Fed up with crime, some armed Detroiters have developed itchy trigger-fingers — and Detroit Police Chief James Craig said lawbreakers are getting the message.

Detroit has experienced 37-percent fewer robberies in 2014 than during the same period last year, 22-percent fewer break-ins of businesses and homes, and 30-percent fewer carjackings.

Craig attributed the drop to better police work and criminals being reluctant to prey on citizens who may be carrying guns. 

“Criminals are getting the message that good Detroiters are armed and will use that weapon,” said Craig, who has long believed that armed citizens deter crime.

“I don’t want to take away from the good work our investigators are doing,” he added. “But I think part of the drop in crime, and robberies in particular, is because criminals are thinking twice that citizens could be armed.  There’s no question in my mind it has had an effect.”

Craig made national news in January, when he told The Detroit News he believed armed citizens deter crime — what’s described as an unusual stance for an urban police chief.

Detroit resident Al Woods, a self-described former criminal who is now an anti-violence advocate and author, agreed criminals are thinking twice about attacking citizens. “If I was out there now robbing people these days, knowing there are a lot more people with guns, I know I’d have to rethink my game plan,” said 60-year-old Woods.

Through the years, various studies have reached different conclusions on whether tighter gun laws equal less crime. A 2013 study by the American Journal of Public Health found that the states with the loosest restrictions on gun ownership had the highest gun death rates. But a 2007 Harvard University study found that banning guns would not have an effect on murder rates.

 

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