NYC, Chicago: Fewest Homicides In 40 Years

But Cops In Baltimore, Miami And Atlanta Say Guns And Gangs Fueled More Killings In 2007

(AP)  Chicago and New York are about to close out 2007 with the lowest number of homicides in more than 40 years, while cities such as Baltimore, Atlanta and Miami have seen killings go up because of what police say is a surge in guns and gang violence.

New York City reported 488 slayings as of Friday, versus 596 for all of 2006. The city is on track to have the lowest number of killings since reliable record-keeping started in 1963.

Homicides in New York reached an all-time high of 2,245 in 1990, making the city the nation's murder capital. Since then, the numbers have plummeted, and experts attribute the decline in part to computerized tracking of crime trends and the practice of strategically flooding high-crime areas with police officers instead of spreading them evenly through the precincts.

Chicago is on track to have the lowest homicide toll since 1965, when police reported 395 killings. The city had logged 435 slayings through Dec. 26. In the early part of the decade, police often reported more than 600 a year.

Chicago officials credit the improvement to their tough stance on gangs, guns and drugs.

"Those three ingredients, so to speak, are what we're focused on," said police spokeswoman Monique Bond. "That's really what leads to random violence."

Those factors were blamed for increases in murders in other cities.

Atlanta had 126 homicides as of Dec. 26, compared with 111 for the same period a year ago. Police attributed some of the increase to a New Orleans-based gang

that moved into town after Hurricane Katrina. Members of the International Robbing Crew are accused of killing at least seven people in Atlanta.

In Miami, authorities say the proliferation of assault weapons led to an increase in killings, from 56 in 2005 to 79 in 2006 and 86 so far in 2007.

"You just pull a trigger and 20 or 30 rounds come in a second and in those 20 rounds you're sure to hit your intended target and some innocent bystanders, totally unlike a firearm that is just one bullet every time you pull the trigger," Miami Police spokesman Willie Moreno said.

Earlier this year, Baltimore was headed for its bloodiest year in nearly a decade. But the bloodletting eased up after a new police commissioner took office.

The bloodshed in Baltimore is blamed on entrenched poverty, widespread drug addiction, failing schools and easy access to guns.

Through Dec. 26, there were 280 homicides in Baltimore - four more than in all of 2006. Things looked even grimmer in mid-July, the day Police Commissioner Leonard D. Hamm resigned. At that point, Baltimore had 178 homicides, putting it on pace for a total of 325. The city has not topped 300 since 1999.

The new police commissioner, Frederick H. Bealefeld III, and Mayor Sheila Dixon have gone after repeat violent offenders more aggressively, flooded high-crime zones with officers, and revived a unit that traces illegal guns. Also, repeat gun offenders are being sent more frequently to the federal court system, where they face stiffer sentences.

"They have become more focused, appropriately, on getting illegal guns off the streets and violent gun offenders off the street," said Daniel Webster, co-director of the Center for Gun Policy and Research at Johns Hopkins University.

It has been a particularly bloody year for children in Baltimore: Twenty-seven of this year's homicide victims were under 18.

In Philadelphia, killings dipped this year after reaching a nine-year high of 406 in 2006. Through midnight Tuesday, the city had 390 slayings, or 11 fewer than at the same point a year ago.

Like Baltimore, Philadelphia is dealing with a rash of illegal handguns that officials believe are being used to resolve minor disputes.

In other big cities, Phoenix reported 207 killings at the end of November, just shy of last year's total of 214 for the same period; Boston had 66 slayings as of Dec. 28, compared with 71 by the same point in 2006; Dallas was on track to finish considerably higher, with 200 homicides as of Dec. 26, versus 175 last year.

[Krazcarl]

Ice...Hitler exploited the jews for thier cash which he dumped in the national treasury Germany was broke after WW1,,,The jews have been a easy target since the dawn of history.

[cattlekate]

Maybe if weed was legalized, some of this would stop.

[toolmangler-2009]

Have the Comments sections gone dead again ?
Posted by Iceman_1960 at 02:07 PM : Dec 29, 2007



Its the weekend, Ice Suffer, LOL

[iceman_1960]

Have the Comments sections gone dead again ?

[iceman_1960]

"Iceman, do you think it is just a strange coincidence that the Nazis banned guns and weapons for all Jews right at the beginning of the holocaust?"
- Posted by gunownerdan at 09:48 AM : Dec 29, 2007

There were only a few million Jews inn Germany at the time. If they had all whipped out their shotguns, that would only have accelerated the Holocaust. It would have played right into Nazi propaganda. Their vicious filmmakers would have had a field day, portraying the Jews as "gangsters."

Actually a young Jewish man did try to assassinate the Nazi head of the Polish occupation, and the Nazis replied by picking up their evil pace.

Lastly, the Holocaust (the word is generally capitalized, gunownerdan) should not be trivialized by enlisting it in the cause of keeping the flood of guns going in America, and the associated flood of homicides.

[iceman_1960]

"I"m not a rocket scientist but is 488 murders a good thing??"
- Posted by crzmeat at 11:13 AM : Dec 29, 2007

Well it"s like Marlon Brando once said,

"It seems to me hilarious that our government put the face of Elvis Presley on a postage stamp after he died from an overdose of drugs. His fans don" mention hat because they don''t want to give up their myths. They ignore the fact that he was a drug addict and claim he invented rock "n" roll when in fact he took it from black culture; they had been singing that way for years before he came along, copied them and became a star."

[Krazcarl]

nutsie11 ...you want to be nutsie1,,we all have goals you should aim higher!!

[Krazcarl]

I''m not a rocket scientist but is 488 murders a good thing??

[gunownerdan]

Iceman, do you think it is just a strange coincidence that the Nazis banned guns and weapons for all Jews right at the beginning of the holocaust?

[iceman_1960]

Just kidding.

By the way, is "nutsie" intended as a play on the word "Nazi" ?

Not trying to start a fight. I was just wondering if all his posts aren"t a little satirical.

[iceman_1960]

"Members of the International Robbing Crew are accused of killing at least seven people in Atlanta."

Rumor has it, nutsie11 was expelled from that organization after exhibiting emotional instability.

[iceman_1960]

"Like Baltimore, Philadelphia is dealing with a rash of illegal handguns that officials believe are being used to resolve minor disputes."

How do they resolve major ones ?

Cluster bombs ?

[gunownerdan]

A large percentage of violence and murder in big cities is drug related.
It comes from drug gangs and drug dealers fighting "turf wars" and killing people over money.
What do you expect when you give these people a monopoly on all black-market profits?
Drug dealers and gangs are making billions of dollars from selling illegal drugs and you can buy a lot of guns with that kind of money.
www.leap.cc

[iceman_1960]

"Other Constitutional rights are constrained by law."

It"s easy to think of examples.

If a religion required its followers to marry at the age of 5, that practice would still be forbidden by law.

[emsaund1]

Other Constitutional rights are constrained by law. Gun owning should be too.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by Iceman_1960

You''ll get no argument from me there. Strict gun laws definitely need to be in place.

I wouldnt advocate just ANYONE to be able to carry a concealed weapon or own a handgun.

But, there is a need to protect yourself. My thought process is more along the lines that these 2 apparent thugs calculated the whole robbery attempt.

They made that fatal mistake of robbing the wrong dude. Now, we dont have to worry about tax payers money funding these 2 thugs getting a free ride off the system.

It all goes back to proper parenting.

[iceman_1960]

Anecdotal evidence aside, the more guns there are, the more homicides.

If strict gun laws were enforced everywhere in the country, is there any doubt the firearm murder rate would go down ?

But in places like Washington DC, which is a hop-skip-and-a-jump away from Virginia, it"s easy to evade the gun laws.

Put strict gun laws in place everywhere in the country.

Not a ban. Strict gun laws.

You can start by requiring evidence of a decent credit rating before someone can own a gun. Everybody is late with a payment now and then, but if you keep guns out of the hands of the inveterate deadbeats, you will eliminate a lot of the homicides.

Show me a financial deadbeat, and 99 times out of 100 I"ll show you an impulsive, irresponsible, substance-abusing, emotionally unstable person who doesn"t consider the consequences of his or her actions.

That"s just a start.

Other Constitutional rights are constrained by law. Gun owning should be too.

[emsaund1]

The law specifically forbids nutsies from owning guns.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by Iceman_1960


ICEMAN: I for one, am glad that laws are there to afford people like NUTSIE the opportunity to defend his/herself.

[iceman_1960]

The law specifically forbids nutsies from owning guns.

[emsaund1]

NUTSIE: This supports your statement. It appears that these robbers will not be robbing anyone anymore...

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2007/12/29/preston.pizza.delivery.murder.kmov

[iceman_1960]

"Yes, tough gun laws do work. Just ask the Nazis...."

...and while we"re at it, lets kick all mention of God and religion out of the schools.

Because Hitler was in favor of that.

"Secular schools can never be tolerated because such schools have no religious instruction, and a general moral instruction without a religious foundation is built on air; consequently, all character training and religion must be derived from faith."
- Adolph Hitler, April 26, 1933

Source:

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hitler