Personal Defense World – February-March 2022
English | 120 pages | pdf | 86 MB
WE MIGHT BE PREACHING TO THE CHOIR, BUT THESE NUMBERS ARE WORTH A CLOSER LOOK
According to the latest FBI reports, there were 1,203,808 violent crimes and 6,925,677 property crimes in the U.S. in 2020. That comes out to 8,129,485 total crimes or, doing thea math, roughly one crime committed every 4 seconds.
Compare that to the average police response times offered by several juris-dictions: 20 minutes for the LAPD, 7.7 minutes for the NYPD, 8 minutes for the Dallas Police Department and 7 minutes for the Seattle Police Department. The average for all four of those cities comes out to 10.8 minutes, which means close to 200 crimes can potentially be com-mitted before the police can respond. So, in short, while crime happens in seconds, help can be minutes away. It’s no wonder many people have taken their safety into their own hands.
Which brings us to guns. Can they affect our violent and property crime rates? According to the FBI, there were 21 million NICS firearms checks in 2014 and 26.2 million in 2018. Some might say it’s the same people buying the guns, but I like to believe many newcomers are becoming responsible for their own safety and well-being. Looking at some more FBI reports, we see that violent crime rates declined by 4.3 percent from 2014 to 2018 while property crimes went down by 7.2 percent.
What does this all mean? It means that law enforcement is mostly reactive to any crime that is committed, and a lot of un-known factors can inhibit their responses. You are your best defense, and your best option is to get out of a bad situation. Your chances of not being victimized increase dramatically when you’re properly armed, trained and aware of your surroundings. Yes, even at home. This is why we put together Personal Defense World Magazine.
We live in a great country—one that recognizes our right to defend ourselves. It’s the same reason you have a spare tire in the car or a fire extinguisher in the kitchen. Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. Find what’s right for you, get the training and put in the practice to avoid becoming another statistic for the FBI. — Linas Cernauskas
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