Statistic for places that I go regularly enough to be concerned about:
Berwick crime statistics report an overall upward trend in crime based on data from 9 years with violent crime increasing and property crime increasing.
Clarks Summit crime statistics report an overall upward trend in crime based on data from 2 years with violent crime increasing and property crime increasing.
Dallas Township crime statistics report an overall downward trend in crime based on data from 5 years with violent crime decreasing and property crime increasing.
Dalton crime statistics report an overall upward trend in crime based on data from 2 years with violent crime increasing and property crime increasing.
Duryea crime statistics report an overall upward trend in crime based on data from 2 years with violent crime increasing and property crime increasing.
Forty Fort crime statistics report an overall upward trend in crime based on data from 5 years with violent crime increasing and property crime increasing.
Hanover crime statistics report an overall upward trend in crime based on data from 11 years with violent crime increasing and property crime increasing.
Harrisburg crime statistics report an overall upward trend in crime based on data from 10 years with violent crime increasing and property crime decreasing.
Harveys Lake crime statistics report an overall upward trend in crime based on data from 2 years with violent crime decreasing and property crime increasing.
Hazleton crime statistics report an overall upward trend in crime based on data from 7 years with violent crime increasing and property crime decreasing.
Jermyn crime statistics report an overall upward trend in crime based on data from 4 years with violent crime increasing and property crime increasing.
Kingston Township crime statistics report an overall downward trend in crime based on data from 5 years with violent crime increasing and property crime decreasing.
Larksville crime statistics report an overall upward trend in crime based on data from 3 years with violent crime increasing and property crime increasing.
Meshoppen crime statistics report an overall upward trend in crime based on data from 2 years with violent crime increasing and property crime increasing.
Moosic crime statistics report an overall upward trend in crime based on data from 5 years with violent crime decreasing and property crime increasing.
West Pittston crime statistics report an overall upward trend in crime based on data from 5 years with violent crime increasing and property crime increasing.
Wilkes-Barre Township crime statistics report an overall upward trend in crime based on data from 5 years with violent crime decreasing and property crime increasing.
Wyoming crime statistics report an overall downward trend in crime based on data from 4 years with violent crime decreasing and property crime increasing.
Scranton crime statistics report an overall upward trend in crime based on data from 9 years with violent crime increasing and property crime increasing.

OK, so those are statistics, you can see that there is an upward trend in smaller towns near us. I also know I left several out, but if they showed an overall downward trend with violent crimes and property crimes both decreasing I left them out (and I’m sure there are some that I didn’t even look at).
Here are a couple of stories from recent new around us:
Edwardsville shooting victims ID’d – so there was a shooting Wednesday night in Edwardsville.
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Man charged with shooting at cop
Prosecutor: Police, firefighter abused Pa. teen
Old Forge police chief arrested (on charges he had sex with a 15-year-old girl)

From the Times Leader’s Police Blotter:
– Victoria Lopez reported someone kicked in a door to her apartment in Hanover Village and stole items. The burglary occurred sometime in the last three weeks.
– Police are investigating a robbery of an 82-year-old woman whose purse was stolen from her on Mine Street at about 3:35 p.m. Tuesday. A dark-skinned male, about 5 feet, 6 inches tall wearing a blue hooded sweatshirt, grabbed the purse from the woman, who fought her attacker. She suffered an injury to her arm, police said.
– Police are investigating an armed robbery at the Turkey Hill on Alter Street at 3:53 a.m. Wednesday. A white male, 5 feet, 8 inches tall and about 200 pounds, wearing a black knit hat, black pants and a long sleeve shirt, got away with an undetermined amount of cash. The suspect brandished a handgun, police said.

And here’s a good place to keep an eye on violent mobs, but here are some reports from within PA this year:
59 year old man robbed by 8 males, one w/ handgun (Harrisburg, PA – 4/21/12)
Man walking home from work attacked by six kids aged 11-14 (Pittsburgh, PA – 2/24/12)
College student in Center City assaulted as taxi cab attacked while stopped at red light (Philadelphia, PA – 1/28/12)

And don’t forget the kid that was attacked by someone with a machete while he was walking away from school (GAR) back in February.

So, after all of that, you’re going to tell me that statistically I shouldn’t worry about my safety? I’m sorry, but I have to disagree with you. It is my responsibility to protect myself and my family (multiple supreme courts have ruled that the police have no legal duty to protect… not to mention that they are almost never around when they are needed… “when seconds count, the police are only minutes away”). If you are comfortable playing the odds, go for it. I am not comfortable with that. I am fully aware that bad things happen unexpectedly and there is evil in the world. My gun is part of my insurance plan. This insurance plan has multiple parts to it, including avoiding places that I think are dangerous if at all possible.
The fact that anyone, whether it be you or some little old lady in line behind me at the checkout, is afraid of me simply for carrying an inanimate object, it’s not my problem. Humans are born with the right (and responsibility) of self defense. If you choose not to exercise that right it’s your prerogative and I won’t hold it against you. You have no authority to restrict my rights to self defense, period. I don’t care whether it makes you uncomfortable or not. Seeing two gay guys go at it makes me uncomfortable, and a lot of things that the media says (when they can be proven as lies) makes me uncomfortable, but I’m not trying to restrict their rights to free choice or speech.
The next time you think about restricting my rights, any of them, not just my right to bear arms, replace the right you want to restrict from me with the right to free speech and see how reasonable it sounds. In addition to my firearms being protected by the 2A, my right to free expression is being threatened. My openly carried sidearm is a warning, would you be more comfortable with me wearing/carrying a sign that says “I have a gun and I know how to use it”? I think that would cause more fear than actually openly carrying, but in the end, I DON’T CARE if it instills fear in “innocent” people… and I have no obligation to care. I am armed to protect myself and others that I see that need help, if anyone doesn’t like it they can tell me about it, but I have no obligation to give anyone a “warm and fuzzy” feeling. The world is a hard place. Either a person recognizes that and does everything they can to prepare for it or they don’t. I choose to prepare.
Also, “Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others.” ~Thomas Jefferson. Roughly, that boils down to: You have the right to Freedom OF Religion, not freedom FROM religion. This same rule applies to absolutely every other human right. You have freedom OF, not freedom FROM.

Sorry for the long email, but this is a very touchy subject for me on so many levels. No matter how civilized we think we are, there is only a very thin veneer of civilization between life as we know it and total breakdown of society (AKA, after Katrina life in the Superdome).
It is my responsibility to protect myself and my family, and I take my responsibilities VERY seriously.

PS. This is civilized China – Customs officials intercept 17,000 pills filled with powdered baby flesh from China. There is evil in the world. That may not be happening here, yet, but there are discussions from the intelligencia about the propriety of post-birth abortion. Post-birth abortion is another phrase for murdering an infant because it may be ill (or even just unwanted). And yet we live in a civilized society?

Mark Roote