" 

  
 :Oh, that's because they don't. Or more precisely, because the ""More Guns Less Crime"" faction can't get the difference straight between number of crimes and number of crimes per capita: 
 :Regional Offense Trends and Rates  
 :The UCR Program divides the United States into four regions: the Northeast, the Midwest, the South, and the West. A map of the United States delineating the regions is included in Appendix III. Estimated crime volume, rates, and percent changes by region are published in Table 4.  

                            per 100,000  
              violent crime                 murder  
 northeast       416.5   -2.80%            4.1   -3.70%  
 midwest         424.9   -1.40%            5.1   -3.50%  
 west            508.2   -2.10%            5.8   +4.10%  
 south           571.0   -2.00%            6.8   +0.70%  

 :. 
 :The gun-banning northeast has the lowest violent crime rate, the lowest murder rate, the steepest decline in violent crime, and the steepest decline in murder rates. The second-amendment-loving south has the highest violent crime rate, the highest murder rate, the second lowest decrease in violent crime rate, and the second highest *increase* in murder rate.  

 :Include property crime? 
 :The FBI's Crime Index rate reflects the total number of offenses per 100,000 residents. According to the FBI, the national Crime Index rate for 2002 was 4,118. The Northeast region of the United States had the lowest crime of the four regions, with a rate of 2,889 offenses per 100,000 population. The next lowest region was the Midwest, with a Crime Index rate of 3,883 offenses. The Western region followed with a rate of 4,418 offenses, while the Southern region showed the highest crime rate of 4,722 offenses per 100,000 residents.  

  
 100 Largest Metro Areas 
 (Ranked in order from Least to Most Crime)  
  Nassau-Suffolk NY  
  Middlesex-Somerset-Hunterdon NJ  
  Ventura CA  
  Monmouth-Ocean NJ  
  Bergen-Passaic NJ  
  Scranton-Wilkes-Barre-Hazleton PA  
  Harrisburg-Lebanon-Carlisle PA  
  San Jose CA  
  Pittsburgh PA  
  Orange County CA  
  Ann Arbor MI  
  Albany-Schenectady-Troy NY  
  Boston MA-NH-ME  
  New York NY  
  Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton PA  
  Syracuse NY  
  Philadelphia PA-NJ  
  Hartford CT  
  Rochester NY  
  Newark NJ  
  Buffalo-Niagara Falls NY  
  San Diego CA  
  Providence-Fall River-Warwick RI-MA  
  Jersey City NJ  
  Grand Rapids-Muskegon-Holland MI  
  Cleveland-Lorain-Elyria OH  
  San Francisco CA  
  New Haven-Meriden CT  
 ... 
 St. Louis 	 MO-IL 
 Salt Lake City-Ogden 	 UT 
 Wichita 	 KS 
 Mobile 	 AL 
 Houston 	 TX 
 Nashville 	 TN 
 Orlando 	 FL 
 Fresno 	 CA 
 McAllen-Edinburg-Mission 	 TX 
 Fort Worth-Arlington 	 TX 
 Charleston-North Charleston 	 SC 
 Jacksonville 	 FL 
 Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill 	 NC-SC 
 Dallas 	 TX 
 Omaha 	 NE-IA 
 Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater 	 FL 
 Columbia 	 SC 
 Toledo 	 OH 
 Albuquerque 	 NM 
 Tacoma 	 WA 
 Columbus 	 OH 
 Kansas City 	 MO-KS 
 West Palm Beach-Boca Raton 	 FL 
 Honolulu 	 HI 
 Oklahoma City 	 OK 
 Stockton-Lodi 	 CA 
 Baton Rouge 	 LA 
 San Antonio 	 TX 
 Little Rock-North Little Rock 	 AR 
 Phoenix-Mesa 	 AZ 
 Miami 	 FL 
 Memphis 	 TN-AR-MS 
 Tucson 	 AZ 

 : 
 :Does a pattern emerge? 

 The cities listed here are the 114 Mid-sized Metropolitan Statistical Areas, ranging in population from approximately 500,000 to 200,000. 
 114 Mid-size Areas 
 (Ranked in order from Least to Most Crime)  
 Danbury 	 CT 
 Stamford-Norwalk 	 CT 
 Johnstown 	 PA 
 Dutchess County 	 NY 
 Portsmouth-Rochester 	 NH-ME 
 Lowell 	 MA-NH 
 Lawrence 	 MA-NH 
 Newburgh 	 NY-PA 
 Lynchburg 	 VA 
 Appleton-Oshkosh-Neenah 	 WI 
 Manchester 	 NH 
 York 	 PA 
 Erie 	 PA 
 Santa Barbara-Santa Maria-Lompoc 	 CA 
 Binghamton 	 NY 
 Worcester 	 MA-CT 
 New London-Norwich 	 CT-RI 
 Lancaster 	 PA 
 Green Bay 	 WI 
 San Luis Obispo-Atascadero-Paso Robles 	 CA 
 Utica-Rome 	 NY 
 Brazoria 	 TX 
 Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers 	 AR 
 Portland 	 ME 
 Reading 	 PA 
 Brockton 	 MA 
 Roanoke 	 VA 
 Santa Rosa 	 CA 
 ... 
 Anchorage 	 AK 
 Lakeland-Winter Haven 	 FL 
 Longview-Marshall 	 TX 
 Kalamazoo-Battle Creek 	 MI 
 Beaumont-Port Arthur 	 TX 
 Chattanooga 	 TN-GA 
 South Bend 	 IN 
 Biloxi-Gulfpo