Year-end crime data reveals that more people were murdered in Baltimore that were killed in the entire Pacific Northwest states of Washington and Oregon combined in 2018, which leads one to question why gun prohibitionists on both sides of the Columbia River think the region needs more restrictions on law-abiding gun owners.
According to CNN, Chicago ended the year with 490 murders as of Tuesday morning. The good news—relatively speaking—is that this number is down for the third straight year in a row. In 2018, the Windy City racked up a body count of 564.
Turning to Baltimore, a city where Maryland’s restrictive gun control laws have done nothing to quell the violence, last year saw “at least 348 homicides,” according to the Baltimore Sun. Baltimore has become one of the nation’s most dangerous cities, where honest citizens have a difficult time getting a carry permit, while dishonest criminals don’t even bother.
By contrast, in 2018, Washington State reported 232 total homicides including 138 committed with firearms, according to the FBI Uniform Crime Report. The same year saw Oregon report 81 slayings, of which 48 were linked to guns.
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Dropping down a notch on the murder chart, Detroit reported 272 homicides in 2019. That is still more than Washington and way more than Oregon in 2018, and if murder patterns in those states continue, Detroit will still outrace them in 2020.
Still, the Seattle-based, and billionaire-backed, Alliance for Gun Responsibility is pushing for additional restrictions on honest gun owners, and Gov. Jay Inslee and Attorney General Bob Ferguson have called for a ban on future sales of so-called “assault rifles” in the state.
Down in Oregon, gun owners are facing at least three measures as 2020 unfolds, according to the Oregon Firearms Federation. Anti-gunners concentrated in the Multnomah Valley from Portland to Salem will be busy this year and so will gun owners motivated by OFF.
Yet Washington and Oregon are relatively safe places, compared to major cities in the east and Great Lakes regions.
And let’s not forget “the other Washington,” the nation’s capital, where last year saw 166 homicides, according to WTOP. That’s up 4 percent over 2018 and 50 more than recorded in 2017.
There is something going on in Washington State, however. The number of homicides is creeping upward, which it should not be if one had believed campaign rhetoric surrounding two gun control initiatives adopted in recent years. In 2014, the Alliance bankrolled I-594, a “universal background check” measure ostensibly aimed at reducing “gun violence.” In 2018, voters passed I-1639, another gun control measure aimed at regulating sale and possession of so-called “assault rifles” to young adults.
As Evergreen State gun owners head into the 2020 legislative session starting Jan. 13, it might be fair to question whether gun control has made the state more dangerous than it was before the gun control crowd weaponized the wealth of Seattle-area elitists.
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