Examiner Editorial: Obama plays politics with gun control

Published January 16, 2013 5:00am ET



After four years of President Obama’s leadership, government spending is up by almost $1 trillion. The federal debt is up almost $6 trillion. Poverty is up, as is the number of Americans looking for work. Meanwhile, median family net worth is down, as is median family income. Indeed, nearly every aspect of Americans’ lives has deteriorated since Obama took office, with or without his involvement.

But there has been one unambiguous bright spot in the Obama era: Violent crime is down. In 2008, 14,224 Americans were murdered, 9,538 of them by firearms. In 2011, the most recent year for which data are available, only 12,664 Americans were murdered, and just 8,583 of those deaths were caused by a firearm. For comparison’s sake, more than 32,000 Americans died in automobile accidents that same year.

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