By a slight margin, the nation’s violent crime rate decreased in 2012–relative to 2011–making it the lowest it has been since 1970.
Compared to 1991, when it hit an all-time high, violent crime is down by 49 percent. The nation’s murder rate was unchanged in 2012; still lower than any time since 1963 and at nearly an all-time low.
Between 2011 and 2012, 24 states and the District of Columbia experienced decreases in their murder rates. There was no correlation of these trends with the severity of the states’ or the District’s gun control laws. Troubled Detroit, under Michigan’s law requiring a permit to purchase a handgun, had the highest murder rate among large cities, followed by Baltimore, under Maryland’s law imposing a seven-day waiting period on handgun purchases. But there was no relationship between other large cities’ murder rates and their gun control laws.
