BBC News Notes: Colombia experiments with Bogota gun ban
Gun control say anti-gun types will make a safer world. So maybe we have a test subject in Bogota, Colombia, which is banning firearms reports the BBC this week. But what’s this… some are already saying that it won’t reduce crime? The BBC noted:
And critics of Mr (Mayor Gustavo) Petro’s ban have pointed out that most homicides involving firearms are committed with non-registered weapons, most likely smuggled into the country by left-wing guerrillas and the criminal bands that control drug trafficking.
So let’s see if we understand. The city is going to ban guns, keeping guns out of the hands of law-abiding citizens, but critics note that guns are smuggled into the country and are used by criminals.
This should be required reading by groups such as Mayors Against Illegal Guns and The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
Another Gun in NYC – How Will This Play Out
Two tourists to New York City, both of whom had permits to carry their guns in their respective home states, could face time in jail for bringing their totally legal guns to New York City – albeit illegally by NYC law. However, this week The New York Daily News noted that rapper “Cory Gunz,” whose real last name isn’t actually “Gunz” for the record, was arrested for possession of a loaded firearm.
“Rapper Cory Gunz – born Peter Pankey Jr. – was arrested in the Bronx Saturday when cops found he was carrying an unregistered Taurus .9mm handgun, police said.
He was arraigned in Bronx Criminal Court Sunday night on charges of criminal possession of a loaded firearm.
His father, rapper Peter Gunz, posted the $30,000 bail.
Here is the part where we are sort of confused… see the quote from Cory:
“This was a big mistake on my part,” Gunz told The Daily News early Monday morning after getting out of jail. “I didn’t have any intentions of harming anyone or committing a criminal activity. So many young people look up to me and I need to fight though this.”
So was the gun part of a fashion or style statement – gun for Gunz? The law isn’t about intentions in this case. The crime was also committed already for mere possession, and Gunz should have known this fact. But it gets more bizarre reports the paper:
Cory Gunz and his dad recently started a campaign called “Gunz Against Guns” where they speak at schools across the Bronx to steer kids away from the deadly weapons, Peter Gunz said.
Now the real question is whether Cory – being semi-rich and famous – will get the same treatment as the two tourists to New York City? Personally we do see a difference in these cases. The tourists in question legally possessed their respective guns but broke the law by bringing them to New York City – believing they could legally carry their firearms.
Cory Gunz however has not only spoke out against guns, but must have known that he was in possession of an illegal firearm in the first place.
Richard Times-Dispatch Fact Checks Rep. Jim Moran
The Richmond Times-Dispatch noted that earlier this month Rep. Jim Moran stated that the U.S. gun homicide rate was 20 higher than other western nations, and used this as a call for gun control. We always wonder how “gun control” is the answer as even places with gun control still have crime.
The paper actually rated his statement in a PolitiFact check column as “mostly true,” reporting:
If you compare the most recent data on the same group of nations, mostly based on 2009 statistics, the U.S. gun homicide rate is 15 times higher then the other countries. The number fell 10 times as high when we defined the inexact term of “western nations” as countries belonging to NATO.
So Moran’s figures are outdated and on the high side. His terminology is loose. But his point — that gun homicide rates in the U.S. tower over those of other wealthy European nations — holds up.
So his statement is “mostly true,” but even the fact check doesn’t offer all the facts. Consider that the United States was involved in two World Wars in the 20th century but has been able to avoid a full-out invasion of the nation since the War of 1812. The last major war fought on American soil was the American Civil War, which ended in 1865. While it is only debatable what issues guns had in our defense, our commitment to firearms ensures that our military is up to the task. When the Civil War came soldiers on both sides (tragically we should add) knew how to use guns.
When the Spanish-American War came, our military was small but volunteers swelled the ranks and these volunteers knew how to shoot. The same thing happened again in World War I and World War II.
But let’s also consider that Germany and Japan, two nations that have lower gun crime, fell victims to dictatorships. Both were democracies in the truth sense and yet became dictatorships, in part because there was no hope for the people to fight back.
Finally, we circle back to the issue of crime. The U.S. gun homicide rate maybe large, but crime has been falling in the United States and gun crime has been rising in places that have banned guns. So what does that say about the facts?
Who Guards the Guards: “Guns missing from Pine County Sheriff’s Office”
So far the year started off without stories like this one, but this week The Duluth News Tribune and other local outlets offered another story we hate to hear about – “Guns missing from the Pine County Sheriff’s Office.” The paper paints an even worse picture:
The ongoing firearms investigation is one of 11 internal investigations involving 15 sheriff’s office employees conducted over the past year. The investigations included complaints of domestic violence, sexual harassment, excessive force, abuse of authority, failure to follow policies and order, and failure to perform assigned duties. The investigations produced disciplinary actions ranging from oral reprimands to termination.
All of this is very upsetting, but the issue of the guns is the one we find very disturbing as it sort of takes aim at the argument that only police should have guns. In this case at least a dozen or so guns would now be in the hands of the bad guys near Duluth if “only the police” had guns.
NRA News: Support Grows for Marine Who Brought Gun to Empire State Building
Cam Edwards talks to Dave Bruce, a Boston lawyer and Former Marine who is trying to help Ryan Jerome, a fellow Former Marine who was arrested in New York City for his concealed handgun
Illinois Gun Licenses Rose Six Percent in 2011
The media is reporting an interesting story this week. Illinois residents are buying guns, as licenses rose by six percent. Even those from the Illinois Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence noted to local Chicago media, “that is a pretty big increase.”
So is there more to the story? What the media is only touching upon is that Chicago ended – by way of the Supreme Court – a ban on handgun ownership. And in the Windy City gun ownership, or at least the number of people with firearms cards, increased by 16 percent in 2011.
This is a story, a big story. Now some anti-gun types are no doubt going to say, “This is bad” and cite possible increase in violence. But the truth is that Chicago has had gun violence because the criminal element ignored the gun ban. So maybe we could actually see some decrease in crime as the innocent law-abiding citizens won’t have to automatically be victims.
Indian Magazine Shows Why Some People Shouldn’t Talk About Gun
Author Lionel Shriver talked to Tehelka, independent weekly news magazine from India, on a number of topics, and the author of “We Need To Talk About Kevin” was of course asked about gun control. While her novel maybe about a fictional school massacre, she shows ignorance on the issue of firearms.
The article offered this exchange:
[Question]We Need To Talk About Kevin was published in 2003, yet little change in gun control legislation has taken place. Last year saw the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Is this issue being addressed at all?
[Shriver]I’m greatly in despair. It should not be possible for people to walk on the street and casually be able to buy a semi-automatic. The constitutional amendment has to change. Until then, there are always lunatics in every society who will wreak havoc because of the easy availability of guns in America.
This is an argument that is used all too often, which blames the guns and not the shooter. Yes, unfortunately there will always be lunatics in every society but the havoc isn’t just because of “guns in America.”
We also don’t know what she means by “buy a semi-automatic.” Does she mean handguns, long guns, assault style weapons, etc.? This is vague, but with some anti-gun types it is vague because they likely don’t know the difference and it is vague because they really mean “all guns,” when they talk about bans.
It is also interesting that someone would say, “the constitutional amendment has to change,” and then tries to suggest that violence will continue until it is changed. We’re pretty sure there were wars, crime and violence before guns.
San Antonio Columnist: The Second Amendment’s Faustian bargain
There have been calls for “reasonable gun control,” and this week O. Richardo Pimentel, writing for The San Antonio Express-News offered an interesting twist in a column titled, “The Second Amendment’s Faustian bargain.”
He tells the story of how guns can be used to save as well as take lives. He makes a compelling argument, writing:
Everyone should be pleased by innocent lives saved as a side effect of gun ownership for the right people. But we can still recognize that the same laws that allow that also create a climate of too many guns in the wrong hands — and innocent lives taken.
This is true, and while we respect his opinion, the issue we have is that “reasonable gun control” would limit what the law-abiding can buy, while criminals would simply ignore the law.
As we long have tried to argue, the problem with this view is that the Second Amendment isn’t what gives criminals access to guns. There is no Amendment that makes murder legal, yet it still happens. There is no Amendment that grants the right for drug addiction, yet we still have drug addicts. So why would new gun laws stop criminals?
So no, we don’t think this is a Faustian bargain. Selling our souls for safety in the guise of gun control would be the real Faustian bargain.
Misleading Patch.com Headline Suggests “Gun Control” Effective
Read this headline:
Efforts to Control Firearms Aim to Help Overall Safety
This headline makes it sound like “gun control is working.” But this story in Patch.com offers this dek (that’s what editors call the secondary headline) noting that this issue is really “illegal firearms” so where does the “gun control” part come in?
According to the LA County Sheriff’s Department, the Century Station’s efforts to stop illegal firearm possession are helping to reduce overall violent crimes in the area.
The story itself is far from being about guns, but rather crime. However, here is yet another example of a media story that blames crime on guns.
Gun Safety “Daunting” Claims WDBJ
How does WEDJ7.com see the issue of control gun? In a word: “daunting.” This is how the news site reported the issue in a piece on Virginia gun control. The story began with this passage:
The Virginia Center for Public Safety plans a vigil for victims of gun violence Monday at the state Capitol. Members also will seek the ear of state legislators to encourage them to toughen the state’s gun laws.
Their task is daunting. Republicans took control of the Senate and strengthened their majority in the House of Delegates in last fall’s election, improving the chances of a conservative agenda that will include a number of bills favored by gun-rights supporters.
This is a disgraceful example of mainstream media bias. It not only plays politics, blaming Republicans for the gun laws, but implies that gun violence is a political issue in the process!
