I ran across this from the
JPFO and borrowed it since I believe that knowledge is power and if we know, we can destroy the anti-gunners and their credibility. Knowledge defeats hysteria and propaganda. I also am using the delayed schedule thingie on my blog to see if it post when it is supposed to.
7 Anti-Gun Myths That Need to Be Debunked ASAP
7 Anti-Gun Myths That Need to Be Debunked ASAP
Since the tragedy at Sandy
Hook elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, America has been embroiled in a
renewed gun control debate. In the Information Age there can be a lot
of misinformation, and gun control is unfortunately no exception. Here
are some of the ways you are being misled.
1. "Assault Weapons"
The term "assault weapon" is a
made-up political
term. AR-15's are
not military rifles;
so unscrupulous politicians refer to them as "military-style assault
weapons." 'Style' – as in cosmetic appearance – is the only true word in
that description. The Military
uses the
M4A1 carbine rifle, which looks outwardly very much like an AR-15, but
they do not have the same functionality; AR-15s are not machine guns,
though the terminology used is meant to
imply they are. Senator Diane Feinstein (R-Calif.)
says AR-15's are designed for killing as many people in close quarters combat as possible, when in fact the AR-15 is an
intermediate to distance rifle with a range of
400-600m. Feinstein and others claim AR-15's are
not used for hunting; but in fact there are dozens of varieties of AR-15 used for hunting everything from
varmint/small game to deer, elk, and dangerous game.
The AR-15 is not the weapon of choice for most mass shooters according
to James Alan Fox, a highly respected criminologist from Northeastern
University in Boston;
handguns are. In fact, rifle homicides comprise a very small amount of homicides, accounting for less than 3% of homicides (
323 out of 12,664 in 2011) mass shootings or otherwise.
2. "High Capacity Magazines"
Some politicians would have us believe that so-called "high capacity"
magazines are responsible for a wave of death sweeping the nation.
Academic, scholarly
research shows the
vast majority of homicides average four shots with less than 10 shots
fired. While the Aurora shooter infamously used a 100-round magazine
drum, these are novelty items that are prone to jam. In fact,
it did jam probably
saving lives. But mass shooters don't need 100-round magazines to
commit atrocity – the shooters at Virginia Tech and Columbine used
10-round magazines, they just brought a lot of them (
17 and
13 respectively). James Alan Fox states mass shooters often
meticulously plan their attacks in advance; a high capacity magazine ban will not deter them as Virginia Tech and Columbine illustrate.
3. Gun Show "Loophole"
Several people, including
President Obama have stated that 40% of guns were bought via "
gun show loopholes."
This is not true. For one, the term "gun show loophole" implies that
people are deviously getting around something when in actuality; it is
just selling personal private property and is not illegal or
nefarious. Additionally, private sales may not actually occur at a gun
show at all. More important than loose terminology is that this claim
is
based on a study from 1994 of 251 people. The
Washington Post evaluated this
claim with the study's original authors and says the president
distorted the truth. The actual range is 14%-22% with a plus or minus
error margin of 6%. This means the final accurate range of this study is
as low as 8%, but no more than 28%; neither figure is 40%. Further,
it's implied that closing private sales would solve the issue of
criminals obtaining guns; it doesn't. It fails to address illegal
trafficking and straw man purchases. A Department of Justice study
indicates that 78.8% of criminals get guns from friends or family (39.6%) or from the street/illegally (39.2%). To this point, the FBI
states there are 1.2 million gang members in U.S. and that gangs illegally traffic guns as addition to narcotics.
4. Mass Shootings Are Not Increasing:
Former President
Bill Clinton,
Mother Jones and others have claimed that mass shootings are increasing. Once again not true. James Alan Fox's analysis of the
Mother Jones' study indicates they
left out
mass murders which made it seem there was an increase after the Federal
assault weapon ban expired (they've updated their story since). Some
mass murders receive more media attention than others, however the
number has been
consistently about 20
annually since 1976. The number dead from these mass shootings
fluctuates from about 25 to 150, depending on the year (Fox's chart is
shown above). In 2012, it was
less than 100. Though tragic, this represents a fraction of 1% of homicides. In recent years, homicides by raw number
peaked in 1991 at 24,700; it's
dropped in half since, and the homicide rate per 100,000 people today is less than it was even in 1900 (see below).
5. Anti-Gun Organizations Lump in Suicide & Injuries With Crime Data:
After a mass murder shooting anti-gun organizations like the Brady
campaign inevitably call for gun restrictions; these organizations also
cite gun violence data other than crime data to include suicides and
injuries. This is misleading. Although accidents and suicide are public
health concerns, it is disingenuous to include them with homicide in
response to a horrific crime. According to the Center for Disease
Control (CDC), suicide rates have crept up slightly 2000-
2009, but are still lower than the rate per 100,000 from
1950-1990.
It's not accurate to say guns contribute to suicide causal factors
since the rate is lower now. And ultimately, legislation aimed to
prevent crime by banning weapons and limiting magazine capacity has no
reasonable connection to either suicide or accidents. We ought to
compare apples to apples: suicide with suicide prevention, accidents
with safety programs, and homicide with policy that would realistically
reduce homicide.
6. Too Many Are Being Killed:
This statement is political gaming and wordplay. How many dead would be okay? Who
wouldn't want
less murder? Ideally, zero would be the goal, but that begs the
question of how to prevent any tendency of violence in humans. This
phrase is not only meaningless in terms of contributing to policy that
achieves a positive end result, but also dangerous in that the appeal to
emotion runs the risk of circumventing genuine solution in favor of
sound byte. It makes sense to try to achieve goals with policies other
than those
proven to be ineffective,
as the previous Federal assault weapons ban was. Lastly, homicides are at an
all time low.
7. False Zero-Sum Dichotomy - "Either/Or":
Famous anti-gun rights advocate New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg
said, "I want the Congress to have to stand up and say 'I'm with the
NRA and support killing our children', or 'No'" (
Time magazine, January 28, 2013, p.30). On CNN's
Piers Morgan, Congressman Jerry
Nadler (D-N.Y.)
said, "the
NRA is enablers of mass murder." This overly simplistic incendiary
rhetoric does nothing to further our national discussion, and falsely
frames the debate as a zero-sum, winner-take-all, 'either/or'
proposition – either you hug a gun or hug a kid, but you couldn't
possibly be for both gun rights and your child's safety. That is
preposterous. The NRA is not "the gun industry," and preservation of the
Second Amendment is not of interest only to gun manufacturers. Nearly
half of NRA funding comes from
individual donors.
The NRA is comprised of average people who want safe neighborhoods,
schools, and streets. Rather than offer ridiculous false dichotomy and
grandstanding, we should be looking for genuine solutions.
BONUS: We Need More Laws:
This is the granddaddy lie. We already have a lot of laws. It's
illegal to kill your mom, steal a gun, take that gun onto school
property, forcibly break and enter, and murder kids. We already have
laws preventing mentally ill & felons from obtaining guns, and we
have a background check system (NICS). The Sandy Hook shooter was
denied to legally purchase a gun because
of the NICS system. We tried a federal assault weapons ban (AWB)
before. What we do need is better enforcement of existing laws. Congress
has not
fully funded NICS.
Many states do not fully report felony and mental health data to NICS.
The Justice Department only prosecutes a fraction of those who
criminally falsify background check forms. We desperately need to engage
in genuine discussion about real solutions to the violence problem.
These solutions are not likely to yield instantaneous results, or win
the next election cycle; yet it is what we would do if we were serious
about addressing the issue. The underlying causes include: gang
activity, which accounts for
48-90% of violent crime depending on jurisdiction; drug abuse, the single biggest
predictor of violence with-or-without mental illness; concentrated
urban population and poverty; and mental illness, including de-institutionalization, treatment and intervention, and other facets of mental health.
