Gun Control Statistics

                The liberty principle for this Freedom Friday is the simple fact that statistics show how well gun control laws work.  In spite of everything that politicians claim, the statistics show there is more gun violence and more murders by guns in the states with the strongest gun control laws.

                Gun control advocates are still trying to take away our guns in spite of the fact that gun control laws bring more gun violence.  Police officers and others who are on the front lines battling violence are among the first to testify that gun control laws do not lessen gun violence.  PoliceOne surveyed law enforcement officers – “verified police professionals across all ranks and department sizes” – about gun policy and law enforcement; their survey was conducted in the period of March 4-13, 2013, and received 15,595 responses.  The responses from verified police professionals show that law enforcement personnel in the United States disagree overwhelming with the gun control measures being discussed by our representatives in Washington, D.C.  

The results from this survey illustrate that law enforcement personnel support the Second Amendment.  PoliceOne is a law enforcement website with more than 400,000 registered members.  The above referenced survey consisted of more than 20 questions about how they believe stricter gun control will affect the community.  Consider this question and the responses:  What effect do you think a federal ban on manufacture and sale of some semi-automatic firearms, termed by some as `assault weapons,’ would have on reducing violent crime?”  Out of the 14,642 law enforcement personnel who answered this question, 10,397 (71.0%) marked “none” as their answer.  This was followed by 3,004 people choosing “negative” (20.5%).  These two groups made 91.5% of those answering the question.

According to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, California was named the state with the strongest gun control laws in 2011.  Now consider the following data from the FBI’s uniform crime reports:  California, with 37 million residents, had the most murders committed by gun in 2011; their 1,220 gun murders (68% of all murders in the state that year) equates to 3.25 murders per 100,000 people.  In comparison, Texas has a population of 25.6 million and had about half the number of murders of California in 2011 – with a firearms murder rate of 2.91 per 100,000.

In their report of the above listed statistics, The Blaze noted the following information about Utah:  With a population of 2.8 million people, Utah “experienced just 26 gun murders and a firearms murder rate of 0.97, and yet the Brady Campaign considered this state with the “least gun control.”

The Blaze also noted that Washington, D.C. is the murder capital of our nation with 12 gun murders per 100,000 in 2011.  It also “finished first in gun-related robberies per 100,000 people – with 242.56.”  The District of Columbia in 1976 “required all guns be registered, banned new handguns and required guns at home to be stored and dissembled or locked up.”  Obviously, gun control laws did not work in D.C.!

Rush Limbaugh commented on Tuesday about the statistics in the The Blaze article, noting that 17 out of the 20 states with the highest number of gun murders are governed by Democrats.  As Rush said, “these are statistics that Democrats do not want you to know about.

Another article at The Blaze provided still more statistics about gun violence:  “Gun homicides have dropped steeply in the United States since their peak in 1993….

“A study released Tuesday by the government’s Bureau of Justice Statistics found that gun-related homicides dropped from 18,253 in 1993 to 11,101 in 2011.  That’s a 39 percent reduction.

“Another report by the private Pew Research Center found a similar decline by looking at the rate of gun homicides, which compares the number of killings to the size of the country’s population.  It found that the number of gun homicides per 100,000 people fell from 7 in 1993 to 3.6 in 2010, a drop of 49 percent.

“Both reports also found the rate of non-fatal crimes involving guns was also down by around 70 percent over that period.”

So if gun control laws bring more gun violence and gun murders have declined by 39-49 percent in the past 20 years, why are the Liberals so desirous for more gun control laws?  The statics prove that gun control is simply about control and not about control of guns.

               The United Nations is also trying to take away our guns with the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty(ATT).  This treaty “could prevent the United States from coming to the aid of its closest allies, as well as limit the constitutional rights of Americans.”  Thanks to 34 Senators co-sponsoring S. Con. Res 7, a resolution that opposed the UN treaty, there were not enough Senators to ratify the treaty.  According to Mike Lee (R-UT), “The United Nations Arms Trade Treaty is deeply flawed, which is why a majority of senators recently voted to stop the administration from continuing to push it.  I have great concerns that this treaty can be used to violate the second amendment rights of American citizens, and do not believe we should sign any treaty that infringes on the sovereignty of our country.  I am pleased to join 34 of my colleagues in signaling to this administration that the UN-ATT is a non-starter in the senate.”  Senator Lee was the 34^th opposing vote in a situation that requires 67 votes to ratify.  For now, this treaty is a “non-starter.” but we must remain vigilant to protect our liberty.