Baltimore Ends Year 2012 With 216 Murders

What a proud year 2012 was for the city of Baltimore.  There were only 216 murders in the city.  That's only one murder every 42 hours.  Unfortunately, that's 10% more murders than last year.

By comparison, Washington D.C. had 88 murders.  Granted, Washington, D.C. proper only has 97% of the population as Baltimore, so it should have less murders, right?  60% less?  Hmmm...is there a problem here?  And to top it off, guns aren't even legal in Washington, D.C. (though a Supreme Court decision ruled that law un-Constitutional, the process to acquire a gun permit in Washington, D.C. remains practically impossible).  Doesn't liberal logic dictate that if guns are illegal, then there should be no gun violence?

How about comparably sized cities?  St. Louis is similar in size.  In 2012 they had 113 murders.  Over the past 12 years the most homicides they have recorded is 167 in 2008.  Tamp is a little larger than Baltimore, but I cannot find total homicides for 2012.  However, between 1999 and 2010, the recorded as few as 20 in 2005 and 2009, and as many as 41 in 2003.  What a dangerous year!  I think Baltimore has recorded that many homicides in one month.

Denver, slightly smaller than Baltimore, recorded 25 homicides in 2012.

In 2011, the most murder happy cities were, in order (city-proper only):  New York (515, though with more than 8 million people), Chicago (431, 2.7 million people), Detroit (344, 706,000 people), Philadelphia (324, 1.5 million people), Los Angeles (3.8 million people), New Orleans (200, 360,000 people), and Houston (198, 2.1 million).  So looking at this information, only New Orleans gave Baltimore a run for its money.

Is there any wonder that Baltimore's real nickname is Bodymore, Murderland?  Or that we're known as the City that Bleeds?