After a nice stint of declining gun-related crimes Minneapolis suffered a notable increase last year:
Gun incidents rose 40 percent in Minneapolis last year, the first significant jump in years following a long-term downward trend in gun-related cases.
The gun incidents in the city report being released Wednesday include people being shot or shot at, reports of gunshot wounds or a gun used in a crime.
It wouldn’t surprise me if gun control advocates started blaming those of us who carry firearms for defensive purposes and the lack of gun control laws passing in St. Paul’s most notorious marble building. If that happens I will deservedly rip their claims apart. But the take away from this story, in my opinion, is that it’s still a good idea to carry a firearm.
I do hope that this is a statistical anomaly and the downward trend that was being enjoyed years prior picks up again.
Update: 2014-04-23: 16:50: As it turns out the initial calculations were in error:
A department spokesman said this afternoon that crime analysts discovered a flaw in the data and that new calculations found an 8 percent increase, not 40 percent, in gun incidents from 2012 to 2013.
So it doesn’t look like things are as bad as they first appeared. Granted, I still don’t like going to Minneapolis but that’s mostly because I hate trying to find parking.
I also want to thank Paul for forwarding me this information.