you forgot rocket launchers...the minutemen used rocket launchers. it kept things safe if someone overslept for sunday worship. after services the minutemen went out to the woods in their wooden f-150s and blasted posters of janet reno's great grandfather with rocket launchers. later, whilst the non-voting women cooked dinner, they drank sam adams and commented that it was indeed good to be free all things swarthy and government-likeLet's issue bibles, guns, and NRA memberships to children on their first day of school and make America the safest nation on the planet.
Schism in the Democratic Congress over the Second Amendment
- Thread starter WhoDat1
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So I was curious as to what the actual numbers are involving gun deaths that occur in violent crimes. I think this is the most recent report from the Department of Justice. Some interesting nuggets:
Firearm-related crime has plummeted since 1993, then slightly increased in 2005
According to the 1997 Survey of State Prison Inmates, among those possessing a gun, the source of the gun was from -
a flea market or gun show for fewer than 2%
a retail store or pawnshop for about 12%
family, friends, a street buy, or an illegal source for 80%
During the offense that brought them to prison, 15% of State inmates and 13% of Federal inmates carried a handgun, and about 2%, a military-style semiautomatic gun.
Bureau of Justice Statistics Firearms and Crime Statistics
As I have opined before, the call to ban 'assault rifles' is rather knee jerk and sounds like a good idea until the actual data is examined. Assault rifle attacks make for good, intense 72 hour non-stop news coverage, but it is the handgun that is the true gun menace. If one is serious about eliminating gun violence, then the handgun is the weapon that must be done away with. Of course this is an impossible task and a much harder political sell as far more 'mainstream' people own handguns than the few scapegoats who own 'assault rifles'.
My conclusion is that those who advocate an assault rifle ban either have misplaced priorities if a true reduction in gun violence is the goal or see an assault rifle ban as a small first step in a long process of doing away with gun ownership rights.
Firearm-related crime has plummeted since 1993, then slightly increased in 2005
According to the 1997 Survey of State Prison Inmates, among those possessing a gun, the source of the gun was from -
a flea market or gun show for fewer than 2%
a retail store or pawnshop for about 12%
family, friends, a street buy, or an illegal source for 80%
During the offense that brought them to prison, 15% of State inmates and 13% of Federal inmates carried a handgun, and about 2%, a military-style semiautomatic gun.
Bureau of Justice Statistics Firearms and Crime Statistics
As I have opined before, the call to ban 'assault rifles' is rather knee jerk and sounds like a good idea until the actual data is examined. Assault rifle attacks make for good, intense 72 hour non-stop news coverage, but it is the handgun that is the true gun menace. If one is serious about eliminating gun violence, then the handgun is the weapon that must be done away with. Of course this is an impossible task and a much harder political sell as far more 'mainstream' people own handguns than the few scapegoats who own 'assault rifles'.
My conclusion is that those who advocate an assault rifle ban either have misplaced priorities if a true reduction in gun violence is the goal or see an assault rifle ban as a small first step in a long process of doing away with gun ownership rights.
Gun control is a losing issue for Democrats, so don't throw me in that briar patch. After Clinton's "Crime Bill" that banned the sale of magazines (pistols and rifles) with higher than a 10-round capacity, they were thrown out in 94. One in three voters identified themselves as either a person who attended church more than once a week or a person who owned a firearm. Wiped out a 40 year Democrat majority that it took them a dozen years to recover. Unfortunately for me, Reid and Pelosi know this.
your last sentence says it all....the slippery slope argument. let's see....islamofascists, communism,pot smoking, taxes, govt. health care, gay marriage...they are all precursors to the orwellian state and must be fought tooth and nail. ban assault rifles and my smith and wesson is next? how can you defend military weapons ownership that make mass murder easy?
I am guessing that after suicides and accidents are eliminated from the pool of total gunshot wounds annually, your typical victim is of lower socioeconomic status and the care rendered is uncompensated. I doubt GSWs are profitable.:roll:
yes, logic would tell me if millions are dying in darfur, any incremental change in gun laws here is inconsequential. it's not a big deal...it's just an annoyance that pops up every now and then.....like a hurricane...or an oil spill....or a jindal speech