"GUILTY of criminal
negligence" , so saith the court, "for denying the right of
self-protection."Will this be the outcome of your decision?
Not since the passage of the Gun Control Act of 1968 has the debate in America been so
intense about firearms and the Second Amendment to the Constitution.
In less than two-years time several barbaric shootings by students of their fellow
classmates and teachers has prompted outrage among our citizens. Emotions are so inflamed
that what is occurring can not by any means be called a debate of the issues. The rhetoric
is hot and impassioned … and often facts, knowledge and reason are the casualties
left bleeding from the engagements.
Although millions of Americans own, carry, and use firearms peacefully, their
significant numbers are nevertheless a minority. This means there is a good possibility
that people in the position to make decisions affecting the ownership and purchase of
firearms and handguns in particular have no direct knowledge about firearms. Firearms and
the facts about them are not something they are versed in at all.
Therefore these people, these decision makers, are most likely to be have their
opinions affected by the headlines of the day and by statements proclaimed by advocates
and pundits.
What can be the result of making irrevocable decisions based on a lack
of information or false information? Who are these decision makers? Are you one of them?
Policies and decisions have and will be made that, literally, affect life and death.
They are made by corporate executives, personnel directors, shop keepers, press and
broadcast reporters and journalists, judges, lawyers, legislators, bureaucrats, police
officers, and voters. Here are a few examples:
- Shall I ban legal firearms from the workplace even when held by employees licensed to
carry such firearms?
- Shall I also ban these same law abiding citizens from having a legal firearm stored in
their vehicle if parked on company property?
- Shall I ask at the time of employment if an applicant owns firearms? Has a
concealed-carry permit? Is a member of a shooting or hunting club? Is a member of a
pro-firearms organization?
- Shall I refuse to allow employees to legally carry a firearm while working in my store?
Even if my business is open to the public late at night? Even if they handle large amounts
of money or valuable items?
- Shall I ban customers from entering my place of business with a legally concealed
firearm? How will I know … metal detectors at the entries? Will I allow entry if they
temporarily store them in a lock-box that I provide?
- As a journalist or reporter, will I fact-check statements made regarding firearms before
repeating it in print or broadcast? Even if such statements undermine my own opinion of
the issue? If my repeating false or misleading information can be shown to have affected
the outcome of a public referendum and is later discovered to be false, can I be held
liable? If not legally liable, liable in the court of public opinion?
- As a legislator, should I cast a deciding vote on a firearms related matter based on
emotion and the current public sentiment or on known facts? Should I adhere to a strict
interpretation of the U.S. Constitution? My own state's constitution? Will my vote
inadvertently lead to the death of innocent, unprotected people?
- As a voter, will my vote prevent a fellow citizen from defending his life, his spouse,
his children, his property? What if that fellow citizen is a member of my own family or a
close friend? What will be the consequences of my vote?
- If as a result of any of these decisions I may make, an innocent, defenseless citizen is
killed or injured by a criminal or deranged person MAY I BE HELD RESPONSIBLE IN CRIMINAL
OR CIVIL COURT? If my decision effectively prevents someone from defending themselves, AM
I NOT AT FAULT? How will I ever be able to live with myself and look in the mirror?
If you are a decision maker, either by virtue of office or position. If you are a
voter. Then I suggest that you DO inform yourself because the day will come when you WILL
be forced to make a decision.
Every single item that follows is fact, not fiction. Complete references are at the end
of this document. DO NOT make a life-and-death decision and say you were ignorant of the
facts … the facts are here for you now.
GUNS IN AMERICA: THE FACTS
(collected by Paul Gallant)
SELF-DEFENSE & CRIME
- In 1990, a convicted felon could expect to serve the following prison time:
1.8 years for murder,
60 days for rape,
23 days for robbery,
6.7 days for arson, and
6.4 days for aggravated assault.
According to a U.S. Justice Department survey in 17 states, of felony offenders placed on
probation in 1986, 43% were re-arrested on other felony charges within 3 years of their
release. (1)
- Passage of the Brady Law in 1994 has not been accompanied by a statistically
significant decline in murder or robbery. It has been associated with
significant increases in rape and aggravated assaults, presumably from the
increased difficulty encountered by law-abiding citizens in obtaining firearms for
self-defense. (2)
- In 1987, Florida's concealed-carry law went from "may-issue" to
"shall-issue" (also known as "Right-To-Carry," or RTC). This meant
that issuing authorities must provide a concealed-carry handgun license
to all qualified applicants. Other states followed suit, and modeled their own RTC laws
after Florida's.
On 4/7/98 (the latest date such figures were available), Florida's Dept of Law Enforcement
announced that the state's murder rate had dropped, again, in 1997, just as it had in each
of the 5 previous years. The additional drop marked the lowest murder rate experienced by
"Dodge City East" since 1933. (3)
- In 1982, Kennesaw, GA (pop. 17,000) passed a law requiring heads of households to keep
at least one firearm in their home, exempting those with criminal records or religious
objections.
Seven months after it took effect, the residential burglary rate dropped 89%, vs. 10.4%
statewide. Since 1982, only 2 murders have occurred (1984 and 1989), both committed
with knives. (4)
- Allowing citizens to carry concealed handguns reduces violent crime. The reduction
corresponds very closely to the number of concealed-handgun licenses issued. On average, murder
rates in states banning concealed-carry are 127% higher than in states having the most
liberal carry laws. A 1% increase in firearm ownership reduces violent crime by 4.1%.
Large, densely populated urban areas benefit the most from concealed-carry laws. (5)
- Ordinary, law-abiding Americans use guns defensively 2.5 million times, or more,
each year. About 75% of these instances are with handguns. That translates to
rapes prevented, injuries avoided, medical costs saved, and property protected. (6)
- Firearms provide the safest and most effective means of resisting violent criminal
attack. For robbery and assault, resistance by defenders armed with a gun leads to
termination of the incident with the smallest chance of injury to the victim. In U.S.
government studies, victims resisting robbery with a gun were injured 17.4% of the time.
Those who did nothing at all were injured 24.7% of the time. Those who used non-violent
resistance, like trying to run away, were injured 35.9% of the time. Those who resisted
with a knife were injured 40.3% of the time.
For assault, injury rates were 12.1%, 27.3%, 25.5%, and 29.5%, respectively. While 17.4%
of those who resisted robbery with a gun were injured overall, this includes victims who
were first injured before they used their guns; less than 6% of robbery victims were
injured after using a gun to resist. (7)
- Women who carry concealed handguns provide a greater margin of safety for other women.
While murder rates decline when either more men or more women carry concealed handguns,
the drop is even greater among women than among men. Rapists are particularly
susceptible to the deterrence of a potentially armed woman. (5)
- Increased incidents of "road rage" from allowing more citizens to carry guns
have not materialized. In the 31 states where it is currently legal for citizens to carry
a concealed handgun, there have been no documented instances of such acts
by armed law-abiding citizens. (2)
- Armed defenders lose their guns to an attacker less than 1% of the time.
(7)
- The net value of private firearm ownership - the dollar savings from defensive gun use,
minus the costs of "gun-violence" - has been estimated at up to $38.9 billion,
annually. (8)
- So-called "assault weapons" are military look-alike semi-automatic firearms,
and are exactly the same as guns which have been around for over 100 years
— only their looks
have changed. Semi-automatic firearms do not "spray" bullets, and are not
machine guns - they require a separate pull of the trigger for each shot to be fired, just
like a revolver - and are used in 3% or less of all firearm-related crimes. They are
the most modern tools the law-abiding citizen can use for self-defense and protection of
home and family. They are especially valuable for physically handicapped victims. (9)
- In 1856, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that local law-enforcement had no
duty to protect individuals, but only a general duty to enforce the laws. (10) In 1982,
the U.S. Court of Appeals held that "there is no Constitutional right to be
protected by the state against criminals or madmen. The Constitution does not
require Federal or State government to provide services, even so elementary a service as
maintaining law and order." (11)
[See a thorough
examination of this subject by TYSK]
- In Great Britain, handguns are outlawed, and possession of long guns is severely
restricted. Yet, despite strict gun control, as of 1995, rates for robbery, assault,
burglary, and motor vehicle theft in England and Wales had surpassed those here in the
States. On average, for all 4 crimes, English rates were double U.S. rates. (12)
MASS SHOOTINGS & "GUN-FREE" SCHOOL ZONES
- Deaths and injuries from mass public shootings (like Jonesboro AR, and Littleton CO)
fall dramatically after RTC concealed-handgun laws are enacted. Where data was available,
both before and after passage of such laws, the average death rate from mass shootings
plummeted by up to 91% after such laws took effect, and injuries dropped by over 80%!
(2,13)
- Armed with a hunting rifle, 16-year-old Luke Woodham killed his ex-girlfriend and her
close friend, then wounded 7 other students, in 1997 at a high school in Pearl,
Mississippi. Assistant Principal Joel Myrick retrieved a handgun from his car, and
interrupted Woodham's shooting spree, holding him at bay until police arrived. Earlier
that morning, Woodham had stabbed his mother to death. (14)
A similar script played out in 1998 in Edinboro, Pennsylvania, when local merchant James
Strand used his shotgun to "coax" 14-year old Andrew Wurst into dropping his
gun, and surrendering to police. Wurst had just killed one teacher, wounded another and
two classmates. (14)
- "...the recent rash of public school shootings...raise[s] questions about the unintentional
consequences of laws. The five public school shootings [which occurred during the
1997-98 school year] took place after a 1995 federal law banned guns (including permitted
concealed handguns) within a thousand feet of a school. The possibility exists that
attempts to outlaw guns from schools, no matter how well meaning, may have produced
perverse effects.
"It is interesting to note that during the 1977 to 1995 period [of our study], 15
shootings took place in schools in states without right-to-carry laws and only one took
place in a state with this type of law. There were 19 deaths and 97 injuries in
states without the law, while there was one death and two injuries in states with the
law." (13)
- A July 1993 U.S. Department of Justice study found that "boys who own legal
firearms...have much lower rates of delinquency and drug use [than those who obtained
them illegally] and are even slightly less delinquent than non-owners of guns." It
concluded that, "for legal gun owners, socialization appears to take place in the
family; for illegal gun owners, it appears to take place 'on the street' ". (15)
ACCIDENTS & SUICIDES
- In 1994, fatal firearms accidents dropped 11% from 1993 figures, to the lowest annual
number since record-keeping began in 1903. They dropped even lower by almost 7% in 1995.
Motor vehicle accidents, falls, fires, drownings, poisonings, suffocation, and other
accidents all accounted for more deaths than did firearm accidents. Among children
aged 0-14 years, there were 185 fatal firearms accidents, vs. 500 per year in the
mid-1970s. (16)
- In 1993, there were 1,334 drownings and 528 firearm-related accidental deaths from ages
0-19. While firearms outnumber pools by a factor of over 30:1, the risk of drowning in a
pool is nearly 100 times higher than from a firearm-related accident. From ages 0-5,
the risk of drowning skyrockets to 500 times the risk from a gun! (16,17)
- "Trigger-lock" laws don't equal safety. While California has such a law on
the books, it saw a 12% increase in fatal firearm accidents in 1994. Texas doesn't have
one, and experienced a 28% decrease, instead. (16) "Trigger-locks" do,
however, render guns inaccessible for self-defense.
- Accident and suicide rates are unaffected by the passage of Right-To-Carry concealed
handgun laws. (2)
- Suicide rates fluctuate independently of gun control laws and gun ownership. Banning
guns will not affect the suicide rate -- other equally deadly implements would only be
substituted in their place. (18)
THE U.S. CONSTITUTION
- The scholarship on the 2nd Amendment overwhelmingly agrees that it protects an
individual right to keep and bear arms, and not simply the right to arm the
"militia." (19)
- In 1982, the Senate Subcommittee on the Constitution evaluated the historical record,
and unanimously came to the same conclusion. (20)
- From "Survey of Police Officers in Lehigh and Northampton Counties" by Stephen
L. Christopoulos: In addition, my Internet search uncovered many dozens of articles from
law review journals which dealt with the subject of the Second Amendment. Dr. Edgar Suter,
MD reports that "[o]f the 11 peer-reviewed articles claiming the Second Amendment is
a collective states' right, 5 are by employees of Handgun Control, Inc. or the Center to
Prevent Handgun Violence and 3 are students. Of the 51 peer-reviewed articles noting that
the Second Amendment guarantees the individual right of the people to keep and bear
arms, 4 are by attorneys employed by the National Rifle Association. Excluding
students and employees of lobbying organizations then, 47 support the individual right
view and 3 support the collective right view." (21)
- On April 7, 1999, U. S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings in U.S.A.
vs Timothy J. Emerson (Criminal Action No. 6:98-CR-103-C) found that
an examination of (a) English History, (b) Colonial Right to Bear Arms, (c) The
Ratification Debates, and (d) Drafting of the Second Amendment all show clearly that the
right was meant as an individual protection. The Judge repeatedly cited relevant English
and Colonial laws, quoted from numerous founding fathers, and provided a crucial history
lesson on how, "Without that individual right [to bear arms], the colonists never
could have won the Revolutionary War." (22)
REFERENCES
1. Reynolds M, Caruth W; "Myths About Gun Control"; National Center for
Policy Analysis, 1992
http://www.ncpa.org/studies/s176/s176.html
2. Lott J; "More Guns, Less Crime: Understanding Crime and Gun-Control Laws";
University of Chicago; 1998
http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/493636.html
3. Florida Department of State documents
http://dlis.dos.state.fl.us/index.html
4. "Kennesaw Update"; The New American, 6/10/96
http://jbs.org/tna/1996/vo12no12.htm
5. Lott J, Mustard D; "Crime, Deterrence, and Right-to-Carry Concealed
Handguns"; Journal of Legal Studies; Vol 26(1); Jan 97
http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/~llou/guns.html
6. Kleck G, Gertz M; "Nature of Self-Defense with a Gun"; Journal of Criminal
Law and Criminology; Vol 86 1, Fall 1995
7. Kleck G; Targeting Guns: Firearms and Their Control; Aldine de Gruyter; NY 1997
8. National Center for Policy Analysis, March 1999
http://www.ncpa.org
9. Suter E; "Assault-Weapons" Revisited - An Analysis of the AMA Report;
Journal of the Medical Association of Georgia, May 1994
10. South v. Maryland, 59 US (HOW) 396, 15 L.Ed.433 (1856)
11. Bowers v. DeVito, US Court of Appeals, 7th Circuit 686F.2d 616 (1982)
http://www.kentlaw.edu/7circuit
12. "Crime and Justice in the United States and England and Wales,
1981-1996"; U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics; October 1998
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/cjusew96.htm
13. Lott J, Landes W; "Multiple Victim Public Shootings, Bombings, and
Right-to-Carry Concealed Handgun Laws: Contrasting Private and Public Law
Enforcement"; University of Chicago, Working Paper 73, 1999
http://papers.ssrn.com/paper.taf?abstract_id=161637
14. "How to Stop Mass Public Shootings"; Lott J; The L.A. Times 3/25/98
15. U.S. Department of Justice
http://www.tyc.state.tx.us/prevention/urbdelin.htm
16. National Center for Health Statistics
http://www.cdc.gov/nchswww/about/major/dvs/mortdata.htm
17. National Spa and Pool Institute
http://www.nspi.org
18. Suter E; "Guns in the Medical Literature: A Failure of Peer Review";
Journal of the Medical Association of Georgia, Mar 1994
http://www.rkba.org/research/suter/med-lit.html
19. Reynolds H, Kates D; "The Second Amendment and States' Rights: A Thought
Experiment"; William & Mary Law Review; Vol 36 5,8/955
20. Senate Subcommittee of the Commission of the Judiciary on The Constitution, 97th
Congress, 1992
21. "Survey of Police Officers in Lehigh and Northampton Counties" by Stephen
L. Christopoulos, 1997.
http://www.tysknews.com/Depts/2nd_Amend/survey/gun_study.htm
22. United States
of America v. Timothy Joe Emerson (Criminal Action No. 6:98-CR-103-C).
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
The Committee for Law Abiding Gun-Owners, Rockland (LAGR)
Paul Gallant, O.D., Chairman
PO Box 354
Thiells, NY 10984-0354
914-354-9090 or (Fax) 914-354-9091
Email: 70274.1222@compuserve.com
Originally located on:
Political Women
(http://www.politicalwomen.com/document.htm)
Page history:
May 1999 (original release)
(updated August 1999, ref. #22)
(revised broken links January 2003) |
