Posted on 01/15/2004 3:25:15 PM PST by epow
Brady Campaign "Grades" The States
Every year since 1997, the group has "graded" the states on their gun laws. It released its 2003 grades on Jan. 8, 2004. Since Brady`s pretense with the grades is that there aren`t enough "gun control" laws, it ignores the fact that federal gun laws apply in every state.
Brady`s rhetoric about crime, and about firearm-related deaths among "children" (which the group defines to include not only children, but also juveniles and young adults through the age of 19), is only for show. As indicated in the table on page 2, there is no correlation between Brady`s grades and those issues. Brady`s approach is simple. It is a gun-prohibition group, it wants gun prohibition laws and those that inch closer to gun prohibition, and it gives out its "grades" on solely that basis.
Brady gives 31 states an "F" or a "D" for having too little "gun control" (including low-crime states like Idaho, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming). But less gun control coincides with less crime. Since 1991, the number of guns in America has risen by about 60 million, the number of Right-to-Carry states has risen from 17 to 37, and the violent crime rate has decreased every year, 35% overall, to a 27-year low (FBI).
Brady also demonstrates either a fundamental misunderstanding about the American system of government, or contempt for it. For states that have "shall issue" Right-to-Carry laws, that provide for carry permits to be issued to applicants who meet uniform statewide standards established by the legislature and signed into law by the state`s governor, Brady says that the state "forces police to let people carry hidden handguns in public." (Emphasis added.) Perhaps Brady would prefer a state in which the police make the laws (by definition, a "police state"), but police officers and nearly everyone else in America would oppose such a scheme.
Finally, in the midst of its state-level gun laws grading gimmick, Brady claims "crime could rise" after the federal "assault weapons" ban expires in September. The ban has no effect on crime, of course. A study for Congress, follow-up studies, police reports, and felon surveys have all shown that the guns are used in only a fraction of violent crime. Moreover, there is nothing functionally different between those guns and millions of other guns. And the ban, after all, bans only gun attachments, like angled grips, adjustable stocks, and flash suppressors, which have nothing to do with crime.
There is no correlation between Brady grades (thus, "gun control") and either state violent crime rates or firearm-related death rates (incidents per 100,000 pop.) among persons ages 0-19. In the table below, the data are the most recent available: crime, 2002 (FBI); firearm-related death, 2001 (National Center for Health Statistics). For consistency with the data, Brady`s 2002 grades are used. They are almost identical to its 2003 grades.
It isn't the gun laws, because as bad as they are here, in NJ and Mass they are even worse. Maryland has no magazine bans, no FID cards, no fingerprinting, no particular hassle for non "assault" long guns - yet. Our only real stinker is the vague "integrated mechanical safety device" law for handguns post 2002, which greatly limits selection for enthusiasts but has no practical effect beyond that.
So I think the Brady people are just giving us bonus points for victimization rates, which are what they really want to see. Their ultimate goal is the police state. Terrorization of the citizenry by violent criminals will, they hope, lead us to welcome that ordered police state with open arms. Laws against self defense aren't the goal, they're only the means to that end.
If human nature were somehow reversed and the availability of guns had an amplifying effect on violent crime rates, the Brady people's motto would be "A Lorcin for every Low Life."
Why settle for that? How 'bout we try for F-?
Average violent crime rate of the 8 F-ranked states is 339.6.
Average violent crime rate of the 8 highest ranked states, 6 As and the two highest Bs, is 489.0
Looks like a pretty solid correlation to me.
I'm guessing that DC's stats were included with Maryland, right?
Nope. DC's in a league of it's own. I don't know about 2003 but in 2002 they had a violent crime rate of 1737.
Needless to say, the Brady bunch would give them an A+++.
But we got a lot of work to do to get that to a good, solid F.
No doubt.
D.C. is the model for what the Brady's have in mind for the entire country if they ever get the "right" people in charge of congress and the White house again. If the Clinton Democrats had not lost control of congress in '94 the Brady's plans for a virtually gun-free U.S. would now be a lot closer to reality than it is today. I know the GOP in general leaves a lot to be desired in regard to 2nd amendment issues, but the Newster's '94 takeover of congress at least ended Clinton's and the Brady's wet dream of disarming most American gun owners during his next six years in office.
Now if Tom Delay and this congress can keep the AWB from being renewed this year I may have to speak a bit more kindly of Republican pols than I have in the recent past. But if they don't stop it and GW signs a renewed AWB into law, that would indicate to me once and for all that the GOP betrayal and abandonment of it's conservative base is now settled GOP policy, and is probably irreversible.
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