An Armed Skeptic Rant: Just watched a documentary on New Orleans PD hosted by a British actor. Not surprisingly, the host injects an anti-gun spin on it and blames the high rate of gun crime on New Orleans ... legal gun owners and concealed carriers. Basically, he thinks legal gun owners are at fault because their guns get stolen and that means they indirectly supplied the gangsters. Specifically, he claims that 500,000 guns are stolen in the U.S. each year. Reality says that only around 10-15% of guns in criminal use are stolen and the actual number is less than whats stated [1 and 2], and the vast majority originate from either the black market dealings involving crooked FFLs [1] (you know, the very people that the federal government approves of to partake in firearm commerce in the first place and something the ATF has admitted cannot enforce on a regular basis with all its manpower and resources) [3] or straw purchase (which literally cannot be enforced until after the fact and is already a felony). That withstanding, the murders in New Orleans are moreso a testament of the socioeconomic conditions than to the gun control laws. New Orleans most dangerous neighborhoods are in the poorer, inner-city areas where crime is rampant to the point that its ingrained in the local culture. Those familiar with inner-city violence knows the majority of it is attributed to drug-dealing gangs that commit violence against EACH OTHER as well as against innocents (5). As weve demonstrated before, murder rates (as well as gun murder rates by themselves) dont even correlate with gun ownership or the *strictness* of gun control laws by state (interestingly, it correlates slightly negatively). Lastly - why are you blaming victims of property crime as willing conspirators? The people whose guns were stolen went through the gun control measures you asked for because they were law-abiding, the criminals did not. A lesson to be learned here (for both pro and anti-gunners -- moreso the latter) is to avoid simplifying an already complicated issue and cherry-picking facts as to promote an agenda (which is actually a stretch for gun control advocates considering a lot of them dont make any factual statements at all) -- form your claims and opinions in a way that takes ALL the facts into account. Sources: 1. pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/guns/procon/guns.html 2. bjs.gov/content/pub/press/fshbopc0510pr.cfm 3. justice.gov/oig/reports/2013/e1305.pdf 4. neighborhoodscout/la/new-orleans/crime/ 5. fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/2011-national-gang-threat-assessment
Posted on: Sun, 05 Oct 2014 05:53:07 +0000