Brady Campaign misrepresents ATF data to promote 'more guns, more crime' message (Part 2)

Austin Gun Rights Examiner ^ | 14 August, 2009 | Howard Nemerov

[marktwain]

Previously, we examined how the Brady Campaign misused the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) data to manufacture conclusions that the ATF itself says are false. But Brady’s report contains additional errors and hides important truths. Let’s examine the following statement:

Georgia led the states with the highest total number of crime gun exports, not adjusted for population. Florida had the second highest total number of crime gun exports, followed by Virginia, Texas and Indiana. All five states have weak gun laws making it easy for criminals to get firearms, scoring fewer than 20 out of 100 on the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence 2008 state scorecard.

Brady’s definition of “crime gun exports” is the difference between the total traces requested by law enforcement in one state and the number of traces from other states where the gun was originally sold in that state. For example, there were 8,535 traces requested in 2008 for guns originally sold by a Georgia gun store. Georgia law enforcement requested 5,683 of these; other states requested 2,852. Thus, Brady claims that Georgia “led the states” with 2,852 “crime gun exports.” There are two problems with Brady’s premise.

First, as noted in Part 1, not all traces were related to crime. Of all traces for which the category can be derived from the ATF reports (207,504), only 19,813 traces (9.5% of total) were linked to violent crime (aggravated assault, murder, robbery). However, law enforcement requested 21,786 traces (10.5%) for the category of “firearm found” and 10,137 (4.9%) for “none provided.”

Second, each state’s report includes “Time-to-Crime” data on page 7. On page 9, the ATF states: “Time-to-Crime was calculated for those traces in which the purchase date could be subtracted from the recovery date.”

[marktwain]

Examiners are paid by the hit count on their site. Please click to the link.

[Joe Brower]

Years ago, as now, these statists rely on a facade of authority, sheer audacity and deceit in order to promote their agenda.

[Freedom2specul8]

I have to tell you, when the leader of the mmm’s was in town, it was disgusting how she twisted the facts, and the “few” lemmings in the audience just smiled. She was also begging for donations of course.