Here is my article that was published yesterday at Ammoland. Enjoy!
When Senator Feinstein introduced her new
gun control civilian disarmament bill she released all the details of the new bill on her website. Along with all of that she also included what she calls “proof” that the 1994 “Assault Weapons” ban worked.
The shining example of this “proof” and the item that she chose to list first and foremost amongst her evidence submitted is a study conducted by the Justice Department that determined “the assault weapons ban found that it was responsible for a 6.7% decrease in total gun murders, holding all other factors equal.”
Lets do the math on that, shall we? You will of course have to suspend reality by ignoring the fact that many other studies have concluded that the 1994 ban did absolutely nothing to control criminals… but indulge me for just a moment if you will and lets take these findings at face value just to see exactly what we would get for handing over our Bill of Rights in the name of safety.
According to the National Center for Health Statistics, the number of gun murders in 2010 was a total of 11,078. If we implement this new AWB and achieve these historically “proven” results then we will decrease the total number gun murders by 6.7% or 665 murders (6.7% of 11,078). Yes, one would have to believe that no guns = no murders, but lets overlook that for right now.
So, supposedly thats 665 murders that will be stopped by passing that legislation. Giveaway your God given right and your guarantee of liberty and freedom to save 665 people (or 0.000002% of the U.S. Population). Or you know what… we could just ban hammers/clubs. Hammers? Yep. That alone would stop the 496 murders that happened in 2011. Remember, anti-gun logic says that if we just ban the tool then there will be no murder. Or we could ban swimming and save 3,782 people from unintentional drowning. Do we really need to be taking all of those innocent children to the local pools and water parks everyday during the summer? And dont get me started on cars… (30,000 – 40,000 fatalities per year) So, wouldn’t things like that be a better use of Congress’ time than treading on the Bill of Rights for the sake of saving lives? And thats what they are really after with all of this. Right? Wink. Wink.
I will also point out that in her efforts to prove that the 1994 “assault weapons ban” worked, she submits that since the ban expired back in 2004 – more than 8 years ago! – a grand total of “more than 350 people have been killed and more than 450 injured by these weapons“. Thats about 44 people per year. Thats well short of the 665 that her math promises us will be saved, and it makes that ban on hammers look like a full fledged campaign issue.
So the next time a gun-grabber tries to turn the
gun control civilian disarmament debate into a “public health issue” debate, put them in their place. Tell them to stop sensationalizing things and let them know that the numbers just don’t support their argument.
As the old saying goes… there’s just no there there.