Gun Control?
by
David
Franke
Recently
by David Franke: LRC
Faux Poll for the Weekend
Americans are
being bombarded with an immense propaganda campaign that says we
need tougher gun-control laws in order to reduce the number of gun
murders. The evidence is just the opposite. The states with the
toughest gun-control laws have 60% more gun murders than the states
with the least restrictive gun laws.
And that evidence,
ironically, comes from the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence
– one of the nation’s leading advocates of tougher gun laws.
I consulted
Wikipedia to find how states rank in terms of murders per 100,000
population. I found that information in
a chart that also provided gun murders per 100,000 population,
plus Brady Campaign scores for each state’s gun laws. A score of
100 would be the most restrictive gun law possible, and a score
of 0 would be the least restrictive.
Intrigued,
I decided to see how the states with the toughest gun laws compared
to the states with the least restrictive gun laws. Following the
“logic” of gun-control advocates, including the Brady
Campaign itself, tougher gun laws should result in fewer gun deaths.
Just the opposite was the case.
I compared
the eight states with the toughest gun laws with the eight states
with the least restrictive gun laws. The only reason I chose eight
instead of the more popular 10 is because a number of states were
tied for ninth and tenth places, complicating the math. But it was
easy to compare the eight “toughest” with the eight “least
restrictive,” and that would work just as well to compare the
results in the two camps.
Alaska
Arizona
Utah
Idaho
Kentucky
Louisiana
Montana
Oklahoma
~
Bottom line:
Average of
4.4 gun murders per 100,000 in the eight states with the most restrictive
gun laws, as measured by the Brady Campaign.
Average of
2.8 gun murders per 100,000 in the eight states with the least restrictive
gun laws, as measured by the Brady Campaign.
States
with the most restrictive gun laws have 60% more gun murders per
100,000 than the states with the least restrictive gun laws.
About the
District of Columbia
As is common
practice, I list the District of Columbia as a state for the purpose
of these comparisons. After all, it is a separate unit of government
like the states, and it has more population than Vermont or Wyoming.
The Brady Campaign
does not give a “score” for the District of Columbia,
instead giving it the designation “N/A,” denoting “not
available.” They might say this is because it is a federal
district, not a state. A conspiracy theorist might rather suggest
that they want to keep it in as low a profile as possible, given
that it’s the sorest sore thumb in their theory that tougher gun
laws equal fewer gun deaths.
Wikipedia has
no problem listing it in “Gun
laws in the United States by state.” And a comparison with
the 50 states leaves little doubt that it has one of the most restrictive
set of gun laws, if not the most restrictive gun law,
to be found.
Bear in mind
that in D.C. you need a permit to purchase both long guns and handguns
(the firearms registration process also serves as a permitting process);
all firearms must be registered with the Metropolitan Police Department,
with a background check, training, and testing of the gun owner
required; “assault weapons,” .50 BMG rifles, and
magazines that can hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition are prohibited;
concealed carry is prohibited; open carry is prohibited;
automatic firearms are prohibited; and possession of unregistered
firearms are prohibited for both residents and non-residents (the
“peaceable journey” provision).
Wikipedia also
notes that D.C. law “also prohibited the possession of
handguns, even in private citizens’ own homes, unless they were
registered before 1976. However, the handgun ban was struck down
by the U.S. Supreme Court in the 2008 case District
of Columbia v. Heller. The Supreme Court ruled that the
Second Amendment acknowledges and guarantees the right of the individual
to possess and carry firearms, and therefore D.C.’s ban on handguns
was unconstitutional.
“Following
the Heller decision, the Washington D.C. City Council enacted
a set of rules regulating the possession of handguns in citizens’
homes. In addition to each handgun being registered with the police,
the rules require that D.C. residents undergo a background check
and submit fingerprints. The firearms registry photographs the applicant.
Residents must take an online gun safety course, and pass a written
test on the District’s gun laws. Residents must also declare where
it will be kept.”
In other words,
D.C. government did everything it could to nullify – in effect –
the Supreme Court decision, treating would-be gun owners more like
criminals.
Compare all
these gun restrictions in the District of Columbia with those of
California, which gets a score of 80 (out of 100) from the Brady
Campaign, and it is disingenuous, to say the least, for the Brady
Campaign not to give a score higher than 80 to the District of Columbia.
March
22, 2013
David
Franke [send him mail]
was one of the founders of the conservative movement in the 1950s
and 1960s. He is the author of a dozen books, including Safe
Places, The
Torture Doctor, and America’s
Right Turn.
Copyright
© 2013 David Franke