While listening to one radio station the other day, 1210 WPHT in Philly, a caller or the host brought up the point that we dont have all this gun violence in rural areas where firearms are used more often for their intended purposes such as hunting and marksmanship. That point may be not as clear cut as it seems but there is an underlying truth to it. Why should areas of the country pay for reduced access to firearms because urban areas are violence and murder sinks?
Yes, I understand there are massive population density issues associated with violence but its a fact there are more murders in urban areas of a state than the remaining areas combined.
In 2019 there were 414 murders in Pennsylvania as a whole. 330 of them occurred in Pittsburgh and Philly alone, the remaining happened in other 736 municipalities the state has. Just sayin. Of the 330 murders, 273 were in Philly and 57 in Pittsburgh.
The population distribution is right here so you can make your own judgement as to the validity of the radio station’s claim:
Total PA Pop: 12.8 M
Philly and Pitts: 1.8 M
That is 14% of the total Pop
But 79.7% of ALL Murders
* Source: FBI. https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2016/crime-in-the-u.s.-2016/tables/table-6/table-6-state-cuts/pennsylvania
That said. Conservatives do seem to take things a bit far by wanting to impose their values on others, the very thing they are fighting against. At least that is how it appears when national GOP leaders are calling for such measures. The issue of armed teachers and “gun free zones” is a great example of this duality. Many GOP politicians advocate for armed teachers and personnel in schools that act as a deterrent, while democrats often want increased gun control that is preventive in nature. In a nation with over 300 million firearms in circulation how preventive can a policy be? Just sayin.
Maybe its time to return to allowing local governments, something the GOP traditionally has been a supporter of, to determine their own laws. But with local governments suffering from the fiscal impacts of COVID these issues will remain on the back burner until the next massacre.
