Lewis Black needs to do a New York vs. Virginia video. Virginia — don’t bleep with New York.
This week Mayor Bloomberg blasted Virginia for being the biggest supplier of guns used in crimes in New York.
Bloomberg railed that 90% of all guns used in city crimes in 2011 came from other states — and that more of them came from Virginia than anywhere else, including the weapon that killed NYPD officer Peter Figoski in December of that year.
“We’re getting killed, and we’re getting killed with guns … from elsewhere,†Bloomberg charged.
This has been a problem for years in New York. It’s just way too easy for gun runners to buy a trunk full of firearms in the South and drive them up to New York. But then …
The office of Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell tried to turn the tables, arguing that Virginia’s “homicide and robbery (rates) are significantly lower than New York City’s.â€
McDonnell spokeswoman Taylor Keeney then took a patronizing swipe at the Big Apple.
“We wish the mayor well as he attempts to address these issues within his home state and we hope he won’t hesitate to call on us if our law enforcement agencies can be of assistance in ensuring public safety in New York City,†she sniffed.
I doubt the NYPD needs any assistance from any candy-ass Virginia law enforcement agencies. However …
But the Daily News checked the numbers — and McDonnell isn’t facing facts.
New York State, with 3.5 murders per 100,000 people, had a lower murder rate than Virginia, which had 3.9 killings for every 100,000 people.
And, McDonnell, who is busy with a scandal over accepting loans and gifts from a businessman, overlooked the mayhem in his own backyard. Virginia’s capital, Richmond, where McDonnell lives, had 20.2 murders per 100,000 residents last year — four times the murder rate of New York City.
Maybe Richmond could use some help from the NYPD.
A spokesperson for the lying, weaseling state of Virginia tried to slither out of this little oopsie by arguing that Virginia has about the same population as New York City, and if you compare New York City to all of Virginia, NYC has higher crime rates.
Criminologists trashed Virginia’s argument.
“You don’t compare cities with states. They are different entities,†said criminologist James Fox of Northeastern University.
“Urban areas have higher crimes rates. States have lots of rural areas and small towns that have lower crime rates. It’s like comparing apples to fruit salad,†he said.
This may be a stretch:
And Bloomberg spokesman Kamran Mumtaz noted that strong gun laws in the city have helped to make New York “the safest big city in the country.â€
It’s certainly true that New York City is among the safest big cities in the country, but if you call it “the safest” you have to qualify what you mean by “big” and what you mean by “safe.” Manhattan has Wall Street, after all. But if you just look at homicide rates of cities with at least 2 million people, yeah, New York wins, beating Chicago, Houston, and Los Angeles. If you look at overall violent crime in cities of at least 250,000, New York City still looks pretty good, with below average violent crime rates.
And it would be even safer if Virginia weren’t supplying criminals with guns.
But, don’t you see, the fact that NY has gun control makes them LESS safe because the people (criminals) who want guns will just get them anyway, but if NYers were able to buys guns legally, fewer criminals would have guns…
Or, something…
…freedumb!
But much of the focus on crime – and discussion – feeds into right-wing narratives, if only because they divert away from other crimes. As you said, Manhattan has Wall Street, where the biggest crimes happen, and the only guy who got prosecuted committed the crime of stealing from the wealthy.
Facts, have a notoriously Liberal bias, there, Gov. McDonLetTheDoorHitYouInTheAssOnYourWayOut!
And on top of everything else, our state motto in NY, beats your violent state motto:
“Excelsior” v. “Sic Semper Tyrannis.”
I’d rather be associated with “Loftier, yet higher – ever upward,” than “Thus ever unto to tyrants!”
And Mr. Booth didn’t shout “EXCELSIOR!!!” – “Loftier, yet higher – ever upward,” when he killed one of our greatest Presidents.
He chose VA’s state motto, “Thus ever unto to tyrants,” mistaking, as many Secesh still do, freeing people from bondage solely on account of their race, with tyranny.
And to this day, Conservatives think that other people’s rights and freedom, mean tyranny – without realizing that they are the ones who are tyrants.
Keep your guns in VA, Gov. McCorrupt. Frankly, I’m surprised the patriots in your state even allow for guns to be shipped to us Yankees! I’d think they’d want to keep them all in-state, less some Northern “Blah” people get a hold of them, or we decide we’ve had enough of your Southern Secesh BS, and come down and finish what Lincoln, Grant, and Sherman, were too kind and forgiving to finish.
There’s still plenty of trees to hang the Secesh from, this time around! We won’t make the same mistake twice. It’ll be tough for survivors to “Reconstruct” ashes sown with salt.
But, I kid about that last part.
I do kid, don’t I?
Oh yes. It’s snark…
New Yawk rules !
Wait — the Daily News did some fact-checking??
Headline news there. But it’s wonderful what daring things people can do when they expect the results to come out in their favor.
They just need to watch out. As Stan Freberg said in connection with Brotherhood Week,
Let’s give in and all do the brotherhood bit,
Just as long as we don’t make a habit of it.
(It was nominally in connection with the first Thanksgiving, when it was advantageous to Take an Indian to Lunch, but one suspects hidden messages in the lyric.)
The 90% figure is interesting. This post got me off on a tour of the NRA funhouse, and I found another 90% here. This is His Majesty Wayne LaPierre spouting the most transparent nonsense about the Fast and Furious “scandal.”
And he goes on to insist those guns aren’t coming from the US, no sir, they’re coming from China, Russia, Central America, some of them are being shipped in spacecraft from the Outer Satellites. But the only way the cartels are going to get guns from los Estados Unidos is if they’re being smuggled in by black people.