Myth: Assault weapons are used in 16% of homicides
Fact: This figure was concocted to promote an “assault weapons” bill in New York. The classification scheme used encompassed most firearms sold in the U.S. since 1987 (center fire rifles and shotguns holding more than six cartridges, and handguns holding more than 10 rounds). By misclassifying “assault weapons,” they expanded the scope of a non-problem.
“Passing a law like the assault weapons ban is a symbolic, purely symbolic move … Its only real justification is not to reduce crime but to desensitize the public to the regulation of weapons in preparation for their ultimate confiscation.”
Charles Krauthammer
Syndicated Columnist
The Washington Post, April 5, 1996
Myth: The 1994 (former) Federal Assault Weapons Ban was effective
Fact: “ … we cannot clearly credit the ban with any of the nation’s recent drop in gun violence.”25
Fact: The ban covered only 1.39% of the models of firearms on the market, so the ban’s effectiveness is automatically limited.
Fact: “The ban has failed to reduce the average number of victims per gun murder incident or multiple gunshot wound victims.”26
27Fact: “The public safety benefits of the 1994 ban have not yet been demonstrated.”
Fact: “The ban triggered speculative price increases and ramped-up production of the banned firearms.”28
22 U.S. Code title 26, subtitle E, Chapter 53, subchapter B, part 1, section 5845
23 BATF test as reported in the New York Times, April 3, 1989
24 Congressional testimony, Jimmy Trahin, Los Angeles Detective, Subcommittee on the Constitution of the Committee on the Judiciary, May 5, 1989, 101st Congress, 1st Session, Washington, DC, US Government Printing Office, May 5, 1989, p. 379
25 An Updated Assessment of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban: Impacts on Gun Markets and Gun Violence, 1994-2003, National Institute of Justice, June 2004
26 Impacts of the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban: 1994-96, National Institute of Justice, March 1999
27 Ibid
28 Ibid Gun Facts Version 5.1 Page 4
Copyright 2009, Guy Smith www.GunFacts.info All Rights Reserved
Fact: “The ban … ramped-up production of the banned firearms prior to the law’s implementation”29 and thus increased the total supply over the following decade.
Fact: The Brady Campaign claims that “After the 1994 ban, there were 18% fewer ‘assault weapons’ traced to crime in the first eight months of 1995 than were traced in the same period in 1994.” However they failed to note (and these are mentioned in the NIJ study) that:
1. “Assault weapons” traces were minimal before the ban (due to their infrequent use in crimes), so an 18% change enters the realm of statistical irrelevancy.
2. Fewer “assault weapons” were available to criminals because collectors bought-up the available supply before the ban.
Myth: Nobody needs an assault weapon
Fact: Recall the Rodney King riots in that anti-gun city of Los Angeles. Every major news network carried footage of Korean storeowners sitting on the roofs of their stores, armed with “assault weapons.”30 Those were the stores that did not get burned to the ground, and those were the people that were not dragged into the street and beaten by rioters. “You can’t get around the image of people shooting at people to protect their stores and it working. This is damaging to the [gun control] movement.”31
Fact: There are many reasons people prefer to use these firearms:
• They are easy to operate
• They are very reliable in outdoor conditions (backpacking, hunting, etc.)
• They are accurate
• They are good for recreational and competitive target shooting
• They have value in many self-defense situations
Fact: There are many sports in which these firearms are required:
• Many hunters use these firearms
• Three-gun target matches
• Camp Perry competitions, especially the Service Rifle events
• DCM/CMP competitions
• Bodyguard simulations
Fact: Ours is a Bill of Rights, not a Bill of Needs.
29 Ibid
30 Washington Post, May 2, 1992
31 Josh Sugarmann, executive director of the Violence Policy Center, Washington Post, May 18, 1993 Gun Facts Version 5.1 Page 5
Copyright 2009, Guy Smith www.GunFacts.info All Rights Reserved
GUNS IN OTHER COUNTRIES
Myth: Countries with strict gun control have less crime
Fact: In America, we can demonstrate that private ownership of guns reduces crime, but from country to country there is no correlation between gun availability and the violent crime rate. Consider this:
Crime Rate
High
Low
United States
Switzerland
High
Gun Availability
Mexico
Japan
Low
Or, to use detailed data, we can contrast the per capita homicide rate with the per capita gun ownership rate between different industrialized countries (see graph below). Doing so shows zero correlation between the availability of guns and the overall homicide rate.
Fact: Countries with the strictest gun-control laws also tended to have the highest homicide rates.32
Fact: According to the U.N., as of 2005, Scotland was the most violent country in the developed world, with people three times more likely to be assaulted than in America. Violent crime there has doubled over the last 20 years. 3% of Scots had been victims of assault compared with 1.2% in America.33
Fact: “… the major surveys completed in the past 20 years or more provides no evidence of any relationship between the total number of legally held firearms in society and the rate of armed crime. Nor is there a relationship between the severity of controls imposed in various countries or the mass of bureaucracy involved with many control systems with
Gun Ownership and Homicide Rates
32 Violence, Guns and Drugs: A Cross-Country Analysis, Jeffery A. Miron, Department of Economics, Boston University, University of Chicago Press Journal of Law & Economics, October 2001.
33 Scotland tops list of world's most violent countries, The Times, September 19, 2005 Gun Facts Version 5.1 Page 6
Copyright 2009, Guy Smith www.GunFacts.info All Rights Reserved
34the apparent ease of access to firearms by criminals and terrorists.”
35Fact: Switzerland has relatively lenient gun control for Europe, and has the third-lowest homicide rate of the top nine major European countries, and the same per capita rate as England and Wales.36
Fact: Indeed, the Swiss basically have a military rifle in nearly every closest. “Everybody who has served in the army is allowed to keep their personal weapon, even after the end of their military service.”
37
Contact Crime Victimization Rates
Fact: “We don’t have as many guns [in Brazil] as the United States, but we use them more.”38 Brazil has mandatory licensing, registration, and maximum personal ownership quotas. It now bans any new sales to private citizens. Their homicide rate is almost three (3) times higher than the U.S.39
Fact: In Canada around 1920, before there was any form of gun control, their homicide rate was 7% of the U.S rate. By 1986, and after
34 Minutes of Evidence, Colin Greenwood, Select Committee on Northern Ireland Affairs, January 29, 2003.
35 In Switzerland, handguns are obtainable once a person obtains a simple police permit which is valid for six months. Federal law over weapons, weapon accessories and ammunition (weapon law, WG), Federal Assembly of the Swiss Confederation, May 2007 - http://www.admin.ch/ch/d/sr/5/514.54.de.pdf
36 Carol Kalish, International Crime Rates, Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report (Washington: Department of Justice, May 1988). 1984 data for Switzerland, and the 1983 data for England and Wales.
37 Army rifles remain racked at home, Swiss Defense Ministry statement, May 15, 2004, http://www.swissinfo.org .
38 Chocolates for guns? Brazil targets gun violence, Rubem César Fernandes, executive secretary of Viva Rio, a nongovernmental agency that studies urban crime, Christian Science Monitor, August 10, 1999
39 Homicide trends in the United States, U.S. data: Bureau of Justice Statistics, September, 2004. Brazil data: Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 2005.
Gun Facts Version 5.1 Page 7
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significant gun control legislation, Canada’s homicide rate was 35% of the U.S. rate – a significant increase. 40 In 2003, Canada had a violent crime rate more than double that of the U.S. (963 vs. 475 per 100,000).41
Fact: Many of the countries with the strictest gun control have the highest rates of violent crime. Australia and England, which have virtually banned gun ownership, have the highest rates of robbery, sexual assault, and assault with force of the top 17 industrialized countries.42
Fact: The crime rate is 66% higher in four Canadian Prairie Provinces than in the northern US states across the border.43
Fact: Strict controls over existing arms failed in Finland. Despite needs-based licensing, storage laws, transportation restrictions,44 Finland experienced a multiple killing school shooting in 2007.45