The state of Texas passed constitutional carry not that long ago. That was good news for millions of Texans.
However, the usual suspects have howled about it since it was signed into law. Many have tried to make permitless carry into the great boogieman of Texas.
A great example is this piece from a site called Reform Austin.
While GOP leaders across the country blame violent crime on Democratic policies, the data indicates that easy access to guns with virtually no restrictions in states like Texas is undoubtedly leading to more deaths by firearm.
Despite the conservative claim, statistically, the most dangerous city in Texas is a major metropolitan area controlled by a Republican, Lubbock. The city has been consistently run by Republican mayors since 2002 and is also one of the most conservative in the state. A 2021 study conducted by SafeWise ranked Lubbock third as the most dangerous city in America.
This is a great example of using facts to mislead.
After all, this is a piece about violent crime in Texas. So, by pointing to Lubbock being ranked so highly, they’re trying to make a point in that regard.
Only, that link doesn’t exactly say that.
Instead, that report notes that while Lubbock has high violent crime rates–and what city of 260,000 doesn’t these days?–it actually has fewer murders than any other city in the top ten.
What drives up their ranking, though, is other violent crimes and property crimes. Now, those are problematic, to be sure, but this is also an anomaly for Lubbock, as Safewise notes that they had never been in the top 10 before.
It should be noted that Corpus Cristi, which was in the top 10 last year dropped three positions. If I were to cherry-pick data, I could use that to justify constitutional carry and other pro-gun laws in Texas as working.
But that’s not the totality of what the author had to say.
GOP talking points don’t keep innocent people safe, as the number of shootings, both purposeful and accidental, continues to rise in urban areas. Meanwhile, rural areas, mostly under Republican control, are also seeing massive spikes in crime.
According to The Wall Street Journal, rural areas saw an average increase of 25 percent in violent crime over the last couple of years. While this is less than the 30 percent increase seen in cities, it is still large enough to make the case that the increased rates are more due to a confluence of factors, versus party policy and leadership style.
So rural areas that tend to embrace gun ownership and things like constitutional carry haven’t seen the same increase that anti-gun cities have, but that doesn’t tell the author anything?
Oh, sure, they make the case that there are a number of other factors that may play into things, and I don’t necessarily disagree. I’ve long argued that violent crime isn’t a simple problem, but a complex one with a variety of contributing factors that need to all be addressed.
Yet the author is trying to push the idea that guns are bad, yet points out that the areas where you’re more likely to find armed people have seen less increase in violent crimes than the cities where you’re less likely to find people with guns.
Oh, they go on to try and place the blame on rural areas, such as noting that Mississippi has such a high violent crime rate despite being the most rural state. They leave out that Mississippi is also the poorest state and has the worst educational system in the nation, all things long known to be associated with high crime.
In trying to justify their stance on gun control and against constitutional carry, they keep presenting evidence that actually seems to argue to the contrary.
Funny, that.
