Tom Givens
Member
Gun Control Mythbusting
In the gun control debate, as in most things, the truth is this: maybe 10% of the population wants to completely eliminate your right to self defense. Maybe 10% are adamantly opposed to all infringements upon your right to self defense. The 80% in the middle don’t care a lot one way or the other.
What we have to learn to do is to educate and guide the 80% in the middle, so they do not elect those who would strip us of our rights. The anti’s have done a much better job of using propaganda and outright lies to influence the 80%. We need to counter those lies with facts, any time this subject comes up with your friends, co-workers, etc. Here are some facts.
Internet Gun Sales Must End! Yes, you can go to Gunbroker.com and other sites and make a deal to purchase a gun from an individual or a dealer in another area. No, that gun cannot be sent to you directly. The gun must be shipped to a federally licensed gun dealer in your state, then you fill out a 4473 and undergo a background check as if you were purchasing the gun from that dealer’s inventory. Failure to follow this procedure is a Federal felony, with huge fines and prison time. This has been a Federal law since 1968, 51 years, pre-dating the internet.
We must close the “Gun Show Loophole”! Another imaginary problem. Persons “engaged in the business of selling firearms” are required by Federal law to have a Federal Firearms License (FFL). FFL holders who sell guns at gun shows are required by Federal law to keep elaborate records of every sale; have every purchaser fill out a Form 4473; and obtain a NICS background check on every purchase, just as if the sale took place in their brick and mortar store. Violations are a Federal felony, carrying huge fines and significant prison terms. Guns used in crimes and subsequently seized by the police are called “crime guns”. The US Department of Justice did a study of crime guns and found that only about 1% were obtained at gun shows. Of course, that means that 99% WERE NOT.
There is an epidemic of “assault weapon” deaths. No, consider the FBI Uniform Crime Report for 2018. That year more people were murdered with claw hammers and similar tools than with “assault weapons”. More people were murdered by use of hands and feet as impact weapons than by all types of rifles combined.
Semi-automatic guns are new technology and are too dangerous. Semi-automatic firearms have been around since the late 1880’s. I have a Savage .32 Auto handgun that holds 11 rounds of ammunition. It was designed in 1905 and entered production and civilian sales in 1907. My specimen was made in 1915, 114 years ago. I have a Winchester Model 1907 rifle, which is a semi-automatic rifle with a detachable high capacity magazine. It was introduced in 1907, as an improved version of a model produced in 1905. My example was built in 1928. I have a semi-automatic shotgun designed by John Browning in 1899. My example was built in 1927. I could go on, but you get the picture.
Letting civilians carry guns will result in all sorts of needless violence. Wrong. The exact opposite is true. States that have high rates of carry permit holders have significantly lower crime rates than states which do not. In addition, permit holders are the most law abiding segment of the population. Texas has a million CHL (Concealed Handgun License) holders, and the state tracks them very carefully. This is from an official Texas government report:
“On January 1, 1996, the Texas Concealed Handgun Law went into effect. This law states that the Texas Department of Public Safety (TXDPS) “shall issue” a concealed handgun license (CHL) to any Texas resident who meets the application requirements for character (background check) and training. This is an analysis of arrest data for Texas concealed handgun licensees that was performed on data from the subsequent years of 1996 – 2000. A comparison was made with the arrest data for the entire Texas population for the same time period, showing that, on average: male Texans who are over 21 years old and are not CHL holders are 7.7 times more likely to be arrested for commission of a violent crime than male Texans with a CHL; and female Texans who are over 21 years old and are not CHL holders are 7.5 times more likely to be arrested for commission of a violent crime than female Texans with a CHL. Of the violent crime cases that have been adjudicated, approximately 26% of CHL holders who were arrested were convicted, and 44% are cleared of the violent crimes for which they were arrested.”
We need an Assault Weapons Ban! Such a ban was in effect under Federal law for a ten year period. Among other things, it limited magazine capacity to ten rounds. Various organizations, from the Centers for Disease Control to the U.S. Department of Justice studied the effect of the ban for that ten year period. They all concluded that the ban had absolutely no effect on crime or violence.
All of these positions are verifiable facts. Use this information to help counter the outright lies used by those who would take away our most basic civil right and human right- the right to self preservation.
In the gun control debate, as in most things, the truth is this: maybe 10% of the population wants to completely eliminate your right to self defense. Maybe 10% are adamantly opposed to all infringements upon your right to self defense. The 80% in the middle don’t care a lot one way or the other.
What we have to learn to do is to educate and guide the 80% in the middle, so they do not elect those who would strip us of our rights. The anti’s have done a much better job of using propaganda and outright lies to influence the 80%. We need to counter those lies with facts, any time this subject comes up with your friends, co-workers, etc. Here are some facts.
Internet Gun Sales Must End! Yes, you can go to Gunbroker.com and other sites and make a deal to purchase a gun from an individual or a dealer in another area. No, that gun cannot be sent to you directly. The gun must be shipped to a federally licensed gun dealer in your state, then you fill out a 4473 and undergo a background check as if you were purchasing the gun from that dealer’s inventory. Failure to follow this procedure is a Federal felony, with huge fines and prison time. This has been a Federal law since 1968, 51 years, pre-dating the internet.
We must close the “Gun Show Loophole”! Another imaginary problem. Persons “engaged in the business of selling firearms” are required by Federal law to have a Federal Firearms License (FFL). FFL holders who sell guns at gun shows are required by Federal law to keep elaborate records of every sale; have every purchaser fill out a Form 4473; and obtain a NICS background check on every purchase, just as if the sale took place in their brick and mortar store. Violations are a Federal felony, carrying huge fines and significant prison terms. Guns used in crimes and subsequently seized by the police are called “crime guns”. The US Department of Justice did a study of crime guns and found that only about 1% were obtained at gun shows. Of course, that means that 99% WERE NOT.
There is an epidemic of “assault weapon” deaths. No, consider the FBI Uniform Crime Report for 2018. That year more people were murdered with claw hammers and similar tools than with “assault weapons”. More people were murdered by use of hands and feet as impact weapons than by all types of rifles combined.
Semi-automatic guns are new technology and are too dangerous. Semi-automatic firearms have been around since the late 1880’s. I have a Savage .32 Auto handgun that holds 11 rounds of ammunition. It was designed in 1905 and entered production and civilian sales in 1907. My specimen was made in 1915, 114 years ago. I have a Winchester Model 1907 rifle, which is a semi-automatic rifle with a detachable high capacity magazine. It was introduced in 1907, as an improved version of a model produced in 1905. My example was built in 1928. I have a semi-automatic shotgun designed by John Browning in 1899. My example was built in 1927. I could go on, but you get the picture.
Letting civilians carry guns will result in all sorts of needless violence. Wrong. The exact opposite is true. States that have high rates of carry permit holders have significantly lower crime rates than states which do not. In addition, permit holders are the most law abiding segment of the population. Texas has a million CHL (Concealed Handgun License) holders, and the state tracks them very carefully. This is from an official Texas government report:
“On January 1, 1996, the Texas Concealed Handgun Law went into effect. This law states that the Texas Department of Public Safety (TXDPS) “shall issue” a concealed handgun license (CHL) to any Texas resident who meets the application requirements for character (background check) and training. This is an analysis of arrest data for Texas concealed handgun licensees that was performed on data from the subsequent years of 1996 – 2000. A comparison was made with the arrest data for the entire Texas population for the same time period, showing that, on average: male Texans who are over 21 years old and are not CHL holders are 7.7 times more likely to be arrested for commission of a violent crime than male Texans with a CHL; and female Texans who are over 21 years old and are not CHL holders are 7.5 times more likely to be arrested for commission of a violent crime than female Texans with a CHL. Of the violent crime cases that have been adjudicated, approximately 26% of CHL holders who were arrested were convicted, and 44% are cleared of the violent crimes for which they were arrested.”
We need an Assault Weapons Ban! Such a ban was in effect under Federal law for a ten year period. Among other things, it limited magazine capacity to ten rounds. Various organizations, from the Centers for Disease Control to the U.S. Department of Justice studied the effect of the ban for that ten year period. They all concluded that the ban had absolutely no effect on crime or violence.
All of these positions are verifiable facts. Use this information to help counter the outright lies used by those who would take away our most basic civil right and human right- the right to self preservation.
