Posted on 07/23/2018 8:54:38 AM PDT by Kaslin
Since the February shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, gun control advocates have been crowing about all the new gun control laws that they are getting passed. This past week, Gabby Giffords’ gun control organization, the Giffords Law Center, touted the passage this year of 55 new gun-control laws in 26 states, the most in any recent year on record. And Illinois Republican Governor Bruce Rauner signed two new gun control bills into law at the end of last week.
Everyone wants to do something to stop mass public shootings. Unfortunately, these laws will not make Americans safer and surely won’t prevent mass public shootings such as the one in Parkland.
We have to be careful that gun control laws not disarm law-abiding citizens instead of criminals. To the extent that this happens, gun control laws will increase crime. So there needs to be reasonable evidence that the regulations actually reduce crime. Let’s take a look at the proposals that are getting the most traction right now.
1) “Universal background checks.” One survey shows that 22% of guns obtained in the US in the last two years were acquired without a background check. But this is mainly a result of inheritances and, to a lesser extent, gifts. There is no evidence that guns acquired through inheritance are commonly used in crime. The survey claims that 16% of the time, guns are obtained when people purchase guns at stores without undergoing background checks. But this is illegal everywhere in the US, and is not a credible claim.
Universal background checks would impose checks on private transfers of guns. But research by economists and criminologists consistently shows that this wouldn’t reduce any type of crime rate. The research shows the same thing for background checks in general.
Some surveys show 90% public support for universal background checks. But when these laws were put on the ballots in Nevada and Maine in 2016, they had a hard time breaking 50%, despite Michael Bloomberg massively outspending his opponents by 3-to-1 or 6-to-1 margins.
One problem is the incredibly high error rate in the background check system. Instead of stopping actual felons, it almost always mistakenly stops people who have similar names to felons.
Another problem is the cost of these checks, which can add anything from $55 to the price of a gun in Oregon to $125 in DC to up to $200 in New York City. This can prevent poor people from getting the guns that they need to defend themselves and their families.
If background checks reduce crime, then everyone benefits and the costs should be covered by taxpayers. But Democrats will fight tooth and nail against that, because they want gun buyers to bear the burden. In 2013, all but two Democrats in the Colorado House of Representatives voted against a Republican amendment to exempt impoverished individuals from a new tax on private transfers of guns.
2) “Red flag laws.” This law would allow people’s guns to be taken away without even a hearing before a judge, which is something that most states currently require. When people really pose a clear danger to themselves or others, they should be confined to a mental health facility. But denying them the right to legally buy a gun won't accomplish anything. People can get guns in other ways, and just about as easily as they can buy illegal drugs. And if someone is really a danger, why only take away his guns? Why not also take away other things that can be used as weapons, such as cars? Giving the government this kind of power will erode personal freedoms and may not save any lives at all.
3) Take guns out of the hands of accused domestic abusers. People convicted of either misdemeanor or felony domestic violence already lose the right to own a gun for the rest of their lives. But people make false accusations all the time, and a man may well become enraged by the confiscation of his firearms. Such a law may lead to explosive situations. Obviously, taking away a man’s gun doesn't prevent him from engaging in abuse.
4) Safe storage gun laws. Nicolas Kristof at the New York Times recently pointed to evidence that most people don’t lock up their guns. He believes that requiring individuals to lock up their guns will reduce accidental child gun deaths and teenage suicides.
The CDC claims that from 2006 to 2015, an average of 59 children under the age of 15 died annually from accidental gunshots. According to my research, published in the Journal of Law and Economics and elsewhere, accidental gun deaths and suicides among these young people didn’t change when gunlock laws were enacted.
Gunlock laws in certain states have made it more difficult for people to defend their families. This will embolden criminals to attack more people in their homes; there were 300 more total murders and 4,000 more rapes annually in states with these laws. Burglaries also rose dramatically.
Gun control advocates are used to getting their way without having to address the arguments made against their proposals. That doesn’t create a productive dialogue, and it doesn’t help us figure out what laws will actually save the most lives.
The gun grabbing/tyrannical bastards will never give up.
John Lott makes good arguments.
Independents are influenced, if they see the arguments.
It is all about getting the information out there.
No they will not. The worship of government power is a religion to them, so you cannot reason with them (their position isn't based on reason) and you cannot bargain with them (because they will never honor any bargain, and they have absolutely nothing to offer anyway - they want to take your fundamental right to self defense and give you nothing in return).
This can only end three ways.
Ping.
Now over 20,000 state and federal gun laws and more are needed?
14th Amendment:
"Section 1: All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States [emphasis added]; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
"Section 5: The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article."
John Bingham, Congressional Globe. (See 2nd Amendment about in middle of 2nd column.)
In other words, 14A gives citizens the power to work with federal lawmakers to make punitive federal civil laws that discourage state actors from making laws / policies that abridge constitutionally enumerated protections.
H O W E V E R …
All roads of corruption in the federal and state governments lead to Congress imo.
More specifically, we’re still stuck with a corrupt, post-17th Amendment ratification Congress left over from the lawless Obama Administration that has a track record for wrongly remaining silent while state actors abridge constitutionally enumerated protections, 2nd Amendment-protections in this example.
The remedy for Constitution-ignoring federal and state governments …
Patriots need to finish the job that they started when they elected Trump president.
More specifically, patriots now need to be making sure that there are plenty of Trump-supporting candidates on the 2018 primary ballots, candidates who will be willing to make punitive laws to discourage state actors from abridging constitutionally enumerated protections.
Patriots then need to pink-slip career lawmakers by sending patriot candidate lawmakers to DC on election day so they can start supporting Trump in weeding the constitutionally enumerated rights abusers out of the system.
And until the states wise up and repeal the ill-conceived 17th Amendment, as evidenced by concerns about the integrity of the outcome of Alabama's and Pennsylvania's special elections, patriot candidates need to win elections by a large enough margin to compensate for the following concerns.
Intel Chair: FBI, DOJ Obstructing Trump Probe in Hope of Dem Takeover in Congress
Keep Pelosi from becoming Speaker again.
Obama: Pelosi will be speaker again after November midterms
Keep Democrats from impeaching Trump.
Democratic Rep. Al Green says he will force House impeachment vote
Young, misguided, newly registered pro-gun control voters who are likely clueless about the fed's constitutionally limited powers.
Possible deep state ballot box fraud and associated MSM scare tactics.
Interference from people like Soros.
Very well said and right on!
They are extremely dangerous and determined. If they ever can do so, they would round us up and load us on the cattle cars. People such as John Brennan would gladly become Camp Commandants. And there are a lot of John Brennan’s among their ranks.
This time the “Jews” are armed.
I don’t know.
Very strict guns laws appear to have worked in Toronto and at Trader Joe’s in Silver Lake.
/s
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