Strong Gun Control, High Homicide Rate:US Virgin Islands

[Dean Weingarten]

Guns are Tightly Controlled, but The U.S. Virgin Islands has one of the Highest Homicide Rates in the World

Not counted as a state or a city, the U.S. Virgin Islands is often missed in statistics about gun control in the United States.

Gun ownership is tightly regulated, with permission to own a gun only granted by the Police Commissioner upon application, and subject to the Commissioner's Discretion. Even antique firearms, which are not regulated under U.S. Federal law, are not allowed unless they are inspected and "rendered useless".

476. Collections of antique firearms; certificates of uselessness.

No provision hereof shall prevent that private collections of antique firearms, which may not be used as weapons. be preserved and maintained and that their owners possess them as ornaments or as matters of curiosity, nor the collections of firearms kept as relics, but for the preservation of any weapon of those included in this section the prior inspection thereof and approval therefor by the Commissioner shall be necessary and he shall render such firearms unless, so that the same may not be used as such. The Commissioner shall issue a certificate of uselessness of all the weapons possessed under the provisions of this section, and the possession of any firearm not included in said certificate shall be subject to all the provisions hereof. ****

In spite of, or perhaps because of, the extremely restrictive firearms laws in the U.S. Virgin Islands, the homicide rate may have been the highest in the United States in 2010, exceeding that of New Orleans or Washington, D.C., cities that often vie for the dubious distinction.

In 2010, Washington,D.C. had a murder rate of about 38 per 100,000. New Orleans had a a murder rate of 58 per 100,000.

The U.S. Virgin Islands, with a population of only 110,000, had a murder rate of 60 per 100,000.

The murder rate dropped in 2011, and rose again in 2012, averaging 45 per 100,000 for the three years. This is still one of the highest murder rates in the world.

Because the U.S. Virgin Islands are not a state, and not a city, most statistical crime analysis miss it completely.

Murder rates are primarily related to culture, not to the instruments used or to gun laws.

©2013 by Dean Weingarten Permission to share granted as long as this notice is included.

http://gunwatch.blogspot.com/2013/05/strong-gun-control-high-homicide-rateus.html

 

[Dean Weingarten]

If anyone knows how to reduce the picture size to about 1/4 of what it is, I would appreciate it.

 

[Cosmoline]

Is it necessary? Just load it as an attachment, and stop trying to hyperlink.

 

[HOOfan_1]

Go to tinypic.com and you can reduce the image size. 800x600 is a good size

 

[r1derbike]

Here ya' go. Click on the thumbnail to enlarge, right click it to save as to your computer, then upload it as an attachment with your advanced forum tools. I'll kill the image later if you do that or use some other method. Then I'll write some supportive blather in this post about not wanting to go to the virgin isles.

 

[Dean Weingarten]

That is much better.

 

[oneounceload]

That depends on which island you are talking about - St. Thomas has some serious issues, as does St. Croix - but St. John is a very calm and peaceful place by comparison.

These people pay Federal taxes, but are not allowed to vote in Federal elections - some taxation without representation issue, eh?

You have high costs of living and fairly low wages. You have a LOT of drugs flowing through on their way to the mainland. Poverty and drugs lead to high crime - look at any major city and see where the majority of the crime happens

 

[Logan5]

"Certificates of Uselessness" sound horrifying.

And indeed, it's important to keep in mind that you can't effectively shortcut the social, economic, political, etc factors that lead to violence by "nerfing" the ability to act out in an antisocial way.