More Gun Laws Does NOT Equal Less Gun Deaths

March 8, 2013

In the past day or two, some of you may have seen recent news articles with provocative headlines like 'more gun laws equals less gun deaths'.

Here's an excellent article that picks apart the data from (and author of) that study and exposes the claim as being the same typical, misleading kind of assertion commonly used by gun control advocates. When you actually analyze the data, it doesn't support their position.

I was commenting on another thread earlier tonight about how gun control advocates commonly use 'macro' numbers for their statistics. They only look at data for as long as it takes for them to make some outrageous claim that seems to support their position. It's the gun rights people who are willing to do actual analysis. They do so willingly because the data actually supports their positions much more strongly.

* More laws equals less gun death? A study that doesn't look at all the pertinent variables and has very little affect on murder rates.
* Gun violence is too high? Crime rates have been on the decline for 20 years even as the number of firearms in circulation has grown steadily and strongly, including so-called "assault weapons".
* 40% of gun sales without background checks? Not true, as even the author of the 20-year old study has admitted. And an estimated ~1.8% of guns used in crime are obtained at gun shows.
* 11-13,000 gun deaths per year in the US? Much lower when you remove the justifiable homicide by both police and lawful citizens from that number.
* Less gun death in countries with strict gun laws (specifically England and Australia). Yes, less gun deaths but explosive growth in violent crime including crime committed with guns.
* So-called "assault weapons" are too dangerous? They account for an estimated ~1% of violent crime.
* So-called "assault weapons" aren't used for self defense? Not true. Cases I'm aware of include Koreans defending their businesses in the post-Rodney King LA riots, 20 years ago; a teenager defending himself and his younger sister that occurred shortly after Sandy Hook; and another incident that happened shortly after that.
* So-called "assault weapons" are "powerful"? Not true. The most common ones are .223 caliber (a.k.a. 5.56 mm), one of the smaller rifle calibers available. Some are .22, even smaller.
* So-called "assault weapons" aren't used for hunting? Not true. They're generally not used for big game hunting, like deer, because they're outlawed for big game by states because they're NOT powerful enough. I think I've read that they are used in some states for deer. They are used for hunting other animals like coyotes and smaller ones.
* So-called "assault weapons" are "weapons of war"? Not true. These rifles are re-designed versions on the same "platform" as rifles designed for military use. But the re-design removed key performance functionality, making them much less lethal than their military relatives. These rifles are not used by standing military forces. Fully automatic or "select fire" versions of them are. Semi-automatic firearms technology has been in common use for more than 100 years.

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2013/03/new-study-finds-firearms-laws-do-nothing-to-prevent-homicides.php

New Study Finds Firearms Laws Do Nothing to Prevent Homicides

www.powerlineblog.com