Lies from the NRA (And Wayne LaPierre)

Gun Myths

1. They’re coming for your guns is the biggest myth propagated by the NRA lobby.  The reality is that American citizens outnumber the military and police by a ratio of 79 to 1.
2. Guns don’t kill people, people kill people says the NRA.  The states with the highest number of gun ownership rates have a gun murder rate 114% higher than those with the lowest gun ownership rates.
3. The NRA would like you to think that an armed society is a polite society but drivers who carry guns are 44% more likely than unarmed drivers to make obscene gestures and 77% more likely to drive aggressively.  Texans with concealed handgun permits were sentenced 4.8 times more for threatening someone than those without.  Stand your ground laws have resulted in a 7% to 10% increase in homicides.
4. LaPierre says the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun but the number of mass shootings stopped by armed civilians in the past 30 years totals 0 (that’s zero, nada, none, Wayne)
5. Gun manufacturers and gun shops will tell you that keeping a gun at home makes one safer but for every time az gun is used for self-defense in the home there are 7 assaults or murders, 11 suicide attempts, and 4 accidental shootings.  43% of homes with guns and kids have at least one unlocked firearm.  Given a chance to handle a gun 1/3 of 8-to-12 year old kids pulled the trigger.
6. Just as a gun in the home doesn’t make one safer, neither does carrying a gun for self defense.  In 2011, 10 times more people were shot and killed in arguments than by civilians trying to stop a crime. 1% of gun owners admitted to using their gun to defend themselves or their property and 50% of those actually used their guns to escalate an incident.  A person carrying a gun is 4-to-5 times more likely to be shot and the odds of that person carrying a gun has 4.2 greater chance of being killed.
7. If you believe that guns make women safer you should know that 6 times more women were shot in 2010 by husbands and ex-partners than murdefred by strangers.  A woman’s chances of being killed are 7 times greatefr if an abuser has access to a gun.
8. LaPierre blames gun violence on video games but comparing the US where $44 per capita is spent on video games to Japan, where $55 is spent, in the US there are 88 gun per 100 people and in Japan .6 guns per 100 people.  In the US, in 2008 there were 11,030 gun homicides and in Japan 11 gun homicides.
9. While more guns are being sold in the US, in 1973, about 50% of Americans had a gun in their home while today only 45% of Americans have a gun in their home. 35% of Americans own guns and 80% of gun owners are men with an average of 7.9 guns each.

The gun lobby has made it far more difficult to enforce today’s gun laws. Over 40% of gun sales escape any background check.  20% of gun dealers in California and Virginia admit to having made sales to straw purchasers.  The ATF has not had a director for over 6 years because of actions on the part of Congress giving in to the gun lobby. Finally, the gun lobby has resulted in Congress legislating a prohibition of the Center of Disease Control from declaring guns a health hazard and from investigating gun deaths on a national basis.

Guns, Simplified   The day that more guns will prevent unwanted gun violence will be the day that more fucking will prevent unplanned pregnancies.