|
nChrist
|
 |
« on: January 17, 2013, 04:55:53 PM » |
|
________________________________________
The Patriot Post - Alexander's Essay 1-17-2013
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
________________________________________
Sensible Gun Control Policy?
The Assault Weapons Ban: Fact v Fiction
By Mark Alexander
January 17, 2013
"Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclination, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence." --John Adams (1770)
(Publisher's Note: If you are not a gun owner, you may be among millions of Americans who feel threatened by the unlawful possession and use of firearms. If so, you may also approve of the latest effort to enact "sensible gun control policy." I invite you to objectively consider this commentary, which is based on facts, including the latest information from the FBI and other aggregators of criminal data. It is not based on political agendas seeking to take advantage of the genuine emotional response all Americans feel when innocent men, women and children are murdered.)
In December, there was a horrible attack in an elementary school, committed by a mentally ill1 young man. He illegally obtained a rifle and a number of pistols, and used them to kill six adults and 20 children.
As a parent, I was deeply affected by this loss of life, especially the faces of the children killed in that school. I am always moved by the death of innocents, particularly children.
In the wake of that tragedy, some politicians did what they do best -- build a political platform2 on the caskets of children in order to seize and sequester the emotional response of millions of Americans to advance a political agenda. In this case, they concealed that agenda in emotive wrapping paper, and sealed it with a lot of rhetorical demagoguery, hoping that enough people would remain too immersed in their emotional state to discern the real political agenda.
In a press conference Wednesday3, Barack Obama made a broad emotional appeal "for the children": "Protecting our children from harm shouldn't be divisive. ... I asked Joe [Biden] to lead an effort along with members of my cabinet to come up with some concrete steps we can take right now to keep our children safe. ... This is our first task as a society -- keeping our children safe. If there's even one thing we can do to reduce this violence, if there's even one life we can save, we have an obligation to try it. ... I think about how, when it comes to protecting the most vulnerable among us, we must act now."
In other words, to counter the fact that his gun control agenda will, in reality, do nothing to "protect the children," he has now lowered expectations to maybe "one life we can save," and he insists Congress "must act now" before reason overtakes emotion.
Obama went on to say, "If Americans of every background stand up and say 'enough, we've suffered too much pain and care too much about our children to allow this to continue,' then change will come."
Well, who could disagree with keeping children safe? But is that really the reason Obama is calling for the most restrictive gun control in the history of our Republic?
(Note: Regarding the use of children as "political pawns," White House spokesman Jay Carney criticized the NRA for referencing the protection of children in a Web ad. Carney protested, "Children should not be used as pawns in a political fight." This briefing was an hour after Obama surrounded himself with children as pawns in a political fight.)
I don't doubt that Obama, like most parents, wants to keep his children safe. In fact he surrounds his children with dozens of guns to keep them safe everywhere they go. But there is also no doubt that his agenda to restrict the ownership of guns has nothing, in fact, to do with the safety of other children -- or anyone of any age.
There are a few proposals under consideration by Congress, in conjunction with Obama's ban on defensive weapons, that should be enacted. For example, I support a background check for all gun purchases, not just those from gun dealers. And we should have a more comprehensive approach to identifying and treating those with severe mental health problems -- though not likely under ObamaCare.
(I note that these measures would do little or nothing to stop unlawful gun purchases for unlawful purposes, other than make it more difficult for unqualified purchasers to acquire a weapon.)
But the centerpiece of Obama's gun control agenda is a ban on so-called "assault weapons." I note "so-called" because this legislation is more accurately described as a "defensive weapons" ban since such arms are purchased, first and foremost, for defense and not assault. Some liberal states and municipalities, in fact, are mounting their own assaults on these weapons.
So, why all the political focus on "assault weapons"?
Because these weapons have been used in many murders, and crimes involving them have increased dramatically in the last 20 years, when gun control advocates coined the term "assault weapon," right?
Wrong. According to the FBI's most recent Uniform Crime Report4, a summary of all serious crimes committed each year, in 1992 violent crime incidence was 752 per 100,000 people and 9.3 murders per 100,000.
In 2011, the violent crime rate had dropped to 386 per 100,000 and the murder rate to 4.7 per 100,000 -- nearly a 50 percent decline in both. This precipitous drop occurred at a time when the number of firearms increased dramatically -- including the sale of more than six million "assault weapons."
So, why all the political focus on "assault weapons"?
The 2011 FBI data shows that there were 323 murders committed with rifles of any kind. However, guns defined as "assault weapons" by the federal government were used in less than 0.5% (one-half of one percent) of all murders with guns in 2011.
By comparison, 496 murders were committed with hammers and clubs, and 1,694 murders were perpetrated with knives. Notably, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that drunk drivers are responsible for nearly 10,000 deaths each year in the U.S. -- far more than the number of deaths involving guns of any kind in 2011. (Should there be federal background checks every time someone orders a beer or glass of Chardonnay?)
Additionally, according to the demographic and geographic profile of most violent crimes, the vast majority of perpetrators who murder with guns are associated with gangs and/or drug cartels5, which thrive on urban welfare plantations6. (The violent culture spawned on those plantations is, of course, the direct result of social and cultural degradation institutionalized by socialist Democrat7 welfare state policies.
Obama and Biden mentioned "gun violence" six times in their Wednesday remarks, emphasizing that somehow "guns" are the problem, and not the culture producing sociopathic gang-bangers who use guns and other weapons to kill.
In fact, there were more than 500 murders in Obama's hometown of Chicago last year -- a city with some of the most restrictive gun laws in the nation. Most of those murders were tied to gangs and drugs8.
So, why all the political focus on "assault weapons"? |
