Data show false premises of gun-control advocates

BY MARK TAPSCOTT | JANUARY 16, 2014 AT 8:40 AM

TOPICS: BELTWAY CONFIDENTIAL MORNING EXAMINER GUN CONTROL LAW FIREARMS LAW ENFORCEMENT

 (Thinkstock Image)

Gun-control advocates have for decades claimed that allowing more individuals to own firearms will lead to higher crime rates.
Yet, as Daniel Payne Points out today in an important analysis posted on the Federalist blog, a Gallup poll recently found that 47 percent of Americans reporting having at least one firearm in their home.
And gun ownership is spiraling, a fact that is reflected in the FBI's conducting more than 21 million background checks for firearms purchasers in 2013, the most in a single year since 1998 when such checks started.

Sign Up for the Morning Examiner newsletter!

Where's the crime wave?
The quick answer is, there isn't one. Payne explains further why the central claim of the gun control advocates is specious:
"Last year the Department of Justice released a report revealing that firearm homicides declined nearly 40% between 1993 and 2011, and nonfatal firearm injuries declined nearly 70% within the same time period.
"Every year since 2002 has seen a rise in the number of NICS background checks performed, yet in 2011 the firearm homicide rate was lower than it was in 2002; in fact, all firearm violence, both fatal and nonfatal, was lower the former year than the latter."

And there's this
The Washington Examiner's Paul Bedard reported earlier this week on a study by a Northeastern University professor who found that there has been no upswing in mass murders like the Newtown school shootings.
And even when such horrible events do occur, the weapons involved are far more likely to be handguns rather than "assault rifles," the favorite target of gun controllers in recent years.
Somebody should tell President Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder and former New York MayorMichael Bloomberg about these facts.

On today's washingtonexaminer.com
Examiner Editorial: VW right to side with Tennessee workers against UAW.
Columnist/David Freddoso: Obamacare is for your grandmother.
Columnist/Cal Thomas: British experience with NHS shows what's ahead for U.S. with Obamacare.
Columnist/Michael Barone: Population declining in states with most dependent residents.
Examiner Watchdog/Mark Flatten: Agency stonewalling blocks timely IG investigations.
PennAve/Susan Crabtree: Senate Intelligence Committee says Benghazi attack was preventable.
Beltway Confidental/Charlie Spiering: Gates says government usually fails when it tries something big.
Beltway Confidential/Joel Gehrke: Pentagon investigation nuclear missile officers for proficiency test cheating.

In other news
The Washington Post: Congress balks at changing CIA role in drone war.
NBC News: New Justice Department rules bar investigations based on religion, ancestry.
CNN: Documentary shows unexpected resistance by North Koreans to tyrannical government.
The New York Times: Obama's path from critic to defender of government spying.
CBS News: What's in Congress' $1.1 trillion spending bill?
Boston Herald: Pats fans patronize Colorado pot shops before big game.

Righty Playbook
National Review Online: A tale of two scandals.
The American Conservative: Mike Lee talks the Constitution.
Powerline Blog: New frontiers in scandal management.

Bonus must-read
The Federalist: The eight most terrible things done by Rep. Jim Moran (Good riddance!)

Lefty Playbook
Talking Points Memo: Emails raise questions about Christie's trash-talking flak.
The Nation: Why marriage won't solve poverty.
The Huffington Post: NSA reformers brace for disappointing Obama speech.

Bonus must-read
The New Republic: Was Harry Truman a Zionist?