percent from Jan. 1 to Dec. 22, compared with the same time last year.
That most recent drop coincides with the shelves of gun shops being stripped bare, and permit wait times becoming ten-fold! Its almost like guns in the hands of lawful people is GOOD for public safety.
Still, criminals manage to get guns despite some of the toughest laws in the country, further the surrounding states with more lax gun laws are safer. And of course the most liberal states of New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine are the safest.
Yet another gun control failure.
