Posted on 12/24/2009 2:49:08 PM PST by AuntB
The Federal Bureau of Investigation reports a ten percent drop in murders during the first six months of 2009, while at a time US gun sales are going through the roof, according to reports obtained by the National Association of Chiefs of Police. Meanwhile, gun sales to private citizens soared almost 30 percent during that same period.
Gun rights advocates claim that these numbers are further proof that there is no correlation between gun ownership and violent crime, state officials from the Second Amendment Foundation, a civil rights group. Further, the SAF contends that the increase in private citizen gun-ownership may have had an impact on reducing violent crime.
In a survey conducted by the National Association of Chiefs of Police of the nation’s police executives, with regard to private citizens owning firearms for sport or self-defense, 93.6 percent of the respondents supported civilian gun-ownership rights. Ninety-six percent of the police chiefs and sheriffs believe criminals obtain firearms from illegal sources and 92.2 percent revealed they hadn’t arrested anyone for violation of the so-called “waiting period” laws. When asked if citizens’ concealed-weapons permits would reduce violent crime, 63.1 percent said yes.
The latest FBI data show that homicides declined by 10 percent from the same period in 2008. Meanwhile, data released by the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) shows that during the first six months of this year, gun sales were up.
January 2009 background checks rose 28.8 percent over the same month in 2008, February’s NICS checks were up 23.3 percent and in March they were up 29.9 percent over March 2008. The trend continued in April, with NICS checks up 30.3 percent, while May showed a slowdown, up only 15.5 percent, and in June they were up 18.1 percent.
“What this shows,” said SAF Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb, “is that gun prohibitionists are all wrong when they argue that more guns result in more crime. Firearms in the hands of law-abiding citizens are no threat to anyone. Perhaps violent criminals were actually discouraged by all of those gun sales earlier this year, because the media made a point of reporting the booming gun market.
“Anti-gunners,” he continued, “have lost another one of their baseless arguments. Millions of Americans bought guns during the first six months of this year, many of them for the first time. Yet with all of those new guns in circulation, coupled with an increased demand for concealed carry licenses around the country, the streets have not been awash in blood, as gun banners repeatedly predict.
“Hard facts trump hot air,” Gottlieb concluded. “These people are consistently wrong about our rights. Millions of people bought guns, especially semiautomatic sport-utility rifles that gun grabbers want to ban because they say people aren’t safe with all of those guns in private hands. Well, the people disagree, and so does the data.”
In fact, while gun-control enthusiasts point to accidental shootings or misuse of firearms cases to bolster their claims, numerous studies have shown there are between 600,000 and one million protective uses of firearms by citizens (Northwestern University School of Law, Gary Kleck & Marc Gertz).
“Studies have shown that the incidents of proper use of guns by US citizens far outweigh any abuses or misuses. In my own law enforcement career, must guns used in a crime are illegally obtained. If a suspect is willing to walk into a bank full of people to rob it, I doubt he’d be worried about violating some gun law,” said former NYPD detective Mike Snipes, now the owner of a private security firm.
“This obsession with gun control by politicians and activists has more to do with disarming law-abiding citizens and less to do with fighting crime,” he added.
The Second Amendment Foundation is the nation’s oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 650,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control.
“This obsession with gun control by politicians and activists has more to do with disarming law-abiding citizens and less to do with fighting crime,”....
In a survey conducted by the National Association of Chiefs of Police of the nation’s police executives, with regard to private citizens owning firearms for sport or self-defense, 93.6 percent of the respondents supported civilian gun-ownership rights."
Duh!
Guns don’t kill people; people kill people.
(Puking sarcasm OFF)
That is why Sharia law says non-Muslims must be unarmed.
is there any secret as to the fact that the nazis and commies killed over a hundred million because the people were disarmed?
I hope that’s on some bumper stickers - it’s a keeper.
Criminals aren't geniuses but they do see the downside of attacking an armed person.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation reports a ten percent drop in murders during the first six months of 2009, while at a time US gun sales are going through the roof.
The National Socialist Media probably won't report this, can anybody tell me why?
Sharia law will never a big seller in this country.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.