ole sarg Loc: south florida

10 Pro-Gun Myths, Shot Down
Fact-checking some of the gun lobby's favorite arguments shows they're full of holes.
—By Dave Gilson | Thu Jan. 31, 2013 3:01 AM PST
192

By cutting off federal funding for research and stymieing data collection and sharing, the National Rifle Association has tried to do to the study of gun violence what climate deniers have done to the science of global warming. No wonder: When it comes to hard numbers, some of the gun lobby's favorite arguments are full of holes.

Myth #1: They're coming for your guns.
Fact-check: No one knows the exact number of guns in America, but it's clear there's no practical way to round them all up (never mind that no one in Washington is proposing this). Yet if you fantasize about rifle-toting citizens facing down the government, you'll rest easy knowing that America's roughly 80 million gun owners already have the feds and cops outgunned by a factor of around 79 to 1.


Sources: Congressional Research Service (PDF), Small Arms Survey

Myth #2: Guns don't kill people—people kill people.
Fact-check: People with more guns tend to kill more people—with guns. The states with the highest gun ownership rates have a gun murder rate 114% higher than those with the lowest gun ownership rates. Also, gun death rates tend to be higher in states with higher rates of gun ownership.


Sources: Pediatrics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Myth #3: An armed society is a polite society.
Fact-check: Drivers who carry guns are 44% more likely than unarmed drivers to make obscene gestures at other motorists, and 77% more likely to follow them aggressively.
• Among Texans convicted of serious crimes, those with concealed-handgun licenses were sentenced for threatening someone with a firearm 4.8 times more than those without.
• In states with Stand Your Ground and other laws making it easier to shoot in self-defense, those policies have been linked to a 7 to 10% increase in homicides.

Also see our yearlong investigation of gun laws and mass shootings: America Under the Gun.
Myth #4: More good guys with guns can stop rampaging bad guys.
Fact-check: Mass shootings stopped by armed civilians in the past 30 years: 0
• Chances that a shooting at an ER involves guns taken from guards: 1 in 5

Myth #5: Keeping a gun at home makes you safer.
Fact-check: Owning a gun has been linked to higher risks of homicide, suicide, and accidental death by gun.
• For every time a gun is used in self-defense in the home, there are 7 assaults or murders, 11 suicide attempts, and 4 accidents involving guns in or around a home.
• 43% of homes with guns and kids have at least one unlocked firearm.
• In one experiment, one third of 8-to-12-year-old boys who found a handgun pulled the trigger.


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Myth #6: Carrying a gun for self-defense makes you safer.
Fact-check: In 2011, nearly 10 times more people were shot and killed in arguments than by civilians trying to stop a crime.
• In one survey, nearly 1% of Americans reported using guns to defend themselves or their property. However, a closer look at their claims found that more than 50% involved using guns in an aggressive manner, such as escalating an argument.
• A Philadelphia study found that the odds of an assault victim being shot were 4.5 times greater if he carried a gun. His odds of being killed were 4.2 times greater.

Myth #7: Guns make women safer.
Fact-check: In 2010, nearly 6 times more women were shot by husbands, boyfriends, and ex-partners than murdered by male strangers.
• A woman's chances of being killed by her abuser increase more than 7 times if he has access to a gun.
• One study found that women in states with higher gun ownership rates were 4.9 times more likely to be murdered by a gun that women in states with lower gun ownership rates.

Myth #8: "Vicious, violent video games" deserve more blame than guns.
Fact-check: So said NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre after Newtown. So what's up with Japan?

United States Japan
Per capita spending
on video games $44 $55
Civilian firearms
per 100 people 88 0.6
Gun homicides
in 2008 11,030 11
Sources: PricewaterhouseCoopers, Small Arms Survey (PDF), UN Office on Drugs and Crime

Myth #9: More and more Americans are becoming gun owners.
Fact-check: More guns are being sold, but they're owned by a shrinking portion of the population.
• About 50% of Americans said they had a gun in their homes in 1973. Today, about 45% say they do. Overall, 35% of Americans personally own a gun.
• Around 80% of gun owners are men. On average they own 7.9 guns each.

Myth #10: We don't need more gun laws—we just need to enforce the ones we have.
Fact-check: Weak laws and loopholes backed by the gun lobby make it easier to get guns illegally.
• Around 40% of all legal gun sales involve private sellers and don't require background checks. 40% of prison inmates who used guns in their crimes got them this way.
• An investigation found 62% of online gun sellers were willing to sell to buyers who said they couldn't pass a background check.
• 20% of licensed California gun dealers agreed to sell handguns to researchers posing as illegal "straw" buyers.
• The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives has not had a permanent director for 6 years, due to an NRA-backed requirement that the Senate approve nominees.

Icons in gun ownership chart: Handgun designed by Simon Child, rifle designed by Nadav Barkan, shotgun designed by Ammar Ceker, all from the Noun Project

donrent Loc: Punta Gorda , Fl

I don't know where in the hell you got that information "cause it is nothing more THAN Democrate written BULL SHIT !!!

Black Bart Loc: Indiana

He did a copy & Paste from Mother Jones

Danilo Loc: Las Vegas

I hope you didn't spend too much time on your research, ole sarg, because the net result is not worth much of anyone's time.
The liberal left is pleased to see the discussion being driven further from the core issue.

Most of the "movers and shakers" parading about, pretending to solve our problem are people who have taken an oath to protect and uphold our Constitution. And yet, when faced with a problem their FIRST response (NOT their last response) is to dismantle the Constitution. In the REAL United States, they should be searching EVERYWHERE else for a solution. The first thing all these people are doing is violating their oath of office! Everything else comes after that! What does that tell you about these people?

Ole sarg, it's YOUR Constitution, also! You once took an oath.
What's going to happen in YOUR world when they start coming after the 1st Amendment? The Constitution was created for the sole purpose of restricting government, they are SUPPOSED to feel confined by it. It makes sense that a government bent on an ever expanding platform would hate the Constitution! That's exactly the time WE need to be grateful to have it protecting us.

It makes no difference whether I want 7 rounds or 30 rounds, or 2000 rounds. If I'm a law abiding citizen and can afford it, I'm entitled to own these things, should I wish to. If you don't want to own these things, you are not compelled to. That, my friend, is what freedom is about.

People all over the world are being killed by other people, as I write this, and as you read it. I'm not saying it's good, but it's happening and has been happening since Cain slew Abel. It's not likely to change anytime soon.

Robert Graybeal Loc: Myrtle Beach

Right on, Brother!

RacerDan Loc: Virden Illinois

just check the gun laws and gun crime rate in Chicago to see what kind of joke gun contriol is.

TrainNut Loc: Ridin' the rails

"Among Texans convicted of serious crimes, those with concealed-handgun licenses were sentenced for threatening someone with a firearm 4.8 times more than those without."

That's a good statistic. People without guns don't threaten people with guns when they don't have them. Liberals will twist statistics to suit their views no matter how stupid it makes them look.

BigBear Loc: Northern CT

So many people believe every word that Obama & Company says without any thought as to what the truth is.
Therefore, those people think nothing of trying to tell us what what we should believe.
However, we're much smarter than that and need to call them on it every time just to let them know we're paying attention.

BigBear Loc: Northern CT

So many people believe every word that Obama & Company says without any thought as to what the truth is.
Therefore, those people think nothing of trying to tell us what what we should believe.
However, we're much smarter than that and need to call them on it every time just to let them know we're paying attention and know the truth.

TrainNut Loc: Ridin' the rails

"Fact-check: Mass shootings stopped by armed civilians in the past 30 years: 0"

That is just stupid. If the criminal is stopped early there is no mass shooting. The man that was just on the news pulled his gun to stop a shooter and the shooter killed himself, no mass shooting.

BW326 Loc: Boynton Beach, Florida

Well ole sarg, just so you're not alone in this, I agree with those assertions 100%.

'Nuff said, no sense arguing about it in this forum.

:-D :thumbup:

gonate Loc: sacramento,calif

OLD SARG ! shut up. thank you.

Blurryeyed Loc: NC Mountains.

He spent no time researching, it is a reprint from that stallworth of unbiased truth and information... Mother Jones.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/01/pro-gun-myths-fact-check

Rbode Loc: Ft lauderdale, Fla

ole', too much taco sauce on a burn sarg.

wilpharm Loc: Oklahoma

On 8May Ole sarge made a post that he has a concealed carry permit & carries a 9 MM....hmm a bit of liberal hypocracy here..with all the above myths..why bother