L4Life posts: "Nevada is a traditional open carry state with seemingly complete state preemption of firearms laws." Of course that fact is OBVIOUS... this is what Nevada buys with it's Shoot em Up gun laws: STATES WITH THE HIGHEST GUN DEATH RATES Gun death rate per 100,000 1. Louisiana: 19.87. Household gun ownership: 45.6 percent 2. Mississippi: 18.32. Household gun ownership: 54.3 percent 3. Alaska: 17.62. Household gun ownership: 60.6 percent 4. Alabama: 17.55. Household gun ownership: 57.2 percent 5. Nevada: 16.21. Household gun ownership: 31.5 percent Source: Violence Policy Center, 2007 (most recent available)
Boxy never even tasted the worm.
The Violence Policy Center is Just Plain Bad at Math
Filed under: Editorials, Press Releases, Print, Written by or Featuring Contributing Blogger by W. Scott Lewis
On June 2, the Violence Policy Center put out a press release titled “States with Higher Gun Ownership and Weak Gun Laws Lead Nation in Gun Death.” The full text of the press release is included below, followed by my comments:
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States with Higher Gun Ownership and Weak Gun Laws Lead Nation in Gun Death
Louisiana, Mississippi, Alaska, Alabama, and Nevada Have Highest Gun Death Rates
Washington, DC–States with higher gun ownership rates and weak gun laws have the highest rates of overall gun death according to a new analysis by the Violence Policy Center (VPC) of just-released 2007 national data (the most recent available) from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.
The analysis reveals that the five states with the highest per capita gun death rates were Louisiana, Mississippi, Alaska, Alabama, and Nevada. Each of these states had a per capita gun death rate far exceeding the national per capita gun death rate of 10.34 per 100,000 for 2007. Each of the top-ranking states has lax gun laws and higher gun ownership rates. By contrast, states with strong gun laws and low rates of gun ownership had far lower rates of firearm-related death. Ranking last in the nation for gun death was Hawaii, followed by Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York. (See rankings below for top and bottom five states. See http://www.vpc.org/fadeathchart10.htm for a ranking of all 50 states.)
VPC Legislative Director Kristen Rand states, “The equation is simple. More guns lead to more gun death, but limiting exposure to firearms saves lives.” States with the Five Highest Gun Death Rates States with the Five Lowest Gun Death Rates Rank State Household Gun Ownership Gun Death Rate per 100,000 Rank State Household Gun Ownership Gun Death Rate per 100,000 1 Louisiana 45.6 percent 19.87 50 Hawaii 9.7 percent 2.82 2 Mississippi 54.3 percent 18.32 49 Rhode Island 13.3 percent 3.51 3 Alaska 60.6 percent 17.62 48 Massachusetts 12.8 percent 3.63 4 Alabama 57.2 percent 17.55 47 Connecticut 16.2 percent 4.27 5 Nevada 31.5 percent 16.21 46 New York 18.1 percent 5.07
The VPC defined states with “weak” gun laws as those that add little or nothing to federal restrictions and have permissive laws governing the open or concealed carrying of firearms in public. States with “strong” gun laws were defined as those that add significant state regulation in addition to federal law, such as restricting access to particularly hazardous types of firearms (for example, assault weapons), setting minimum safety standards for firearms and/or requiring a permit to purchase a firearm, and restrictive laws governing the open and concealed carrying of firearms in public. State gun ownership rates were obtained from the September 2005 Pediatrics article “Prevalence of Household Firearms and Firearm-Storage Practices in the 50 States and the District of Columbia: Findings From the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2002,” which is the most up-to-date, comprehensive source for state gun ownership rates.
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Focusing on “gun deaths,” rather than on homicides (or even firearm-related homicides), is a common ploy among gun control advocates. It’s their way of twisting and hammering statistics until the numbers finally relent and say what they want them to say. For example, if you want to suggest that Great Britain’s handgun ban has made England safer, you can’t compare the homicide rate before the ban to the homicide rate after the ban because England’s homicide rate has actually gone up since the ban went into effect (while, at the same time, the homicide rate in the U.S. has gone down). But you can compare the low “gun death” rate in England to the high “gun death” rate in the U.S. and suggest that this disparity proves that the handgun ban has made England safer (even though violent crimes and homicides in England have actually increased). To borrow Gregg Easterbrook’s famous line, “Torture numbers, and they’ll confess to anything.”
There are two main problems with focusing on “gun deaths.” The first is that the total number includes both lawful interventions (self-defense shootings and shootings by police) and, more significantly, suicides.According to the Center for Disease Control, 56.2% of U.S. firearm-related deaths in 2007 were suicides. Should the focus of the gun control debate be on protecting the people who want to die or on defending the people who want to live? I tend to lean toward the latter.
The second problem is that the focus on “gun deaths” doesn’t reflect the overall safety of the populace. Is someone who is killed with a gun any deader than someone who is killed with a knife or a baseball bat or any other weapon? In order to fairly assess whether or not living in a state with high gun ownership places a person at greater risk of meeting a violent end, we must compare not just the number of “gun deaths” but the number of homicides as a whole.
When the 50 states are ranked by homicide rate (highest to lowest), it becomes immediately clear that there is no correlation between a state’s murder rate and its rate of firearm ownership. Though Louisiana still holds the top spot, with a homicide rate of 14.2 homicides for every 100,000 persons, the number two spot is held by Maryland—the state with the ninth lowest rate of gun ownership, according to the VPC’s own source, and the fifth toughest gun control laws, according to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence—with a homicide rate of 9.8 homicides for every 100,000 persons. On the other end of the spectrum, the three states with the lowest homicide rates are New Hampshire (thirty-ninth highest rate of gun ownership, twenty-third most permissive gun laws, murder rate of 1.1 per 100,000), Iowa (twenty-first highest rate of gun ownership, thirty-first most permissive gun laws, murder rate of 1.2 per 100,000), and Montana (second highest rate of gun ownership, eighth most permissive gun laws, murder rate of 1.5 per 100,000).
The state with the highest rate of gun ownership, Wyoming, and the state with the lowest rate of gun ownership, Hawaii, are separated on the list by only eleven places—Wyoming at number 35, with 3.1 homicides per 100,000 persons, and Hawaii at number 46, with 1.7 homicides per 100,000 persons. Utah, the state with the most permissive gun control laws and the sixteenth highest rate of gun ownership, is ranked fortieth, with only 2.2 homicides for every 100,000 persons; whereas, California, the state with the strictest gun control laws and the seventh lowest rate of gun ownership, is ranked seventeenth, with 6.2 homicides for every 100,000 persons.
Clearly, the Violence Policy Center’s assertions are built on a pretty flimsy foundation. But wait—isn’t something missing? Isn’t the VPC study based on a report titled “Prevalence of Household Firearms and Firearm-Storage Practices in the 50 States and the District of Columbia”? Where is the District of Columbia? It shows up in the source article but is conspicuously absent from the VPC press release (and the accompanying chart).
When the District of Columbia (widely considered to have the strictest gun control laws in the U.S.) is included in the list, the VPC’s claims about gun ownership completely fall apart. With only 5.2% of households containing firearms, D.C. easily beats out Hawaii, where 9.2% of households contain firearms, as having the lowest rate of gun ownership in the U.S. And with a “gun death” rate of 24.50 “gun deaths” per 100,000 persons, D.C. easily beats out Louisiana, where the “gun death” rate is 19.87 “gun deaths” per 100,000 persons, as having the highest rate of “gun deaths” in the U.S. When homicide rates are compared, the difference is even more staggering. The homicide rate in D.C. (30.8 homicides for every 100,000 persons) is more than twice that of Louisiana (14.2 homicides for every 100,000 persons).
The numbers speak for themselves. And as usual, the Violence Policy Center’s claims hold about as much water as a noodle strainer.
More gun ownership makes cities safer and lowers crime rates. Over 89% reduction in crime where mandatory homeowner guns are required. Proven!
LMAO @ "PROVEN!" Um... I heard some buy say it once... THAT'S PROOF FOR ME!!!"
NBC News.com/ Business: *** America’s least peaceful states ***
3. Nevada
Violent crimes (excluding murder) per 100,000: 654.7 (the most) Murders per 100,000: 5.9 (eighth most) Incarceration rate per 100,000: 472 (13th most) Police per 100,000: 365.6 (13th most) Basic access: 78.0 (second lowest) Total cost of violence: $5.47 billion Many of the factors that normally correspond with a high rate of violence are not present in Nevada. The state is actually in the top 50 percent for poverty rate, income equality, and labor force participation. On the other hand, the state has a high teen birth rate and the second-highest percentage of its population without health insurance. Its citizens also have, according to Gallup, the second-worst access to basic necessities in the country. The state has the highest violent crime rate in the country, with 654.7 per every 100,000 residents recorded in 2010.
Least Peaceful, 1. Louisana 2. Tennenesee 3. NEVADA
Still laughin at "PROVEN"!
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
I've just learned that Washington, D.C.'s petition for a rehearing of the Parker case in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit was denied today. This is good news. Readers will recall in this case that the D.C. Circuit overturned the decades-long ban on gun ownership in the nation's capitol on Second Amendment grounds.
However, as my colleague Peter Ferrara explained in his National Review Online article following the initial decision in March, it looks very likely that the United States Supreme Court will take the case on appeal. When it does so - beyond seriously considering the clear original intent of the Second Amendment to protect an individual's right to armed self-defense - the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court would be wise to take into account the findings of a recent study out of Harvard.
The study, which just appeared in Volume 30, Number 2 of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy (pp. 649-694), set out to answer the question in its title: "Would Banning Firearms Reduce Murder and Suicide? A Review of International and Some Domestic Evidence." Contrary to conventional wisdom, and the sniffs of our more sophisticated and generally anti-gun counterparts across the pond, the answer is "no." And not just no, as in there is no correlation between gun ownership and violent crime, but an emphatic no, showing a negative correlation: as gun ownership increases, murder and suicide decreases.
The findings of two criminologists - Prof. Don Kates and Prof. Gary Mauser - in their exhaustive study of American and European gun laws and violence rates, are telling:
Nations with stringent anti-gun laws generally have substantially higher murder rates than those that do not. The study found that the nine European nations with the lowest rates of gun ownership (5,000 or fewer guns per 100,000 population) have a combined murder rate three times higher than that of the nine nations with the highest rates of gun ownership (at least 15,000 guns per 100,000 population).
For example, Norway has the highest rate of gun ownership in Western Europe, yet possesses the lowest murder rate. In contrast, Holland's murder rate is nearly the worst, despite having the lowest gun ownership rate in Western Europe. Sweden and Denmark are two more examples of nations with high murder rates but few guns. As the study's authors write in the report:
If the mantra "more guns equal more death and fewer guns equal less death" were true, broad cross-national comparisons should show that nations with higher gun ownership per capita consistently have more death. Nations with higher gun ownership rates, however, do not have higher murder or suicide rates than those with lower gun ownership. Indeed many high gun ownership nations have much lower murder rates. (p. 661)
Finally, and as if to prove the bumper sticker correct - that "gun don't kill people, people do" - the study also shows that Russia's murder rate is four times higher than the U.S. and more than 20 times higher than Norway. This, in a country that practically eradicated private gun ownership over the course of decades of totalitarian rule and police state methods of suppression. Needless to say, very few Russian murders involve guns.
The important thing to keep in mind is not the rate of deaths by gun - a statistic that anti-gun advocates are quick to recite - but the overall murder rate, regardless of means. The criminologists explain:
[P]er capita murder overall is only half as frequent in the United States as in several other nations where gun murder is rarer, but murder by strangling, stabbing, or beating is much more frequent. (p. 663 - emphases in original)
It is important to note here that Profs. Kates and Mauser are not pro-gun zealots. In fact, they go out of their way to stress that their study neither proves that gun control causes higher murder rates nor that increased gun ownership necessarily leads to lower murder rates. (Though, in my view, Prof. John Lott's More Guns, Less Crime does indeed prove the latter.) But what is clear, and what they do say, is that gun control is ineffectual at preventing murder, and apparently counterproductive.
Not only is the D.C. gun ban ill-conceived on constitutional grounds, it fails to live up to its purpose. If the astronomical murder rate in the nation's capitol, in comparison to cities where gun ownership is permitted, didn't already make that fact clear, this study out of Harvard should.
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
Once again you know jack sh1t about the laws, fully automatic firearms are legal for civilians to own in many states, whats wrong your liberal sites didn't tell you that one. Why do I even bother, matter of fact I won't bother with you anymore on this subject, you have repeatedly shown you know nothing about the laws or the rights Americans have. And to think this guy took an oath to defend us, what a joke that is
Fact Check: Romney says it's illegal to have automatic weapons
October 16, 2012 WASHINGTON -- In an answer to a question during Tuesday night’s presidential debate about assault weapons, Mitt Romney said, “we of course don't want to have automatic weapons, and that's already illegal in this country to have automatic weapons.”
Fully automatic weapons -- guns that fire continuously when the trigger is held down -- are legal to possess in the United States but are tightly regulated.
The National Firearms Act of 1934, the Gun Control Act of 1968 and the Hughes Amendment in 1986 have all placed limits on how automatic guns can be bought and sold, but did not make it illegal to possess them entirely.
Purchasing one requires submitting fingerprints and photographs to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, going through an FBI criminal background check, and paying a $200 tax, among other requirements. Only automatic weapons manufactured and registered with the federal government before 1986 can be bought, owned and sold. In his debate with President Obama, Romney said he doesn’t want to see tighter restrictions put in place on guns. “I’m not in favor of new pieces of legislation on guns,” he said. “What I believe is we have to do, as the president mentioned towards the end of his remarks there, which is to make enormous efforts to enforce the gun laws that we have and to change the culture of violence we have.”
In 2004, as the governor of Massachusetts, Romney signed into law a ban on the sale of some assault weapons in the state.
Obama administration officials have called for a renewal of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban, which was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1994 and expired in 2004. That law banned the manufacture of assault-style semi-automatic weapons (guns that automatically reload, but fire only once when the trigger is depressed) as well as high-capacity ammunition magazines. It did not ban the sale or possession of such guns already owned by the public when the law was passed.
JUST BECAUSE SISSY SAYS SO DOESN'T MAKE IT SO...BUT HE THINKS IT DOES!!!!! JUST BECAUSE MC1 SAYS SO DOESN'T MAKE IT SO!!!!!
Quoted from Libertarian4life More gun ownership makes cities safer and lowers crime rates. Over 89% reduction in crime where mandatory homeowner guns are required. Proven!
LMAO @ "PROVEN!" Um... I heard some buy say it once... THAT'S PROOF FOR ME!!!"
From the Kennesaw Facebook Page:
Location Kennesaw is a city in Cobb County, Georgia, United States, Coordinates: 34°1′24″N 84°36′55″W
* City gun law *
On May 1, 1982 the city passed an ordinance [Sec 34-1a] requiring every head of household to maintain a firearm together with ammunition.
It was passed partly in response to a 1981 handgun ban in Morton Grove, Illinois. Kennesaw's law was amended in 1983 to exempt those who conscientiously object to owning a firearm, convicted felons, those who cannot afford a firearm, and those with a mental or physical disability that would prevent them from owning a firearm.
Reports of resulting burglary-rate statistics:
Gary Kleck, a criminologist and gun-control critic attributes a drop of 89% in the residential burglary rate to the law. Kennesaw is often cited by advocates of gun ownership as evidence that gun ownership deters crime. (see, for instance, this 2004 sheet of talking points from the Gun Owners of America). Others have challenged this conclusion, however, citing data showing that the number of burglaries in the 10 years spanning the passing of the ordinance remains roughly the same, while burglaries dropped in the city of Morton Grove following their gun ban. These statistics are in turn disputed because the report in question lacked important considerations such as proportions for the population and growth over time.
Current statistics indicate that Kennesaw's crime rate is lower compared to surrounding cities like Marietta, Smyrna, Alpharetta, or Atlanta.
In fact, more than 25 years after the ban, not a single resident of Kennesaw has been involved in a fatal shooting - as a victim, attacker or defender.
There has been one firearm related murder but not from a resident of Kennesaw. Since the ordinance, no child has ever been injured with a firearm in Kennesaw.
Crime dropped after the ordinance and the city has maintained an exceptionally low crime rate ever since, even with the population swelling from 5,000 in 1982 to approximately 30,000 today. The truth is crime has plummeted and population has soared.
Quoted from Libertarian4life More gun ownership makes cities safer and lowers crime rates. Over 89% reduction in crime where mandatory homeowner guns are required. Proven! Your chances of becoming a violent crime victim
in Kennesaw, GA Population 30,000 in Ithaica, NY Population 30,000
Murders in Kennesaw Ga Gun ownership is mandatory! 1999- 1 - 2000- 1 2001- 0 2002- 0 2003- 1 2004- 1 2005- 0 2006- 0
Murders in Ithaica NY Very Restrictive Gun Laws 2006 - 0 2007 - 0 2008 - 0 2009 - 0 2010 - 0
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
Gun lobbyists and their supporters are once again parading a deeply misleading myth that claims greatly improved public safety in the rural community of Kennesaw, Georgia after in 1982 the City Council passed a law requiring every head of a household to own a gun, while the community of Morton Grove, Illinois passed a handgun ban in their community earlier in 1982.
Gun supporters misleadingly claim that Kennesaw is now much safer than Morton Grove by the use of some select use of statistical percentages of claimed crime reductions. However an honest comparison of the actual crime figures of the two communities certainly fail to prove the case of the gun advocates that more guns in a comunity improve the public safety compared to less guns. In general, guns do correlate with 33,000 national incidents that result in death each year including teen and adult suicide, accidents, domestic violence and murders.
Morton Grove, Illinois is a suburb of the huge city of Chicago, where no doubt, some Chicago residents will travel by car for the purpose of armed robbery and other crimes. Kennesaw is a far more rural community, much farther from a larger community, where most crime will be by local residents.
FBI crime statistics for 2003 provide the most recent equal models for comparison of the two cities which are roughly comparable in population. Morton Grove has 22, 966 and Kennesaw 25, 183 for the purposes of this 2003 actual crime figures comparison.
In 2003, Morton Grove had 2 murders and Kennesaw just 1. But both figures are subject to yearly fluctuations, where some years neither community will have an incident classified as a murder.
In 2003, Morton Grove had 4 robberies compared to 7 in Kennesaw. The Kennesaw figures are much higher than Morton Grove's for that year, and guns are often the weapon of choice in a robbery.
In 2003, Morton Grove had 12 aggravated assaults compared to the higher number of 15 in Kennesaw.
In 2003, Morton Grove had 70 burglaries compared to the much higher number of 89 in Kennesaw. Many burglars may carry a gun in case of being surprised by security or a property owner.
In 2003, Morton Grove had 390 incidents of larcency and theft compared 455 examples in Kennesaw.
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
.......the ACLU challenged the law in a federal court just after it was passed. In response, the city added a clause adding conscientious objectors to the list of those exempt.
JUST BECAUSE SISSY SAYS SO DOESN'T MAKE IT SO...BUT HE THINKS IT DOES!!!!! JUST BECAUSE MC1 SAYS SO DOESN'T MAKE IT SO!!!!!
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