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Statistics contradict claims of gun control advocates
by Anthony Martin
In the mass hysteria whipped up by liberal politicians and the mainstream media over guns, some wildly erroneous claims have been made concerning gun violence that calls into question the trustworthiness of the sources. A new report issued today by Science 2.0 highlights these errors and attempts to set the record straight.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo, D-N.Y., stated in an announcement Wednesday that gun violence is the single most crucial issue of our time. Former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., who now leads a gun control advocacy group, stated that gun violence has consumed the nation and that it is time to say enough. Others in the media who have written numerous op-eds for various publications have claimed that America is overwhelmed by gun violence and that it must be stopped at all costs.
The statistics, however, show the exact opposite of what is being claimed by each of these advocates of gun control. Gun violence is way down and has been plummeting for 30 years. Very few murders committed by criminals with guns involve the oft-demonized semiautomatic rifles. Murder ranks at number 15 among the most common causes of death in America, and guns represent a small percentage of those. Suicides account for a whopping 160 percent of the number of murders committed with guns.
Yet to listen to liberal politicians and the mainstream media one would get the impression that our streets are constantly swirling with gunfire and that it is more dangerous to live in our gun infested society than to live in Afghanistan. That may be true if one is referring to Chicago or Detroit, two of the most violent cities in America that also have some of the most restrictive gun laws in the country.
But such gun violence is not characteristic of most of the rest of the country.
In Wyoming, for example, where guns and ammunition are easy to obtain with few delays or restrictions, the entire state had only 21 murders in 2012. The city of Chicago alone will post at least that many murders in one month. Last year Chicago reported 40 homicides in the month of January alone.
According to Science 2.0, where America is dropping the ball is in the area of mental health. In each case of mass murder in the last 20 years, the perpetrators were taking powerful psychotropic medications, indicating severe systemic mental illness.
In addition, in most of these cases the perpetrators obtained their firearms illegally, that is, they broke the law. Thus, gun control laws did not stop them from committing their heinous crimes.
Thus, the thing that is being totally missed by liberal politicians, mainstream media commentators, and gun control advocacy groups is that America has failed one of its most vulnerable subgroups -- the mentally ill. And while the drugs used to treat them have gone a long way to help such persons lead at least minimally productive lives, such medications also carry huge risks, including the potential for making unstable persons even more unstable.
This issue is not addressed at all by attempts to make it harder for ordinary citizens to get guns. And it is doubtful, according to Science 2.0, that new gun control laws, gun bans, ammunition registration and limitations, an other such encroachments on citizens' rights will do one thing to prevent mass killings.
ALERT!
A brand new entry is now available in my regular series Musings After Midnight, which is now posted at my blog, The Liberty Sphere. The very latest is "A war-less, bloodless coup is still a coup, and we have been seized."
Visit my ministry site at Martin Christian Ministries.
Statistics contradict claims of gun control advocates
by Anthony Martin
In the mass hysteria whipped up by liberal politicians and the mainstream media over guns, some wildly erroneous claims have been made concerning gun violence that calls into question the trustworthiness of the sources. A new report issued today by Science 2.0 highlights these errors and attempts to set the record straight.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo, D-N.Y., stated in an announcement Wednesday that gun violence is the single most crucial issue of our time. Former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., who now leads a gun control advocacy group, stated that gun violence has consumed the nation and that it is time to say enough. Others in the media who have written numerous op-eds for various publications have claimed that America is overwhelmed by gun violence and that it must be stopped at all costs.
The statistics, however, show the exact opposite of what is being claimed by each of these advocates of gun control. Gun violence is way down and has been plummeting for 30 years. Very few murders committed by criminals with guns involve the oft-demonized semiautomatic rifles. Murder ranks at number 15 among the most common causes of death in America, and guns represent a small percentage of those. Suicides account for a whopping 160 percent of the number of murders committed with guns.
Yet to listen to liberal politicians and the mainstream media one would get the impression that our streets are constantly swirling with gunfire and that it is more dangerous to live in our gun infested society than to live in Afghanistan. That may be true if one is referring to Chicago or Detroit, two of the most violent cities in America that also have some of the most restrictive gun laws in the country.
But such gun violence is not characteristic of most of the rest of the country.
In Wyoming, for example, where guns and ammunition are easy to obtain with few delays or restrictions, the entire state had only 21 murders in 2012. The city of Chicago alone will post at least that many murders in one month. Last year Chicago reported 40 homicides in the month of January alone.
According to Science 2.0, where America is dropping the ball is in the area of mental health. In each case of mass murder in the last 20 years, the perpetrators were taking powerful psychotropic medications, indicating severe systemic mental illness.
In addition, in most of these cases the perpetrators obtained their firearms illegally, that is, they broke the law. Thus, gun control laws did not stop them from committing their heinous crimes.
Thus, the thing that is being totally missed by liberal politicians, mainstream media commentators, and gun control advocacy groups is that America has failed one of its most vulnerable subgroups -- the mentally ill. And while the drugs used to treat them have gone a long way to help such persons lead at least minimally productive lives, such medications also carry huge risks, including the potential for making unstable persons even more unstable.
This issue is not addressed at all by attempts to make it harder for ordinary citizens to get guns. And it is doubtful, according to Science 2.0, that new gun control laws, gun bans, ammunition registration and limitations, an other such encroachments on citizens' rights will do one thing to prevent mass killings.
ALERT!
A brand new entry is now available in my regular series Musings After Midnight, which is now posted at my blog, The Liberty Sphere. The very latest is "A war-less, bloodless coup is still a coup, and we have been seized."
Visit my ministry site at Martin Christian Ministries.
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