Price of Lax Gun Laws

[blindndead]

December 23, 2008
Editorial
Price of Lax Gun Laws
For years, the gun lobby has defeated new gun control laws partly by arguing that stronger laws do not deter crime. A study prepared by Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a bipartisan group headed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York and Mayor Thomas Menino of Boston, should finally put that myth to rest.

The study analyzed trace data for guns used in connection with crimes during 2007. The data reveal a strong correlation between weak state gun laws and higher rates of in-state murders, police slayings and sales of guns used in crimes in other states.

Many states have enacted strong gun laws to supplement inadequate federal ones, including mandatory background checks on gun show sales. States requiring the same background checks at gun shows as those required for store purchases show an export rate for guns used in crimes that’s nearly half the national average. This argues for Congressional action to end the gun-show loophole nationally. States with weak gun laws produce different outcomes. More than half the guns recovered in out-of-state crimes last year were supplied by Georgia, Florida, Texas, Virginia and six other states where weak laws make it easy for gun traffickers and other criminals to obtain weapons.

Weak gun laws also put a state’s own citizens at risk. There were nearly 60 percent more gun murders in the 10 states where exports were highest than in the states with low export rates — and nearly three times as many fatal shootings of law enforcement officers.

The study by the mayors’ group isn’t the first to document the link between weak gun laws and gun violence or the “iron pipeline” by which guns flow from states with weak gun laws into states with strong ones. Still, the numbers are startling. They explain why the gun lobby resisted their release, and they provide a powerful retort to those who claim tougher gun laws don’t work.

 

[K-DUB]

What a crock. Did we really expect the "Mayors Roundtable Committee for Peace Love & Gun Control" to come up with anything different?

 

[jhblaze1]

FAIL

 

[bishop375]

Still, the numbers are startling. They explain why the gun lobby resisted their release, and they provide a powerful retort to those who claim tougher gun laws don’t work.

So... let me get this straight. There is more violence in the states with tougher gun laws. We know this.

And yet, somehow, they still claim that these gun laws are doing something?

 

[bambame2]

No it proves that a criminal will get around any gun control measures. They don't work....

 

[edirtyfour]

So... let me get this straight. There is more violence in the states with tougher gun laws. We know this.

And yet, somehow, they still claim that these gun laws are doing something?

I think that they're saying the opposite - that by living in the great state of MA we are subjected to 60% fewer gun murders than those raucous states of Georgia, Florida, etc.

 

[Chris]

Go to the NRA's website and everything they say contains a reference and a cite.

Ask the Gun Banners for that and they ignore you.

Who has the credibility?

Of course, the public that read such articles will just swallow it without question.

 

[GOAL]

December 23, 2008
Editorial
Price of Lax Gun Laws
The study analyzed trace data for guns used in connection with crimes during 2007. The data reveal a strong correlation between weak state gun laws and higher rates of in-state murders, police slayings and sales of guns used in crimes in other states.

Wait, I thought they couldn't get that info because of the Tiahrt Amendment?

So are they lying about that too? No, tell me it ain't true!

 

[bishop375]

No it proves that a criminal will get around any gun control measures. They don't work....

Just once, I'd like to take out a full- page ad in a handful of prominent news papers across the country that says something along the lines of...

"News flash! Criminals don't care about laws!"

 

[boomerang]

Who wrote that article?

 

[mikem317]

I find it interesting that their focus is always titled gun control, but it ought to be crime control.

But they won't. Criminals, rapists, thugs, ganstas, and gangbangers are all best served by the Fascist Left Democratic Party.

If these dangerously extreme liberals really want to deter crime (which they wouldn't for reasons mentioned) then gun laws would be relaxed. There's no net benefit to hamstringing peaceable, private gun owners.

 

[Bruce for NH State Rep]

As usual, absolutely NO MENTION of the "time to crime" statistic, which shows how much time passed between the gun being sold and the gun being used in a crime.

IIRC, the average "time to crime" is somewhere in the neighborhood of eight years.

This blows their "iron pipeline" analysis out of the f***ing water.

They know it.

Hence, they leave that part out.

Shocker: States that allow their citizens to buy guns have higher gun ownership rates, compared to fascist police states like NY, NJ, and MA. These states, naturally, have more gun thefts in them. Just like states in warmer climates have more swimming pool deaths.

The other fact they "conveniently" leave out is that in Massachusetts (and I'm sure it's true for other states) the number one source state, per the same ATF data they're using, is Massachusetts.

Then they want it to sound dramatic when they say that "most" crime guns come from out of state.

Well, f***ing DUH! Look at a US map recently? Massachusetts is like a postage stamp on a 10x13 envelope. I'd expect more guns to come from the vastly larger envelope, and not the stamp.

Disingenuous a**h***s!!!

 

[Bruce for NH State Rep]

BTW, that pile of fecal scrapings came from the NYT editorial board. I'm shocked.

 

[BOBKATT]

There is also an article in the news about Australia banning knives now. Looks like the gun bans didn't stop violence after all. Next they'll ban sticks, then stones, then they'll ban fists and other hard bones.