Little Lizzie--a must-read

[cnorman18]

This is why I want my CHL.

Best single piece of writing on defensive firearms I've ever read--and I read a lot.

http://www.americanhandgunner.com/GunCrank2.html

Be prepared to sit down and think about it for a while.

[Turfspanker]

Good article and reminded me of why I've recently decided to legally carry.

My wife was a LEO and spent the bulk of her time dealing with situations AFTER the commission of a crime. Once in a while she would get lucky and catch someone with some serious warrants during a stop, but its extremely rare to have a LEO present DURING a violent crime. In fact, it is pure luck.

There is no-one other than courageous citizens willing to step up and protect themselves, their loved ones, and anyone else requiring assistance in the event of a violent crime against them. Its about having the ability to stop a violent crime before someone is victimized like Lizzy and her mom.

For a sobering report on violent crime in Texas, see this report.
http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/crimerepor ... t05ch2.pdf

Approx 121,000 violent crimes in 2005. Thats 529.7 per 100,000 population.
Of those, 42% were cleared, i.e. the bad guy(s) were caught and prosecuted.

Unfortunately no stats on how many crimes were prevented by citizens.

TS

[stroo]

Those clearance rates do not look very good. Under 18% for all crimes, with property crimes hanging down between 10-15%.

Do we need more LEOs, better training, both or something else?

[Turfspanker]

Those clearance rates do not look very good. Under 18% for all crimes, with property crimes hanging down between 10-15%.

Do we need more LEOs, better training, both or something else?

That question is way out of my league but there are probably a few elements that are common sense things.

Closure rates on violent crime is probably better due to the number of dedicated resources and urgency commited to follow-though. Not only more resources, but more skilled resources as well.

From a statistical standpoint, the ratio of non-violent to violent crime is about 10:1, so the volume is much greater and resources that could be commited to follow-through are very likely at their limits.

The good news is that overall crime rates in Texas dropped 3.5% between 04 and 05 so you would need to look at the factors that drove that decline. It wasn't more LEO's because that number dropped .5% between 04 and 05.

A few more statistics -

http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/crimerepor ... t05ch3.pdf

[rodnocker1]

This is why I want my CHL.

Best single piece of writing on defensive firearms I've ever read--and I read a lot.

http://www.americanhandgunner.com/GunCrank2.html

Be prepared to sit down and think about it for a while.

John Conner's is my favorite column in AH and Guns. His column is both informative and entertaining.