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So Moran’s figures are outdated and on the high side.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?
NRA: Biden Shoves Foot in Mouth… Again
Americans could have taken little comfort when the man a heartbeat away from the nation’s nuclear launch codes predicted, in another context, “If we do everything right, if we do it with absolute certainty, there’s still a 30 percent chance we’re going to get it wrong.”
This week, however, Vice-President Joe Biden increased his probability of error to 100 percent, making and repeating statements indicating that he’s just about the only elected official in America that doesn’t know that violent crime has been declining for the last 20 years. Read more
NRA News: Gun Crime Continues to Decrease, Despite Increase in Gun Sales
Cam Edwards talks to C.J. Ciaramella from The Daily Caller
Associated Press Notes UK gangs thrive in August riots
British gun control is held up as the standard by the American mainstream media, but this weekend the Associated Press noted that the larger gangs in UK, which are increasingly becoming a problem still obtain firearms. The story noted:
“The starkest difference between British and American gangs is the firepower. In gun-control Britain, only the bigger gangs make firearms — smuggled in with drugs shipments from Holland, North Africa and the Caribbean — their weapon of choice. For U.K. teenage apprentices and wannabes, the knife is still king.”
Now many in the American MSM might say that the British gun control laws therefore work, if ONLY the biggest gangs can get guns. But this says to use that if guns are smuggled into Britain, then it is likely if America adopts stricter gun control policies the gangs here will also just smuggle in guns as they do in the UK.
But let’s also examine the fact that gun control isn’t the same as “crime control” as the story also notes:
“Most of the more than 5,000 stabbings a year in Britain, according police and social workers, are gangs attacking rivals who strayed into their areas, muscled into their rackets, or simply insulted them.”
This passage suggests that again it is a crime problem NOT a gun problem. And as the recent violence has shown the UK is becoming a nation where the law-abiding are unarmed whilst the criminals are increasingly becoming armed to the hilt!
Leaf Chronicle Editorial Calls for Reduction in Guns
What is the problem for the 19th Judicial Districts first Special Assistant U.S. Attorney General? According to The Leaf Chronicle of Clarksville and Fort Campbell the problem facing Samuel Knolton Jr. is guns and gangs. But in an editorial the paper calls for their to be a reduce in “gun crimes.”
Shouldn’t this be a call for a reduction in “gang crimes?” Get rid of the gangs and the gun problem associated with said gangs will easily be resolved. This is just another way of how the words are moved about to make a story seem more sensational. But we see that the blame is put on the firearms (illegal or otherwise), not the thugs that are using them.
Personal Liberty Digest Offers Some Interesting Gun Facts
More guns should equal more crime and more murders, at least that’s what the anti-gun zealots are trying to suggest, and far too often the mainstream media is quick to pick up on it – and run with it. But this week Personal Liberty Digest offered another take, looking at a variety of statistics, which actually suggest the opposite. There are more guns, but crime is down.
“Preliminary data from the Uniform Crime Report shows that the violent crime rate went down 5.5 percent nationwide in 2009. This covers all four categories of violent crime: murder, robbery, aggravated assault and forcible rape. Violent crime went down 4 percent in metropolitan counties and 3 percent elsewhere, according to the FBI.”
Let’s see how the anti-gun groups, such as the Brady Bunch try to spin this one.
New York Post Article Offers No Opposing View
While it is written to be a news article, a recent piece in The New York Post sounds a lot more like an editorial. It offers only anti-gun bias, and even makes bold statements without offering an opposing view to challenge it – and worse there is no actual proof this is a fact:
“Cops recovered 5,129 firearms from suspects last year, compared to 5,537 in 2008 — an 8 percent decline, according to a report by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Most of the guns came from states already roundly criticized by Mayor Bloomberg for being lax on background checks, including Virginia, Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina and Florida.”
While the report may suggest this is true, is there actual proof the gun dealers were operating in those states? And even if true, isn’t this just proof that criminals will just go to any length to get a gun, or Mikey so naïve to believe that if all guns in America are banned that criminals will just give up?
Article Claims U.S. Guns Fueling Mexican Cartels, Lacks Any Counter-Point
It is heating up again. Not the actual drug war in Mexico, we’re talking about the media noting that American guns are fueling it. This is heating up again, and we’re still concerned it could have a major fallout north of the border. Las Cruces Sun-News offered a completely one-sided story on American guns traveling to Mexico, but ignored recent reports of military-grade firepower.
Interestingly the article even mentions how AK-47s were the guns of choice by some gunrunners. It is never made clear whether these guns were obtained legally or illegally, but instead just implies that this is all about gun shows and straw buyers. What also isn’t being mentioned by the media is whether it is even Americans who are doing this illegal gun running.
Gun Crime Problem in California
California has some of the worst gun laws in the country, at least for those law-abiding citizens who wish to own a firearm. But clearly the liberal leaning officials in the state must look the other way when criminals are involved with guns. This according to KGO-TV in San Francisco, which offers this take on gun crime in the City of Richmond:
“Thousands of bullets were taken off the streets of Richmond in just the past three months. Richmond police say they confiscate at least one gun each day and it is creating a backlog of cases which makes it harder to convict.
“When asked what happens if you get caught with a gun for the first time, Richmond resident Kenan Shackelford says, ‘Oh basically you get a slap on the wrist, you’re going home [with] an ankle monitor or maybe probation.’ He says he knows this because he just got out for armed robbery.”
We must ask, why are law-abiding citizens treated like criminals when it comes to gun rights in California, whilst the real criminals get a slap on the wrist and are sent home? This is the problem with the state of gun laws in this country, and it is clearly getting worse. Criminals do bad things with guns, but it is society at a whole that pays the price.
Chicago Columnist Offers Insight in Gun Crime in Chicago
In discussing how a legally purchased handgun was used in a grisly and tragic murder in the suburbs of Chicago, Daily Herald columnist Chuck Groudie offers a unique look at the gun debate. While he doesn’t exactly take sides, he does stress that this was also not a random case of violence. This was a case of pre-mediated murder, and one point Groudie doesn’t offer is that if the Kramer family had a gun they could have fought back.
Give his piece a read, and you decide whether a second legally purchased gun wouldn’t have meant a very different outcome.
