Thread: Gun Grabbers and their Universal Falsehoods

Gun Grabbers and their Universal Falsehoods

By Pittsburgh Tribune-Review March 26, 2013 6:50 am

(File Photo)

"Universal background checks" will be the centerpiece of gun control legislation when Congress returns from its two-week Easter recess. And who could be opposed to such a "commonsense" law, its proponents argue, putting on their incredulous face.But as avid Michigan sportsman Rick Averill reminds in the American Thinker, it's a slippery slope fraught with plenty of misrepresentations.

Leading the pack is the "gun show loophole" that liberals vastly overstate (i.e., the 40 percent of gun sales typically claimed to escape checks is more like 4 percent). But worse, Mr. Averill, hardly a conspiracy theorist, sees requiring background checks on sellers, too, as an opening to essentially classify gifted guns as illegal. There's typically no bill of sale to prove ownership, he reminds.

"The universal background check to close the 'gun show loophole' is the Holy Grail to the left and their 'commonsense' approach to gun confiscation without a shot."
...
Ignorant New York lawmakers have been forced to backtrack on one of the more idiotic provisions of its new gun laws. One provision banned handgun magazines in excess of a seven-bullet capacity. But there's no such thing as a seven-bullet magazine and no manufacturer has any plans to make one. Thus, it technically was a de facto ban on handguns.

The measure's on hold until the Legislature can rewrite the law - - likely to say that 10-bullet magazines can be loaded with only seven bullets. Surely the magazine police are not far behind. And given New York's follies, perhaps it will instead say the 10-bullet magazine can be fully loaded but the trigger can be pulled only seven times. ...

Sayeth Charlie Rangel, the long-in-the-tooth and ethics- challenged Democrat congressman of New York:

"There is no hunter that needs automatic military weapons to enjoy the culture of going hunting."

And no hunter uses them, given that private citizens long have been legally barred from owning "automatic military weapons."

Mr. Rangel also contends that "millions of kids" have been "shot down by assault weapons."

Old Charlie must be writing a Hollywood script to even better feather his golden years. ...

Some of this nation's predictably brain-dead editorial writers worked overtime last week to prove they really do have mush for brains regarding the demise of Sen. Dianne Feinstein's legless "assault weapons ban":

The San Jose Mercury News said "an assault weapons ban is a common-sense (sic) measure supported in polling by a majority of Americans. It is doomed only because politicians are cowed by the National Rifle Association."

Never mind that the last "assault weapons ban" had no effect -- zip, zilch, nada -- on gun violence.

Meanwhile, a Los Angeles Times editorial offered this perverted history lesson:

"(O)ur obsession with overpowered weapons ... is," in part, "rooted in our history, in which freedom had to be won by the people by force of arms, leading to a constitutional amendment to keep firearms available. At its base is a simple but powerful emotion: fear."

Pay no attention to that liberty and republicanism designed to keep tyranny at bay waving furiously just offstage.

---
Colin McNickle is Trib Total Media's director of editorial pages (412-320-7836 or cmcnickle@tribweb.com).,Colin McNickle

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» Gun Grabbers and their Universal Falsehoods » Fresh Ink -- GOPUSA

http://assets.opencrs.com/rpts/RL32842_20121114.pdf

Here is the report from the Congressional Research Service, a service used by Congress to provide non-partisan background for pending legislation and other purposes. In this report is the data that shows that as gun ownership increased, crime decreased. It also provides a discussion of the different positions, impact of the old "assault" gun ban, and more. It is quite informative, and you just KNOW anti-gun nuts didn't read it. Below are excerpts from the long report:

Gun-Related Statistics

Crime and mortality statistics are often used in the gun control debate. According to a recent study, however, none of the existing sources of statistics provide either comprehensive, timely, or accurate data with which to assess definitively whether there is a causal connection between firearms and violence.23 For example, existing data do not show whether the number of people shot and killed with semiautomatic assault weapons declined during the 10-year period (1994- 2004) that those firearms were banned from further proliferation in the United States.24 Presented below are data on the following topics: (1) the number of guns in the United States, (2) firearms-related homicides, (3) non-lethal firearms-related victimizations, (4) gun-related mortality rates, (5) use of firearms for personal defense, and (6) recreational use of firearms. In some cases, the data presented are more than a decade old but remain the most recent available.

How Many Guns Are in the United States?

The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) reported in a national survey that in 1994, 44 million people, approximately 35% of households, owned 192 million firearms, 65 million of which were handguns.25 Seventy-four percent of those individuals were reported to own more than one firearm.26 According to the ATF, by the end of 1996 approximately 242 million firearms were available for sale to or were possessed by civilians in the United States.27 That total includes roughly 72 million handguns (mostly pistols, revolvers, and derringers), 76 million rifles, and 64
million shotguns.28 By 2000, the number of firearms had increased to approximately 259 million: 92 million handguns, 92 million rifles, and 75 million shotguns.29 By 2007, the number of firearms had increased to approximately 294 million: 106 million handguns, 105 million rifles,
and 83 million shotguns.30 In the past, most guns available for sale were produced domestically. In recent years, 1 million to 2 million handguns were manufactured each year, along with 1 million to 1.5 million rifles and fewer than 1 million shotguns.31 From 2001 through 2007, however, handgun imports nearly doubled, from 711,000 to nearly 1.4 million.32 By 2009, nearly 2.2 million handguns were imported into the United States.From 2001 through 2007, rifle imports increased from 228,000 to 632,000, and shotgun imports increased from 428,000 to 726,000.34 By 2009, rifle imports had increased to 864,000, but shotguns had decreased 559,000.35 By the same year, 2009, the estimated total number of firearms available to civilians in the United States had increased to approximately 310 million: 114 million handguns, 110 million rifles, and 86 million shotguns.

How Often Are Guns Used in Homicides?

As Table 1 shows, reports submitted by state and local law enforcement agencies to the FBI and published annually in the Uniform Crime Reports39 indicate that the firearms-related murder and non-negligent manslaughter rate per 100,000 of the population decreased from 6.6 for 1993 to 3.6 for 2000. The rate held steady at 3.6 for 2001 and fluctuated thereafter between a high of 3.9 for 2006 and 2007, and a low of 3.2 for 2010. For 2011, it has remained at 3.2.

Figure 1 shows that the estimated murder rate peaked in 1974 at 9.8 victims per 100,000 of the population. It peaked again in 1980 (10.2), in 1991 (9.8, and 1993 (9.5). Correspondingly, the estimated firearms-related murders rates similarly peaked at 6.6 (1974), 6.4 (1980), 6.5 (1991), and 6.6 (1999). After 1993, the murder rate decreased to 5.5 in 2000, and the firearms-related murder rate decreased similarly to 3.5 in that year. The murder rates leveled off somewhat from 2001 to 2006, with slight increases in several of those years. Then, the murder rates decreased and leveled off at 3.2 for 2010 and 2011. Over those years (1968-2011), roughly two out of three murders were committed with a firearm. Although not shown in Figure 1, roughly one out of two murders was committed with a handgun. By comparison, the non-firearms murder rates peaked in 1975 (3.4), 1980 (3.8, 1986 (3.5), and 1991 (3.4); the corresponding increases and decreases were of a lesser magnitude for non-firearms murder rates than those corresponding with firearmsrelated murder rates.

Patriot Notes - March 26, 2013

Are You Ready to Fight for Your Gun Rights?

Grassfire Update:

Dear Patriot,

Last week, Grassfire reported that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) dropped the "assault weapons" ban from his gun-control legislation, saying he simply didn't have the needed votes to pass it.

Our Capitol Hill contacts tell us that gun-control is at the VERY TOP of Reid's list, and following the Easter recess, he will aggressively push forward restrictive anti-Second Amendment legislation by whatever means necessary.

Given the "assault weapons" victory for conservatives, Grassfire is eager to dramatically increase grassroots pressure. We need your help to rally an additional 25,000 signers of our "I Support the Second Amendment" petition that will be waiting for Reid and his gun-grabbing cohorts when they return from their two-week break.

That's why we're asking key members of our team to help us generate the critically needed support to keep momentum on the side of liberty-loving Americans. Forward the message below to 30-40 friends and family members, urging them to stand with you and 145,000 other grassroots patriots.

Ask them to join the fight to keep the Left from trampling on our constitutional rights by signing our national petition. Let them know that Grassfire will hand-deliver their petitions (free of charge) to key members of both the House and Senate!

Thank you for standing with Grassfire and for your outstanding efforts to help mobilize our nation!

--Grassfire

PLEASE FORWARD THE MESSAGE BELOW TO YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS.
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Grassfire Alert:

Because of robust grassroots opposition in the form of petitions, faxes, phone calls and emails, the Senate Majority Leader realized he had to protect Democrat Senators and Representatives in conservative districts from having to vote on it.

Patriot, your voice does make an impact. Your voice can change the debate -- but only if you take that first step and add your name to our national petition.

Go here now to stand for liberty and freedom by adding your name to our "I Support the Second Amendment" petition:

http://www.grassfire.com/978/petition.asp?Ref_ID=600064

+ + The Battle Is Far From Over

The battle over the right to defend ourselves is far from over. In fact, Grassfire analysts believe the battle will intensify in state legislatures -- especially in Democrat-controlled states, where liberal majorities are expected to ram restrictive gun measures into place regardless of what their constituents want.

And Reid himself has said, he will take up gun-control legislation after the Senate's Easter recess.

Patriot, we need you standing with us. Your presence makes us a stronger, more united force against this leftist assault on our rights.

Go here now to stand with fellow Americans who oppose the government's gun-grabbing efforts.
http://www.grassfire.com/978/petition.asp?Ref_ID=600064

+ + 150,000 Petitions Needed For Urgent Delivery!

Grassfire wants to hand-deliver a minimum of 150,000 petitions to Reid and other key lawmakers in both the House and Senate when they return from their recess.

We're less than 8,000 shy of our delivery goal!

You've seen the kind of impact that grassroots action can have on this debate. Now, Grassfire is eager to step up our efforts to ensure that Obama, Reid and Feinstein don't wrestle momentum back to their side.

So, we're counting on key members of our team to take immediate action. Please grant Grassfire permission to represent you in this critical debate by signing our petition today.

Hand-delivering a minimum of 150,000 signatures to key government offices makes a powerful statement. But with your help right now, we can do even better and make an even stronger impact by rallying an additional 20,000 or more citizen signers.

After signing our petition, please alert your friends and family members. Let them know we're in a battle to save our gun rights.

Urge your loved ones to go here now and stand with you by signing our "I Support the Second Amendment" petition:
http://www.grassfire.com/978/petition.asp?Ref_ID=600064

Use every social media and alternative-news source available to spread the message about Obama's and the Left's efforts to restrict your constitutional rights.

Thank you, in advance, for standing with us.

The Grassfire and Patriot Action Network Teams

P.S. The battle is far from over, so we MUST keep fighting. Click here now to sign Grassfire's "I Support the Second Amendment" petition, so you can be included in our upcoming delivery on Capitol Hill.
http://www.grassfire.com/978/petition.asp?Ref_ID=600064

http://www.alipac.us/f19/americans-p...6/#post1334641