By John Hood
RALEIGH — While North Carolina continues to outperform the rest of the country on a range of economic and social indicators, its leaders can’t afford to overlook a flashing red light on the state’s dashboard: violent crime.
According to the latest FBI data, our urban areas continue to experience rising rates. Comparing the first quarter of 2022 to the first quarter of 2021, violent crime was up 23% in Raleigh, 22% in Greensboro and Fayetteville, 7% in Durham and Wilmington, and 6% in Winston-Salem. Charlotte’s 2% increase looks comparatively tame, but it came after a bigger jump the previous year.
More generally, North Carolina’s rate of violent crime was significantly below the national average from 2009 to 2018. It shot up dramatically in 2019 to 379 reported crimes per 100,000 residents, close to the national average of 381, and then again in 2020 to 419, blowing past the national average of 399.
The immediate victims were those murdered or attacked, plus family members, friends, and neighbors. But the damage extends beyond them. Many North Carolinians now feel less safe. That, in turn, affects their decisions about where to live, work, and spend money. And if violent crime remains more prevalent in our state than in the rest of the country, that will likely have serious economic and social consequences for North Carolina down the road.
So, what should we do about this?
Let’s start with two reality checks. First, the problem is multifaceted and not easily jammed into a partisan political frame. The surge appears to be confined to violent crimes, for example, and more specifically to homicides and aggravated assaults.
When it comes to property crimes — burglary, larceny, motor-vehicle theft, etc. — North Carolina’s rate went down in 2020, not up. Indeed, our property-crime rate has been declining fairly steadily since the early 1990s. It’s down 35% in the past decade alone. While violent crimes are more likely to be reported to law enforcement than property crimes, the effect isn’t large enough to explain such a divergence in the trend lines.
Did the tumultuous events of 2020 contribute to the surge in violence? That’s certainly plausible. The raucous protests we saw in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death may have been well-intentioned, but they created incentives for law enforcement to pull back from neighborhoods where a disproportionate share of violence occurs. The COVID pandemic itself could have contributed to the problem, as well, by reducing “eyes on the street” and accentuating the mental stresses that lead some to lash out violently.
My second reality check is about guns. Most violent crimes are also gun crimes, yes, but the weapon of choice is almost always a handgun. Whatever you think of banning “assault weapons,” its effect on violent crime would be negligible. As for banning or radically restricting the ownership of handguns, I’d view the constitutional and political barriers as insurmountable even if I favored such a policy, which I don’t.
More practical solutions exist. Even when it comes to guns, most North Carolinians would likely favor stronger measures to keep guns out of the hands of minors and the mentally ill, to crack down on “straw purchases” and other illegal trafficking, and to toughen penalties for those who use guns to commit crimes.
Speaking of behavioral health, I believe there is broad support for spending more tax dollars on community-based treatment for mental illness and drug addiction, including for the kinds of faith-based programs that tend to produce the most-lasting results. North Carolina communities can also employ such bread-and-butter solutions as installing more streetlights, keeping existing lights in better repair, installing gates in alleyways, and restoring vacant lots to productive use or at least “greening them over” with grass, trees, and gardens.
We were never going to “defund the police.” As Manhattan Institute analyst Charles Fain Lehman put it, policing remains “the heart of American crime control” because of its “proven efficacy.” Still, there are other tools in our toolbox. Let’s use them.
John Hood is a John Locke Foundation board member. His latest books, Mountain Folk and Forest Folk, combine epic fantasy with early American history (FolkloreCycle.com).
Any crime should be dealt with immediately and with timely convictions resulting in appropriate penalties to get bad people out of society. Incarceration should not be a financial burden for government or its people. Free labor should make money, not set you back. Don’t want to work? Bread and water! Crime really starts in the home with weak families who do not discipline. That is where prevention should begin with more serious consequences for liberal parents who allow their children to run amuck.
Mandatory firearm registration – owner has registration card that lists all weapons
No transfers unless done through a registration office
New purchases must be picked up at registration office
Mandatory firearm safes; only registered owner will have combination
Waiting period for firearm purchase extended to indefinite to allow all paperwork to pass
People under 21 prohibited from owning firearms (hunting under supervision of the registered gun owner is allowed)
Extensive mental evaluation
Mandatory liability insurance for firearms
Ammo purchases made only for the caliber firearm specified on registration
Max pistol magazine capacity of 8 rounds.
No detachable magazine fed, center fire, semi-auto rifles allowed. Only fixed internal feed of 8 rounds or less.
80% gun kits banned. (No serial number)
Required reporting of stolen firearms within four hours of discovery
And if a firearm registered to you is used in a crime, you do the time for the crime.
Unless it was stolen from your gun safe and you reported it within 4 hours of discovery.
Naive as always. Your suggestions would only apply to law abiding citizens. Crimanal elements would still secure weapons. Almost 400 million small arms owned legally in US, not to mention those owned illegally.
Swift and public punishment for those who maim and kill with weapons would deter such acts of violence. But most people, as probably you, don’t believe in public executions.
What type of public executions? Firing squads? Guillotines? Hanging? Lethal injections? Please — bring any of them on for anyone who is convicted of maiming or killing with weapons. And show the best public executions every evening on the news and as a live feed on C-SPAN.
Did you vote for Tillis?
So your response to rising crime and violence is to make it harder for law abiding citizens to defend themselves against criminals? Yea that makes sense. Guns are not the problem. They are inanimate and incapable of doing anything by themselves. Take a brick for example. In the hands of a skilled worker they can create a library, museum,hospital, school, auditorium. In the hands of a deranged lunatic they can crush a skull, car windshield, store front. The brick isn’t the problem, it’s the person who holds it. We need to hold criminals accountable instead of excusing their behavior on upbringing, abuse, economic status etc. if judges stop letting criminals out on parole or shortening their sentences and hold them accountable , that would go a long way to stopping violence. Most people who commit a crime had a very light sentence the first time. Maybe, just maybe having mandatory sentences for crimes could help.
So it’s the judges who are responsible for the violence since they are letting criminals “out on parole or shortening their sentences.”
How about this as an ultimate compromise: Firearms license for every gun owner, mimicking the current CCW requirements here in NC. No purchase of any firearm or any ammunition without it. With it, anyone can purchase any firearm they want, or any kind of ammunition. In return, we repeal the NFA, GCA, and institution 50-state constitutional carry. Deal?
Wanna fix it? It’s easy. Start by undoing LBJs Model Cities policies that broke the nuclear family. Reform SNAP, WIC, and TANF to be offered only to married couples below the poverty line, orphans and widows. Had a baby out of wedlock? Sue for child support and let the courts handle it. Our welfare policies literally reward single parenthood, and replace Daddies with Uncle Sam.
Do what the Chinese do and carry out summary executions. As much as I despise their government, those accused of capital offenses over there don’t tie up their courts with endless appeals.
The arrest of the men connected with Ned Byrd are a perfect example of how the legal system has failed. This was not the first crime for any of them. Neighbors have stated they have a history of violence and crime but rather than hold them accountable…they let them bounce. I’d be interested in knowing other pertinent information about these individuals… I’d be willing to make a bet about them.
To NC Gal, I couldn’t disagree more. All those items you list would shackle any possibility of self defense and any possibility of a good guy with a gun preventing mayhem in their community. Less shudder at the fact that the government knows as much as they do about us already. I miss my liberties already. Parents and God are the beginning of a civil society, that’s truth.
Hunmmmm I guess all those school shooters were criminals when they went out and legally purchase the assault rifles and killed those students and teachers. There needs to be and age and waiting period for the purchase of any gun. Just like there is an age and waiting period to have and abortion. Yep I said that!!!!