In my latest Toronto Sun piece, co-authored with Canadian professor Gary Mauser, we examine our new research showing that Canada suffers from a remarkably high violent crime rate . The article builds on my earlier deep dive into Australia's crime rates.
Across countries, people typically focus only on crimes reported to the police. That creates a serious problem when reporting rates differ. In Canada, only about 29% of violent crimes were reported to police, while in the United States the figure was 41%. Even if both countries experienced exactly the same actual level of violent crime, the higher reporting rate in the United States would make its violent crime rate appear 41% higher than Canada's in 2019 (41% ÷ 29% = 1.41).
As a result, many people in countries such as Canada and Australia mistakenly view the United States as the uniquely dangerous country with the highest violent crime rates. As we explain in the Toronto Sun article, that misconception stems from a misunderstanding of what reported crime statistics actually measure. Reported crime rates reflect not only the amount of crime that occurs but also how often victims choose to report crimes to the police.
Gun control advocates frequently cite Australia and Canada as examples for the United States to follow. How often have you heard that the US has high gun ownership and high crime rates? The debate in those countries doesn't stay there—it shapes the debate here as well. We need to educate people in those countries about their crime rates to begin to change the debate.
I also had a related discussion on Gun Radio Utah that focused on Australia's high violent crime rate.
Great news this week from the Supreme Court when it struck down Hawaii's attempt to ban people carrying permitted concealed handguns in public places without prior approval from the property owners. We had submitted an Amicus brief in the case along with the Peace Officers Research Association of California and the California Association of Highway Patrolmen and I also had an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal on this case.
By the way, this is the 500th email blast that we have sent out since we started in 2013. I hope you find them useful. For a while, we sent out emails weekly, but eventually we scaled it back to once every two weeks.
On some good news, David Mustard, , a distinguished professor at the University of Georgia who researches extensively on crime, will be joining the CPRC in July. David was my co-author on the original research that launched by involvement in the gun control debate, and he is a very important addition to the team. David will eventually take over Carl Moody's position as our research director. Your donations helped make it possible for us to bring David on board. Thank you. Again, as I do twice a year, I have to ask for donations that keeps up running. I have an anonymous donor who will match donations up to the first $12,000 we raise. You can donate here, and thank you very much for your support!
My RealClearInvestigations research on the rapidly growing number of Americans carrying concealed handguns generated a number of media interviews. I discussed the findings on national radio programs including The Lars Larson Show, SiriusXM's Stacy on the Right, The Bill Martinez Show, and Armed American Radio, as well as on local stations such as St. Louis's KFTK. We have also continued our work into the rates that people are carrying concealed handguns in other countries, with Montenegro, in Eastern Europe, possibly having 11% of adults legally carrying a handgun for protection -- by the way, their murder rate is much lower than the rate for all of Europe.
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