Posted on 08/05/2015 4:36:26 AM PDT by Kaslin
My town, New York City, enforces rigid gun laws. Police refused to assign me a gun permit. The law doesn't even let me hold a fake gun on TV to demonstrate something.
But New York politicians are so eager to vilify gun ownership that they granted an exception to the anti-gun group States United to Prevent Gun Violence. New York allowed States United to set up a fake gun store, where cameras filmed potential gun customers being spoofed by an actor pretending to be a gun-seller.
"This a nine-millimeter semi-automatic. It's a very handy gun. It's easy to use," he says. "You can carry it in a purse like that gal from Wal-Mart. Her two-year-old son reaches into her pocketbook, pulls it out, shoots her. Dead, gone, no Mom!"
States United then made that footage into an anti-gun public service announcement. "Over 60 percent of Americans think owning a gun will make them safer. In fact, owning a gun increases the risk of homicide, suicide and unintentional death," says the video.
It's a powerful message. But it's a lie, says John Lott of the Crime Prevention Research Center. He says that gun control advocates lie all the time.
Lott acknowledges the tragedies. Sometimes a gun in the home is used in a homicide or suicide, or leads to accidental death, but he adds, "It also makes it easier for people to defend themselves -- women and the elderly in particular."
Lott says, "Every place in the world that's tried to ban guns ... has seen big increases in murder rates. You'd think at least one time, some place, when they banned guns, murder rates would go down. But that hasn't been the case."
I pushed back: what about people harming themselves?
"There are lots of different ways for people to commit suicide," Lott said, and researchers have looked at how those tragedies are affected by access to guns. "We find that people commit suicide in other ways if they don't have guns."
What about accidents? Lott replies that accidental shooting deaths are relatively rare: "about 500 a year." That sounds bad, but about 400 Americans are killed by overdosing on acetaminophen each year (most of them suicides), and almost as many Americans drown in swimming pools.
"It would be nice if it was zero (but) consider that 120 million Americans own guns," Lott says.
Often those guns are used to prevent crime. The homeowner pulls out the gun and the attacker flees. No one knows how often this happens because these prevented crimes don't become news and don't get reported to the government, but an estimate from the Violence Policy Center suggests crimes may be prevented by guns tens of thousands of times per year.
Add politics to the mix and the anti-gun statistics get even more misleading. Gang members in their late teens or early adulthood killing each other get called "children." Fights between gangs near schools get called school "mass shootings."
The number of mass shootings in America has been roughly level over the past 40 years, but the New York Times still runs headlines like, "FBI Confirms a Sharp Rise in Mass Shootings Since 2000." That headline is absolutely true, but only because they deceitfully picked the year 2000 as their start point, and that was a year with unusually few mass shootings. It's as if the paper wants to make it seem as if mass shootings are always on the rise, even as crime keeps going down.
It all helps stoke paranoia about guns. Some people respond by calling for more controls. Others, fearing the government may ban gun sales, respond by buying more weapons. The number of people holding permits to carry concealed weapons has skyrocketed to 12.8 million, up from 4.6 million just before President Obama took office. Since 40 percent of American households now own guns, anyone who wants to take them away will have a fight on his hands.
Has the increased gun ownership and carrying of guns led to more violence? Not at all. "Violent crime across the board has plummeted," says Lott. "In 1991, the murder rate was about 9.8 (people) per 100,000. (Now) it's down to about 4.2."
I can't convince my friends in New York City, but it's just a fact: More guns -- less crime.
There are some live people in this country who seriously need to get a life.
I hope Trump talks about this. The media won’t.
Just the sound of an 870 loading a round into the chamber was enough to cause one of 3 people breaking into my motel room to say,” Don ‘t shoot, we be leavin, we be leavin.”
Good for you!
:: the anti-gun group States United to Prevent Gun Violence ::
Providing America with the “urban” acronym
‘Sup, G? Violence
There are some live people in this country who seriously need to get lose a life. Those people you see in the picture holding the signs are the enemy. They want to deprive you of your God given right to defend yourself, but they're too cowardly to confront you directly, so they get the government to do it for them.
...Those people you see in the picture holding the signs are the enemy...
But, don’t ever look for them to carry those signs in Baltimore, St. Louis, or the South or West sides of Chicago.
that would presume that he is a conservative...a hopeful presumption at best...a dangerous one in reality.
Although it is seriously infringed, the Second Amendment still says what it says.
The deal is, we need to erase those infringements, and then, of course, we need to elect politicians who honor and enforce the Constitution. including the bill of rights.
This country was intended to be a Constitutional Republic.
I see some genuine hatred and intolerance in that photo. Would not want any of them as neighbors.
They are just the sort of angry liberals who would get their neighbor SWATted just because they knew he owned guns.
They're exactly the sort of busybodys who would smugly and self righteously tell themselves "He deserved it," after causing a load of trouble of a gun owner. I'm not advocating a preemptive strike, but sometimes you wonder.
Got a brain teaser for ya:
I spend a lot of time on the road even though I’m retired. Visiting family, mostly.
Driving on interstate one day I asked myself, if `lone wolf Achmed’ saw my US/Israeli flag sticker & decided to go jihadi & try to kill me, how would he go about it?
The only safe way for him would be to fire rearwards a la John Muhammad which requires an accomplice. Firing from alongside victim’s car could result in a crash. I get very nervous when someone pulls up in the left lane next to me & just sits there. I decelerate & let them speed on; no takers yet.
Then again, Johnny Jihad has to assume everyone on the road has an Iphone or cell camera and might also be packing heat.
The goblins who tried to commit mass murder at the Garland event drove a thousand miles loaded for bear. How many other mad muzzies are on the road with similar murderous intent? What is the likelihood of road warrior jihad?
Any thoughts are welcome.
I doubt he will. From what I've seen, he's not a big believer in the 2nd amendment.
I think I’ll print this and send it to the doctor (woman) who recently lectured me about guns during my appointment...I’m still seething
Ever time my 80 year old husband goes to the doctor I worry about this. His head is going to explode!
I have to admit I never really thought about it. I typically drive about 1 - 2 standard deviations above the average speed and I try to keep an eye out for the traffic around me, so someone coming up to match speed would be conspicuous, but other than that and the fact that GA allows you to carry in your car without a carry license, I’m not really prepared for that.
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