This Week from AAI

  

Gun Permit Holders Do Less Crime, Americans Are The Most Generous, & A Look at 2011

The Arkansas Project 
David Kinkade writes about the deceitful attempt by the New York Timesand Max Brantley at the Arkansas Times to paint permit-holding gun owners as criminals. More about the story is below.   

NYT Scare Story About Carry Permit Holders Shows They Are Remarkably Law-Abiding

A front-page story in the New York Times tried to stir up alarm about liberalized carry permit laws. To illustrate the hazards of that policy, the Times cites crimes committed by permit holders in North Carolina. How many crimes? Excluding traffic offenses, the Times counts 2,400 over five years, of which 200 were felonies. More relevant (since critics of nondiscretionary permit laws worry that they contribute to gun violence), "More than 200 permit holders were also convicted of gun- or weapon-related felonies or misdemeanors, including roughly 60 who committed weapon-related assaults." By comparison, about 0.35 percent of all Americans are convicted of a felony each year--more than 20 times the rate among North Carolina permit holders. It seems clear these people are far more law-abiding than the general population, a finding consistent with data from other states. Read more here from Jacob Sullum at Reason.

'Things Happened'

What better way to celebrate the new year than to recap some of stories we get to leave behind? Jacob Sullum provides some highlights of "responsibility deflection" in 2011. Perhaps we might suggest "accepting responsibility for my own actions" as a new year's resolution for those in power... Read more here at Reason.

Resisting Euro-Bailouts

Margaret Thatcher once said that the problem with European socialism was that it would eventually run out of other people's money. That is a good summation of what has happened with today's euro crisis. The politicians across the water have run out of other people's money in their own countries, so now they want other nations to foot the bill. Topping the list of potential suckers is the United States. Many Republicans in Congress want nothing to do with any more taxpayer bailouts. Over 60 House Republicans have signed on to legislation to pull back on U.S. funding of the IMF. Read more from John Fund here at National Review.

For Public Safety, A New Golden Age

Crime has never subsided as a topic for local news or prime-time detective shows. Anyone looking for reasons to fear going out of the house can find plenty. But the truth is our streets are safer than they have been in a long time.

The latest evidence came last week, when the FBI reported that in the first half of 2011, "violent crimes were down 6.4 percent, while property crimes fell 3.7 percent." Murder declined by 5.7 percent, rape by 5.1 percent, and robbery by 7.7 percent. Read more here at Reason from Steve Chapman.

The Class Warfare We Need

Voters are faced with an apparent dilemma, a contest between the two powerful emotions of envy and fear: should we let our envy of the supposedly too-wealthy, too-powerful "rich" outweigh our fear of damaging the economy's ability to create private sector jobs? Which side should we take in the unfolding class war: the Democrats' message exploiting envy, or the Republicans' message exploiting fear? It's a difficult dilemma-but, fortunately, it's also a false dilemma. Read more here from Steve Conover at the American.

America The Generous

After the Britain-based Charities Aid Foundation released a survey this week that ranked the U.S. first in generous citizens among nations of the world, Jason L. Riley contacted Adam Meyerson of the Philanthropy Roundtable for a reaction. Given the economic hardships of so many Americans in recent years, was he surprised by the results? Read more by Jason Riley here at the Wall Street Journal.

Paul Ryan's Old-Fashioned American Vision

When you think of Republican congressman Paul Ryan, terms like earnest, serious, and important come to mind. So does the term old-fashioned. Ryan comes from an old-fashioned place, the blue-collar town of Janesville, Wisconsin. He cherishes the old-fashioned values of a faithful family man. He even looks old-fashioned, with his white shirts and striped ties. And he uses old-fashioned argument skills, persuasively weaving big-picture themes with the numbers that back them up. Read more from Larry Kudlow here at National Review.

Is Obamacare Stopping Businesses From Hiring?

President Obama says his health care "reform" will be good for business.

Business has learned the truth. Three successful businessmen went on John Stossel's tv show last week to explain how Obamacare is a reason that unemployment stays high. Its length and complexity make businessmen wary of expanding. Read more here from John Stossel at Reason.

Holder's Voter ID Fraud

In Attorney General Eric Holder's telling, the movement in the states to require voters to show some ID is a revival of minority disenfranchisement a la Jim Crow. A growing number of minorities, he said in a speech last week, are now worried about "the same disparities, divisions and problems" that beset the country in 1965 and "many Americans, for the first time in their lives . . . now have reason to believe that we are failing to live up" to the promise of democracy for all. If you haven't heard about this national crisis, perhaps that's because you don't travel in Mr. Holder's political circles. He is merely repeating the howls of groups like the NAACP and the George Soros-funded Brennan Center, which claim without evidence that voter ID laws hurt minorities. Read more here from the Wall Street Journal.

A Libertarian Year Ahead?

As 2011 draws to a close, we wonder: Is freedom winning? Did America become freer this year? Less free? How about the rest of the world? John Stossel fears Thomas Jefferson was right when he said, "The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." That's what's happened. Bush and Obama doubled spending and increased regulation. Government's intrusiveness is always more, never less. The state grows, and freedom declines. But there were bright spots. Read more here from John Stossel at Reason to find out what those bright spots were.