"More Guns, Less Crime in South Florida"

NBC Miami has borrowed the title of my book for their news story, but I am not upset. There story along with a clip from what was shown on TV is available here. Ideally, one wants to compare Florida's drop relative to the national average and see how the increase in Florida's permit issuance compares. Violent crime in Miami-Dade fell by 7 percent in 2010 compared to 2009. In Broward, the drop was slightly over 10 percent. Nationally, the drop in violent crime was 5.5 percent. It is pretty safe to say that with Florida now having 843,463 valid active permit holders, that the state has had one of the biggest increase in the issuance of permits in the country. So I think that Florida is probably showing what NBC says.

From the west Miami-Dade park shooting last month where four children were injured to the senseless killing of a young mother at a check cashing store in Broward last week, it appears South Florida has seen an unusual amount of gun violence this summer.

Local law enforcement officials say there's no doubt that guns are more prevalent on the streets and are easier to come by.

"We are seeing that people are able to get their hands on more high-powered weaponry," said Delrish Moss, spokesman for the City of Miami Police Department.

But while there are more guns on the streets, crime isn't on the rise in the state or South Florida, especially during the hot summer months.

"I think that's a myth more than anything," said Moss of the theory that violent crimes spike during the summer. "What happens is we do get more mischief with kids involved."


Overall, violent crime is on a downward trend in South Florida, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

In 2009, Miami-Dade County reported 19,797 violent crimes, but by 2010 that number was down to 18,507. In Broward, there were 9,562 violent crimes in 2009 and 8,597 in 2010. . . .