Gun - Gun Facts-5.1

Table of Contents
Table of Contents ..................................................................................................... i

Introduction ..............................................................................................................v
Acknowledgements................................................................................................. vi
Assault Weapons ......................................................................................................1
Myth: Assault weapons are a serious problem in the U.S. ......................................................... 1
Myth: Every 48 Hours, An Analysis Of Assault Rifles Traced To Crime In Maryland ............ 2
Myth: One out of five police officers killed are killed with assault weapons ............................ 2
Myth: Assault weapons are favored by criminals....................................................................... 3
Myth: Assault weapons can be easily converted to machine guns ............................................. 3
Myth: Assault weapons are used in 16% of homicides .............................................................. 4
Myth: The 1994 (former) Federal Assault Weapons Ban was effective .................................... 4
Myth: Nobody needs an assault weapon..................................................................................... 5
Guns in other countries ...........................................................................................6
Myth: Countries with strict gun control have less crime ............................................................ 6
Myth: Britain has strict gun control and a low crime rate .......................................................... 8
Myth: Gun control in Australia is curbing crime...................................................................... 11
Myth: Japan has strict gun control and a less violent society................................................... 11
Myth: Gun bans elsewhere work .............................................................................................. 12
Myth: The United States has the highest violence rate because of lax gun control ................. 12
Myth: The United States is the source of 90% of drug syndicate guns in Mexico................... 12
Myth: Mexico seizes 2,000 guns a day from the United States................................................ 13
Myth: Thousands of guns go into Mexico from the U.S. every day......................................... 13
Licensing and registration.....................................................................................14
Myth: Other countries register guns to fight crime................................................................... 14
Myth: Gun registration works................................................................................................... 14
Myth: Gun registration will help police find suspects.............................................................. 15
Myth: Registration does not lead to confiscation ..................................................................... 15
Myth: Licensing will keep bad people from obtaining or using guns ...................................... 16
Myth: Guns from the U.S. create crime in other countries....................................................... 17
Ballistic “fingerprinting”.......................................................................................18
Myth: Every firearm leaves a unique "fingerprint" that can pinpoint the firearm used ........... 18
Myth: A database of ballistic profiles will allow police to trace gun crimes ........................... 19
Myth: Ballistic imaging is used in Maryland and New York and solves many crimes............ 19
Myth: A ballistic database is inexpensive to create/maintain................................................... 20
Myth: Police want a ballistic database...................................................................................... 20
Microstamping .......................................................................................................21
Myth: Independent testing by forensic technologists shows the technology is reliable .......... 21
Myth: Filing the firing pin will make the gun inoperable......................................................... 21
Myth: The cost per firearm will be cheap................................................................................. 21
Myth: The numbers will let police find the gun’s owner ......................................................... 22
Gun Facts Version 5.1 Page i

Copyright 2008, Guy Smith www.GunFacts.info All Rights Reserved
The availability of guns .........................................................................................23
Myth: The availability of guns causes crime ............................................................................ 23
Myth: Gun availability is what is causing school shootings..................................................... 25
Myth: Gun ownership is linked to higher homicide rates......................................................... 25
Myth: Handguns are 43 times more likely to kill a family member than a criminal................ 26
Guns and crime prevention...................................................................................27
Myth: Private ownership of guns is not effective in preventing crime..................................... 27
Myth: Only police should have guns ........................................................................................ 28
Myth: You are more likely to be injured or killed using a gun for self-defense ...................... 28
Myth: Guns are not effective in preventing crime against women........................................... 28
Crime and guns ......................................................................................................30
Myth: Guns are not a good deterrent to crime .......................................................................... 30
Myth: Private guns are used to commit violent crimes ............................................................ 31
Myth: High capacity, semi-automatics are preferred by criminals........................................... 32
Myth: Banning “Saturday Night Specials” reduces crime........................................................ 32
Myth: Criminals prefer "Saturday Night Specials" .................................................................. 32
Myth: Gun shows are supermarkets for criminals .................................................................... 33
Myth: 25-50% of the vendors at most gun shows are “unlicensed dealers”............................. 34
Myth: Regulation of gun shows would reduce “straw sales” ................................................... 34
Myth: Prison isn't the answer to crime control ......................................................................... 34
Myth: Waiting periods prevent rash crimes and reduce violent crime rates ............................ 35
Myth: Gun makers are selling plastic guns that slip through metal detectors .......................... 35
Myth: Machine guns are favored by criminals ......................................................................... 36
Police and guns .......................................................................................................37
Myth: Police favor gun control................................................................................................. 37
Myth: Police are our protection - people don't need guns ........................................................ 37
Myth: The supply of guns is a danger to law enforcement....................................................... 38
Myth: “Cop Killer” bullets need to be banned ......................................................................... 38
Myth: Teflon bullets are designed to penetrate police bullet-proof vests................................. 38
Children and guns..................................................................................................39
Myth: 13 children are killed each day by guns......................................................................... 39
Myth: School yard shootings are an epidemic.......................................................................... 40
Myth: Trigger locks will keep children from accidentally shooting themselves...................... 40
Myth: More than 1,300 children commit suicide with guns..................................................... 41
Myth: Guns in America spark youth violence .......................................................................... 42
Myth: Stricter gun control laws could have prevented the Columbine massacre..................... 42
Myth: Children should be kept away from guns for their own safety ...................................... 43
Myth: More children are hurt with guns than by any other means........................................... 43
Myth: If it saves the life of one child, it is worth it .................................................................. 44
Accidental deaths ...................................................................................................46
Myth: Accidental gun fatalities are a serious problem ............................................................. 46
Myth: Handguns are unsafe and cause accidents...................................................................... 47
Myth: Innocent bystanders are often killed by guns................................................................. 47
Gun Facts Version 5.1 Page ii

Myth: Citizens are too incompetent to use guns for protection................................................ 48
Myth: Gun accidents are flooding emergency rooms ............................................................... 48
Myth: "Junk" guns are dangerous and should be banned ......................................................... 48
Myth: Guns should be made to conform to product liability laws ........................................... 48
Concealed carry laws and weapons......................................................................49
Myth: Concealed carry laws increase crime ............................................................................. 49
Myth: People with concealed weapons permits will commit crimes........................................ 51
Myth: Texas CCW holders are arrested 66% more often......................................................... 52
Myth: CCWs will lead to mass public shootings...................................................................... 53
Myth: People do not need concealable weapons ...................................................................... 53
Myth: Police are against concealed carrying by citizens .......................................................... 53
Government, gun laws, and social costs...............................................................55
Myth: Gun control reduces crime ............................................................................................. 55
Myth: Guns should be registered and licensed like cars........................................................... 56
Myth: The Brady Bill caused a decrease in gun homicides...................................................... 57
Myth: Gun laws are being enforced.......................................................................................... 57
Myth: Federal gun crime prosecutions increased 25%............................................................. 58
Myth: The social cost of gun violence is enormous ................................................................. 59
Myth: The social cost of gun violence is $20-100 billion ........................................................ 59
Myth: Gun “buy back” programs get guns off the streets ........................................................ 60
Myth: Closing down “kitchen table” gun dealers will reduce guns on the street..................... 60
Myth: Only the government should have guns......................................................................... 61
Myth: “Safe storage” laws protect people ................................................................................ 61
Myth: Local background checks reduce gun suicides .............................................................. 62
.50-Caliber rifles.....................................................................................................63
Myth: .50-calibers are the favorite weapon of terrorists........................................................... 63
Myth: American gun makers sold .50-calibers to terrorists...................................................... 63
Myth: .50-caliber shooters are terrorists in training ................................................................. 63
Myth: The Founding Fathers would have had no use for a .50-caliber rifle ............................ 63
Myth: .50-calibers are capable of piercing airline fuel tanks from a mile away ...................... 64
Myth: .50-caliber bullets can penetrate concrete bunkers ........................................................ 64
Myth: .50-caliber Bullets can pierce light armor at 4 miles ..................................................... 64
Myth: .50-caliber rifles can knock a helicopter from the sky ................................................... 64
Myth: .50-caliber guns are for snipers ...................................................................................... 64
Assorted myths .......................................................................................................66
Myth: 30,000 people are killed with guns every year............................................................... 66
Myth: The Brady Campaign has a good ranking system of state gun control laws. ................ 66
Myth: 1,000 people die each day from guns............................................................................. 66
Myth: High capacity guns lead to more deadly shootings........................................................ 67
Myth: The “powerful gun industry” stops all gun control legislation ...................................... 67
Myth: Access to guns increases the risk of suicide .................................................................. 68
Gun owners and public opinion............................................................................69
Myth: Gun owners are a tiny minority...................................................................................... 69
Gun Facts Version 5.1 Page iii

Myth: People do not believe that the 2nd Amendment is an individual right............................ 69
Myth: Most Americans favor gun control ................................................................................ 69
Myth: More and more Americans support stricter gun control ................................................ 71
MYTH: People want to ban handguns...................................................................................... 72
MYTH: Most people think guns in the home are dangerous.................................................... 72
Gun Control Proponents .......................................................................................73
Politicians.................................................................................................................................. 73
Anti-freedom political activists ................................................................................................ 76
The media ................................................................................................................................. 78
The media in general................................................................................................................. 79
The American government ....................................................................................................... 79
Gun Control Opponents ........................................................................................81
The Second Amendment........................................................................................86
Myth: The Supreme Court ruled the Second Amendment is not an individual right .............. 86
Myth: The Second Amendment is a collective right, not an individual right.......................... 86
Myth: The "militia" clause is to arm the National Guard ........................................................ 88
Myth: U.S. v. Cruikshank denied an individual right to bear arms .......................................... 89
Myth: U.S. v. Miller said that the Second Amendment is not an individual right ................... 89
Summary of various court decisions concerning gun rights..................................................... 90
Thoughts on gun confiscation ...............................................................................93
Serious questions to ask yourself ..........................................................................93
Miscellaneous statistics ..........................................................................................94
Miscellaneous information ....................................................................................94
British crime statistics............................................................................................................... 94
Origin of the 2nd Amendment ................................................................................................... 95
Gun Facts Version 5.1 Page iv

I NTRODUCTION
“The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie: deliberate, continued,
and dishonest; but the myth: persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic.”
-- John F. Kennedy
Purpose
The goal of Gun Facts is to provide a quick reference guide for civil libertarians on gun
control issues. Use Gun Facts when composing arguments for debates, writing letters to
editors, emailing to your representatives, and sending statements to the media.
The problem Gun Facts addresses is the lack of intellectual honesty by gun control
advocates. Over many decades they have presented “information” to the media and the
public that is at best inaccurate and at worst fraudulent. Gun Facts is dedicated to
debunking gun control myths and providing citable evidence.
Common gun control myths are listed in the pages that follow. For each myth, one or
more facts are presented to refute the gun control claim and the source of the information
is fully cited.
Copyright and free usage information
This work is the copyrighted property of Guy Smith. All rights are reserved unless noted
below.
PDF: The PDF version of this document may be freely distributed providing the
document is not altered and that the source is always cited. "Reasonable use" laws apply,
which basically means you can use small sections of Gun Facts without my prior
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Printings: You are also allowed to print this document for your personal reference
and/or for distribution without fee (i.e., you can’t charge money for copies of Gun Facts).
This means if you want to print copies for the media, elected officials, gun shows,
friends, etc. – you are free to do so. Any distribution in any format must include the
entire work.
Questions, corrections and suggestions
If you need to communicate with the author, send e-mail to guy@GunFacts.info. Your
corrections, comments, additions and suggestions are welcomed and encouraged. When
providing new information, please cite the original reference in detail – publication, title,
author, date, etc. This is essential.
Sources
All sources cited in this work are accurate to the best of my research. I use the most
recent data I can easily find. If any more recent data is available (even if it weakens my
arguments), I welcome receiving the same.
Gun Facts Version 5.1 Page v

Contributions
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in composing, editing and distributing Gun Facts. If you would like to help, drop by
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A printed copy of the current version of Gun Facts can be acquired online at
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A CKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My sincere thanks go out to the following individuals or groups for their contributions to
Gun Facts:
Jim Archer: Jim provided the domain www.GunFacts.info, so people can more easily
find this work.
Skeff: For handling a bunch of IT work and building the online core of the Gun Facts
community.
Skip, Michael, Jarrod, Dale, David, Dennis, Neva, Mark, Ron, Chuck, the other
Mark, Joycelyn, Jeff, the third Mark, Dan, and “Big Gay” Al who volunteered to
proofread this version of Gun Facts and thus obscured my own inabilities. A special to
Kim Grady of Second Amendment Sisters, LLC. who does this for a living and thus spent
some nights and weekends working.
The Research Volunteers: Over 600 people have registered to help in researching topics
and specific items. I cannot list every volunteer, so I thank you collectively.
Jason G.: For originally recommending the myth/fact approach, which has proven to be
absolutely the right way to present this information.
Gun Facts Version 5.1 Page vi

A SSAULT W EAPONS
“Assault weapon” is an invented term. In the firearm lexicon, there is no such
thing as an “assault weapon.” The closest relative is the “assault rifle,” which is a
machine gun or “select fire” rifle that fires rifle cartridges. 1 In most cases,
“assault weapons” are functionally identical to hunting rifles, though cosmetically
similar to military guns.
Myth: Assault weapons are a serious problem in the
U.S.
Fact: In 1994, before the Federal “assault weapons ban,” you were eleven (11) times
more likely to be beaten to death than to be killed by an “assault weapon.” 2 In the first
year since the ban was lifted, murders declined 3.6%, and violent crime 1.7%. 3
Fact: Nationally, “assault weapons” were used in 1.4% of crimes involving firearms and
0.25% of all violent crime before the enactment of any national or state “assault
weapons” ban. In many major urban areas (San Antonio, Mobile, Nashville, etc.) and
some entire states (Maryland, New Jersey, etc.) the rate is less than 0.1%. 4
Fact: Even weapons misclassified as “assault weapons” (common in the former Federal
and California “assault weapons” confiscations) are used in less than 1% of all
homicides. 5
Fact: Police reports show that “assault weapons” are a non-problem:
For California:
• Los Angeles: In 1998, of 538 documented gun incidents, only one (0.2%)
involved an “assault weapon.”
• San Francisco: In 1998, only 2.2% of confiscated weapons were “assault
weapons.”
• San Diego: Between 1988 and 1990, only 0.3% of confiscated weapons were
“assault weapons.”
• “I surveyed the firearms used in violent crimes...assault-type firearms were
the least of our worries.” 6
1
Department of Defense Small Arms Identification and Operations Guide
2
FBI Uniform Crime Statistics, 1994
3
FBI Uniform Crime Statistics, Preliminary Summary, 2004
4
Targeting Guns, Gary Kleck, Aldine Transaction, 1997, compilation of 48 metropolitan police
departments from 1980-1994
5
6
S.C. Helsley, Assistant Director DOJ Investigation and Enforcement Branch, California, October 31, 1988
Gun Facts Version 5.1 Page 1

For the rest of the nation: “No one should have any illusions about
• Between 1980 and 1994, only 2% of confiscated what was accomplished (by the ban).
guns were “assault weapons.” 7 Assault weapons play a part in only a
small percentage of crime. The provision
• Just under 2% of criminals that commit violent
is mainly symbolic; its virtue will be if it
crimes used “assault weapons.” 8
turns out to be, as hoped, a stepping stone
Fact: Only 1.4% of recovered crime weapons are to broader gun control.”
models covered under the 1994 “assault weapons” ban. 9 Washington Post editorial
Fact: In Virginia, no surveyed inmates had carried an September 15, 1994
“assault weapon” during the commission of their last
crime, despite 20% admitting that they had previously
owned such weapons. 10
Fact: Most “assault weapons” have no more firepower or killing capacity than the
average hunting rifle and “play a small role in overall violent crime.” 11
Fact: Even the government agrees. “... the weapons banned by this legislation [1994
Federal Assault Weapons ban - since repealed] were used only rarely in gun crimes” 12
Myth: Every 48 Hours, An Analysis Of Assault Rifles
Traced To Crime In Maryland
Fact: This claim by Cease Fire Maryland includes firearms never used in crimes. Some
examples of firearms traced include:
• 47 firearms found at private residence of a person who passed-away from natural
causes, and which were never used in any crime.
• Firearms temporarily taken from owners under court Emergency Evaluation Petitions
(the firearms were not used in crimes, but the judge wanted them confiscated until
other issues are resolved).
Myth: One out of five police officers killed are killed
with assault weapons 13
Fact: This “study” included firearms not on the former Federal “assault weapons” list.
Including various legal firearms 14 inflated the statistics almost 100%.
7
Targeting Guns, Gary Kleck, Aldine Transaction, 1997, compilation of 48 metropolitan police
departments from 1980-1994
8
Targeting Guns, Gary Kleck, Aldine Transaction, 1997, calculated from Bureau of Justice Statistics,
assault weapon recovery rates
9
From statewide recovery report from Connecticut (1988-1993) and Pennsylvania (1989-1994)
10
Criminal Justice Research Center, Department of Criminal Justice Services, 1994
11
House Panel Issue: Can Gun Ban Work, New York Times. April 7, 1989. P. A-15, quoting Philip
McGuire, Handgun Control, Inc.,
12
Impacts of the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban: 1994-96, National Institute of Justice, March 1999
13
This claim was made by the anti-gun Violence Policy Center in their 2003 report titled Officer Down

Fact: Only 1% of police officers murdered were killed using “assault weapons.” They
were twice as likely to be killed with their own handgun. 15
Fact: One 2006 federal government study found zero “assault weapons” were used to kill
cops. 16
Myth: Assault weapons are favored by criminals
Fact: Only 8% of criminals use anything that is classified (even incorrectly) as an
“assault weapon,” 17 though less than 1% claimed to use these firearms when committing
crimes. 18
Fact: Criminals are as likely to carry single shot (derringer) handguns as they are to carry
“assault weapons.” 19
Fact: “Assault rifles have never been an issue in law enforcement. I have been on this job
for 25 years and I haven’t seen a drug dealer carry one. They are not used in crimes, they
are not used against police officers.” 20
Fact: “Since police started keeping statistics, we now know that ‘assault weapons’
are/were used in an underwhelming 0.026 of 1% of crimes in New Jersey. This means
that my officers are more likely to confront an escaped tiger from the local zoo than to
confront an assault rifle in the hands of a drug-crazed killer on the streets.” 21
Thoughts: “Assault weapons” are large and unwieldy. Even misclassified handguns tend
to be bigger than practical for concealed carry. Criminals (who, incidentally, disregard
concealed carry laws) are unlikely to carry “assault weapons.”
Myth: Assault weapons can be easily converted to
machine guns
Fact: Firearms that can be “readily converted” are already prohibited by law. 22
Fact: None of the firearms on the list of banned weapons can be readily converted. 23
14
The “study” included legal models of the SKS, Ruger Mini-14, and M1-Carbine, which were all in
circulation before the federal “assault weapons” ban and which were excluded from the ban.
15
Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted, FBI, 1994
16
Violent Encounters: A Study of Felonious Assaults on Our Nation’s Law Enforcement Officers, U.S.
Department of Justice, August 2006
17
Firearm Use by Offenders , Bureau of Justice Statistics, November 2001
18
Ibid.
19
Ibid
20
Deputy Chief of Police Joseph Constance, Trenton NJ, testimony - Senate Judiciary Committee in Aug
1993
21
Ibid
22
U.S. Code title 26, subtitle E, Chapter 53, subchapter B, part 1, section 5845
23
BATF test as reported in the New York Times, April 3, 1989

Fact: Only 0.15% of over 4,000 weapons confiscated in Los Angeles in one year were
converted, and only 0.3% had any evidence of an attempt to convert. 24
Myth: Assault weapons are used
in 16% of homicides “Passing a law like the assault weapons
Fact: This figure was concocted to promote an ban is a symbolic, purely symbolic move
“assault weapons” bill in New York. The ... Its only real justification is not to
classification scheme used encompassed most reduce crime but to desensitize the public
firearms sold in the U.S. since 1987 (center fire rifles to the regulation of weapons in
and shotguns holding more than six cartridges, and preparation for their ultimate
handguns holding more than 10 rounds). By confiscation.”
misclassifying “assault weapons,” they expanded the
scope of a non-problem. Charles Krauthammer
Syndicated Columnist
Myth: The 1994 (former) The Washington Post, April 5, 1996
Federal Assault Weapons Ban
was effective
Fact: “ ... we cannot clearly credit the ban with any of the nation’s recent drop in gun
violence.” 25
Fact: The ban covered only 1.39% of the models of firearms on the market, so the ban’s
effectiveness is automatically limited.
Fact: “The ban has failed to reduce the average number of victims per gun murder
incident or multiple gunshot wound victims.” 26
Fact: “The public safety benefits of the 1994 ban have not yet been demonstrated.” 27
Fact: “The ban triggered speculative price increases and ramped-up production of the
banned firearms.” 28
Fact: “The ban … ramped-up production of the banned firearms prior to the law’s
implementation” 29 and thus increased the total supply over the following decade.
Fact: The Brady Campaign claims that “After the 1994 ban, there were 18% fewer
‘assault weapons’ traced to crime in the first eight months of 1995 than were traced in the
same period in 1994.” However they failed to note (and these are mentioned in the NIJ
study) that:
24
Congressional testimony, Jimmy Trahin, Los Angeles Detective, Subcommittee on the Constitution of
the Committee on the Judiciary, May 5, 1989, 101st Congress, 1st Session, Washington, DC, US
Government Printing Office, May 5, 1989, p. 379
25
An Updated Assessment of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban: Impacts on Gun Markets and Gun
Violence, 1994-2003, National Institute of Justice, June 2004
26
Impacts of the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban: 1994-96, National Institute of Justice, March 1999
27
Ibid
28
Ibid
29
Ibid

1. “Assault weapons” traces were minimal before the ban (due to their infrequent
use in crimes), so an 18% change enters the realm of statistical irrelevancy.
2. Fewer “assault weapons” were available to criminals because collectors bought-
up the available supply before the ban.
Myth: Nobody needs an assault weapon
Fact: Recall the Rodney King riots in that anti-gun city of Los Angeles. Every major
news network carried footage of Korean storeowners sitting on the roofs of their stores,
armed with “assault weapons.” 30 Those were the stores that did not get burned to the
ground, and those were the people that were not dragged into the street and beaten by
rioters. “You can’t get around the image of people shooting at people to protect their
stores and it working. This is damaging to the [gun control] movement.” 31
Fact: There are many reasons people prefer to use these firearms:
• They are easy to operate
• They are very reliable in outdoor conditions (backpacking, hunting, etc.)
• They are accurate
• They are good for recreational and competitive target shooting
• They have value in many self-defense situations
Fact: There are many sports in which these firearms are required:
• Many hunters use these firearms
• Three-gun target matches
• Camp Perry competitions, especially the Service Rifle events
• DCM/CMP competitions
• Bodyguard simulations
Fact: Ours is a Bill of Rights, not a Bill of Needs.
30
Washington Post, May 2, 1992
31
Josh Sugarmann, executive director of the Violence Policy Center, Washington Post, May 18, 1993

G UNS IN OTHER COUNTRIES
Myth: Countries with strict gun control have less
crime
Fact: In America, we can demonstrate that private ownership of guns reduces crime, but
from country to country there is no correlation between gun availability and the violent
crime rate. Consider this:
Crime Rate
High Low
Gun High United States Switzerland
Availability Low Mexico Japan
Or, to use detailed data, we can contrast the per capita homicide rate with the per capita
gun ownership rate between different industrialized countries (see graph below). Doing
so shows zero correlation between the availability of guns and the overall homicide rate.
Fact: Countries with the strictest gun-control laws also tended to have the highest
homicide rates. 32
Fact: According to the U.N., as Gun Ownership and Homicide Rates
of 2005, Scotland was the most
60 8
violent country in the developed
% of Households w/ Firearms
world, with people three times 7
Per Capita Homicide Rates

50
more likely to be assaulted than 6
in America. Violent crime there 40
5
has doubled over the last 20
30 4
years. 3% of Scots had been
victims of assault compared 20
3
with 1.2% in America. 33 2
10
Fact: “... the major surveys 1
completed in the past 20 years 0 0
or more provides no evidence of
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of armed crime. Nor is there a Epidemiology, 1998 & rate
Homicide rate
relationship between the
severity of controls imposed in
various countries or the mass of bureaucracy involved with many control systems with
32
Violence, Guns and Drugs: A Cross-Country Analysis, Jeffery A. Miron, Department of Economics,
Boston University, University of Chicago Press Journal of Law & Economics, October 2001.
33
Scotland tops list of world's most violent countries, The Times, September 19, 2005

the apparent ease of access to firearms by criminals and terrorists.” 34
Fact: Switzerland has relatively lenient gun control for Europe 35, and has the third-
lowest homicide rate of the top nine major European countries, and the same per capita
rate as England and Wales. 36
Fact: Indeed, the Swiss basically have a military rifle in nearly every closest.
“Everybody who has served in the army is allowed to keep their personal weapon, even
after the end of their
military service.” 37 Contact Crime Victimization Rates
Fact: “We don’t have
as many guns [in Australia 4.1
Brazil] as the United England and Wales 3.6
States, but we use Scotland 3.4
them more.” 38 Brazil Canada 3.4
has mandatory Finland 3.2
licensing, registration, Poland 2.8
and maximum Northern Ireland 2.4
personal ownership Denmark 2.3
quotas. It now bans France 2.2
any new sales to Sweden 2.2
private citizens. Their Switzerland 2.1
homicide rate is Netherlands 2.0
almost three (3) times USA 1.9
higher than the U.S. 39 Belgium 1.8
Fact: In Canada Spain 1.5
around 1920, before Portugal 1.4
there was any form of Japan 0.4
gun control, their 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5
homicide rate was 7% % Victimized in 1999
of the U.S rate. By 2001 Dutch Ministry of Justice, Criminal
1986, and after Victimization in Seventeen Industrialized Countries
34
Minutes of Evidence, Colin Greenwood, Select Committee on Northern Ireland Affairs, January 29,
2003.
35
In Switzerland, handguns are obtainable once a person obtains a simple police permit which is valid for
six months. Federal law over weapons, weapon accessories and ammunition (weapon law, WG), Federal
Assembly of the Swiss Confederation, May 2007 - http://www.admin.ch/ch/d/sr/5/514.54.de.pdf
36
Carol Kalish, International Crime Rates, Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report (Washington:
Department of Justice, May 1988). 1984 data for Switzerland, and the 1983 data for England and Wales.
37
Army rifles remain racked at home, Swiss Defense Ministry statement, May 15, 2004,
http://www.swissinfo.org .
38
Chocolates for guns? Brazil targets gun violence, Rubem César Fernandes, executive secretary of Viva
Rio, a nongovernmental agency that studies urban crime, Christian Science Monitor, August 10, 1999
39
Homicide trends in the United States, U.S. data: Bureau of Justice Statistics, September, 2004. Brazil
data: Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 2005.

significant gun control legislation, Canada’s homicide rate was 35% of the U.S. rate – a
significant increase. 40 In 2003, Canada had a violent crime rate more than double that of
the U.S. (963 vs. 475 per 100,000). 41
Fact: Many of the countries with the strictest gun control have the highest rates of violent
crime. Australia and England, which have virtually banned gun ownership, have the
highest rates of robbery, sexual assault, and assault with force of the top 17 industrialized
countries. 42
Fact: The crime rate is 66% higher in four Canadian Prairie Provinces than in the
northern US states across the border. 43
Fact: Strict controls over existing arms failed in Finland. Despite needs-based licensing,
storage laws, transportation restrictions, 44 Finland experienced a multiple killing school
shooting in 2007. 45
Myth: Britain has strict gun control and a low crime
rate
Fact: Since gun banning has escalated in the UK, the rate of crime – especially violent
crime – has
risen.
Fact: Ironically, U.K. Violent Crime and Firearm Ownership
firearm use in 60 475
crimes has Handgun
Ban Year
doubled in the 55
425
Violent Crime per 100,000
decade since
# Licensed Firearms
handguns were 50
banned. 46 375
45
Fact: 67% of 325
those with an 40
opinion believe
275
that “As a result 35
of gun and knife

crime, the area I 30 225
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
live in is not as
safe as it was Source: "Criminal Statistics, England and W ales 2000",
Violent Crime
Firearm Crime
British Home Office
# of Licnesed Firearms
40
Targeting Guns, Gary Kleck, Aldine Transaction, 1997, at 360.
41
Juristat: Crime Statistics in Canada, 2004 and FBI Uniform Crime Statistics online.
42
Criminal Victimization in Seventeen Industrialized Countries, Dutch Ministry of Justice, 2001.
43
A Comparison of Violent and Firearm Crime Rates in the Canadian Prairie Provinces and Four U.S.
Border States, 1961-2003, Parliamentary Research Branch of the Library of Parliament, March 7, 2005.
44
National Report by Finland, United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs.
45
Pekka-Eric Auvinen shooting in Tuusula, Finland on November 8, 2007.
46
Weapons sell for just £50 as suspects and victims grow ever younger, The Times, August 24, 2007.

five years ago.” 47
Fact: Street robberies soared 28% in 2001. Violent crime was up 11%, murders up 4%,
and rapes are up 14%. 48
Fact: This trend continues in 2004 with a 10% increase in street crime, 8% increase in
muggings, and a 22% increase in robberies.
Fact: In 1919, before
they had any gun U.K. Violent Crime and Firearm Ownership
control, the U.K. had a 550
homicide rate that was
Violent Crimes per 100,000 Population
500
8% of the U.S. rate. By
Firearm Act of 1988
Firearm Act of 1997

1986, and after enacting 450
significant gun control, 400
the rate was 9% – 350

practically 300
unchanged. 49
250
Fact: “... [There is] 200
nothing in the statistics 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
for England and Wales

Source: CRIMINAL STATISTICS England and Wales 2000, British Home Office
to suggest that either
the stricter controls on
handguns prior to 1997 or the ban imposed since have controlled access to such firearms
by criminals.” 50
Fact: Comparing crime rates between America and Britain is flawed. In America, a gun
crime is recorded as a gun crime. In Britain, a crime is only recorded when there is a final
disposition (a conviction). All unsolved gun crimes in Britain are not reported as gun
crimes, grossly undercounting the amount of gun crime there. 51 To make matters worse,
British law enforcement has been exposed for falsifying criminal reports to create falsely
lower crime figures, in part to preserve tourism. 52
Fact: A continuing parliamentary inquiry into the growing number of black market
weapons has concluded that there are more than three million illegally held firearms in
circulation – double the number believed to have been held 10 years ago – and that
criminals are more willing than ever to use them. One in three criminals under the age of
25 possesses or has access to a firearm. 53
47
YouGov survey of 2,156 residents in Sept 2007.
48
British Home Office, reported by BBC news, July 12, 2002.
49
Targeting Guns, Gary Kleck, Aldine Transaction, 1997, at 359.
50
2003.
51
Fear in Britain, Gallant, Hills, Kopel, Independence Institute, July 18, 2000.
52
Crime Figures a Sham, Say Police, Daily Telegraph, April 1, 1996.
53
Reported in The Guardian, September 3, 2000.

Fact: Handgun homicides in England and Wales reached an all-time high in 2000, years
after a virtual ban on private handgun ownership. More than 3,000 crimes involving
handguns were recorded in 1999-2000, including the 42 homicides, 310 cases of
attempted murder, 2,561 robberies and 204 burglaries. 54
Fact: Handguns were used in 3,685 offenses in 2000 compared with 2,648 in 1997, an
increase of 40%. 55 It is interesting to Offense category Increase from pre-ban
note: Armed robbery 170.1%
• Of the 20 areas with the lowest Kidnapping/abduction 144.0%
number of legal firearms, 10 had Assault 130.9%
an above average level of “gun Attempted murder 117.6%
crime.” Sexual assault 112.6%
• Of the 20 areas with the highest
levels of legal guns, only 2 had armed crime levels above the average.
Fact: Between 1997 and 1999, there were 429 murders in London, the highest two-year
figure for more than 10 years – nearly two-thirds of those involved firearms – in a
country that has virtually banned private firearm ownership. 56
Fact: Over the last century, the British crime rate was largely unchanged. In the late
nineteenth century, the per capita homicide rate in Britain was between 1.0 and 1.5 per
100,000. 57 In the late twentieth century, after a near ban on gun ownership, the homicide
rate is around 1.4. 58 This shows that the homicide rate does not vary with either the level
of gun control or gun availability.
Fact: The U.K. has strict gun control and a rising homicide rate of 1.4 per 100,000.
Switzerland has the highest per capita firearm ownership rate on the planet (all males age
20 to 42 are required to keep rifles or pistols at home) has a homicide rate of 1.2 per
100,000. And to date, there has never been a schoolyard massacre in Switzerland. 59
Fact: “… the scale of gun crime in the capital [London] has forced senior officers to set
up a specialist unit to deal with ... shootings.” 60
54
42 killed by handguns last year, The Times, January 10, 2001, reporting on statistics supplied by the
British Home Office.
55
Illegal Firearms in the UK, Centre for Defense Studies at King's College in London, July 2001.
56
Ibid.
57
Crime and Society in England 1750-1900, Clive Emsley, 1987, at 36.
58
Where Kids and Guns Do Mix, Stephen P. Halbrook, Wall Street Journal, June 1999.
59
Ibid.
60
Associated News Media, April 30, 2001.

Myth: Gun control in Australia is curbing crime
Fact: Crime has been rising since a sweeping ban on private gun ownership. In the first
two years after gun-owners were forced to surrender 640,381 personal firearms,
government statistics show a dramatic increase in criminal activity. 61 In 2001-2002,
homicides were up another 20%. 62
From the inception of firearm confiscation to March 27, 2000, the numbers are:
• Gun murders up 19%
• Armed robbery up 69%
• Home invasions up 21%
The sad part is that in the 15 years before national gun confiscation:
• Firearm-related homicides dropped nearly 66%
• Firearm-related deaths fell 50%
Fact: Gun crimes are rising throughout Australia after guns were banned. In Sydney
alone, robbery rates with guns rose 160% in 2001, more in the previous year. 63
Fact: A ten year study that concluded Australian firearm confiscation had no effect on
crime rates. 64 A separate study concluded Australia’s 1996 gun control laws “found [no]
evidence for an impact of the laws on the pre-existing decline in firearm homicides.” 65
Myth: Japan has strict gun control and a less violent
society
Fact: In Japan, the murder rate is almost 1 per 100,000. In the U.S., there are about 3.2
murders per 100,000 people each year by weapons other than firearms. 66 This means that
even if firearms in the U.S. could be eliminated, we would still have three times the
murder rate of the Japanese. Japan’s murder rate may be low, but its suicide rate is over
20 per 100,000 people. Japanese are being murdered and committing suicide at a rate of
about 21 per 100,000. In the U.S., our combined murder and suicide rate is about 21 also.
61
Crime and Justice - Crimes Recorded by Police, Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2000.
62
Report #46: Homicide in Australia, 2001-2002, Australian Institute of Criminology, April 2003.
63
Costa targets armed robbers, The Sydney Morning Herald, April 4, 2002.
64
Gun Laws and Sudden Death: Did the Australian Firearms Legislation of 1996 Make a Difference?, Dr.
Jeanine Baker and Dr. Samara McPhedran, British Journal of Criminology, November 2006.
65
Austrian firearms: data require cautious approach, S. McPhedran, S. McPhedran, and J. Baker, The
British Journal of Psychiatry, 2007, 191:562
66
Japan data: 1996 Demographic Yearbook, United Nations, 1998; US data: FBI Uniform Crime Statistics,
1996.

Myth: Gun bans elsewhere work
Fact: Though illegal, side-street gun makers thrive in the Philippines, mainly submachine
guns which are the simplest to manufacture. Estimates are that almost half of all guns in
the Philippines are illegal. 67
Fact: Chinese police destroyed 113 illegal gun factories and shops in a three-month
crackdown in 2006. Police seized 2,445 tons of explosives, 4.81 million detonators and
117,000 guns. 68
Myth: The
United Country Homicides per 100,000 population
States has Colombia 62
the highest Jamaica 32
violence Russia 20
Mexico 13
rate because
Estonia 10
of lax gun Latvia 10
control Lithuania 10
Fact: The top 10 Belarus 9
countries for Papua New Guinea 8
homicide do not Kyrgyzstan 8
include the U.S. 69
Myth: The United States is the source of 90% of drug
syndicate guns in Mexico
Fact: This is an often misquoted data point from the BATFE, who said 90% of the
firearms that have been interdicted in transport to Mexico or recovered in Mexico came
from the United States. Thus the 90% number includes only the firearms American and
Mexican police stop in transport. 70
Fact: The original number was derived from the number of firearms successfully traced,
not the total number of firearms. For 2007-2008, Mexican officials recovered
approximately 29,000 firearms from crime scenes and asked for BATFE traces of 11,000.
Of those, the BATFE could trace roughly 6,000 of which 5,114 were confirmed to have
come from the United States. Thus, 83% of the crime guns recovered in Mexico have not
been or cannot be traced to America. 71
67
Filipino gunsmiths are making a killing, Taipei Times, May 7, 2005.
68
China Radio International Online, September 7, 2006.
69
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Centre for International Crime Prevention, Seventh United
Nations Survey of Crime Trends and Operations of Criminal Justice Systems, covering the period 1998 –
2000.
70
Mexico's Massive Illegal weapons coming from China and the U.S., American Chronicle, March 14,
2009
71
The Myth of 90 Percent, Fox News, April 2, 2009, BATFE data distilled by William La Jeunesse and
Maxim Lott

Fact: Mexican drug syndicates can buy guns anywhere. For the relatively underpowered
civilian rifles coming from the United States, drug runners would pay between 300% and
400% above the market price. Thus they can and are buying guns around the world. 72
Fact: Mexican drug cartels – with a $40 billion in annual revenues – have military
armament that includes hand grenades, grenade launchers, armor-piercing munitions,
antitank rockets and assault rifles smuggled from Central American countries. 73 These
are infantry weapons bought from around the world and not civilian “assault weapon”
rifles from the United States.
Myth: Mexico seizes 2,000 guns a day from the United
States
Fact: The Mexican attorney general’s office reports seizing 29,000 weapons in all of
2007 and 2008, or about 14,500 a year. And that is all weapons, regardless of country of
origin. 74 Had they seized approximately 2,000 per day, the total number of seized guns
would be closer to 1,460,000.
Myth: Thousands of guns go into Mexico from the U.S.
every day
Fact: In Senate Committee testimony, the BAFTE said the number was likely at worst in
the “hundreds”. 75 For 2007 and 2008, the average for all seizures was closer to 40 per day
(29,000/730), only a fraction of which came from the USA by any means.
72
Southwest Border Region--Drug Transportation and Homeland Security Issues, National Drug
Intelligence Center, October 2007
73
Drug cartels' new weaponry means war, Los Angeles Times, March 15, 2009
74
The Myth of 90 Percent, William La Jeunesse and Maxim Lott, Fox News, April 2, 2009
75
Senate Committee Judiciary, William Hoover, Assistant Director, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, &
Firearms, March 17, 2009

L ICENSING AND REGISTRATION
Myth: Other countries register guns to fight crime
Fact: Most of these laws were enacted in the post World War I period to prevent civil
uprisings as had occurred in Russia. A report of “Committee on the Control of
Firearms,” written by British Home Office officials in 1918, was the basis for registration
in the U.K., Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. 76
Fact: Though restrictions were few in the United States and the number of legally held
handguns exceeded those on the Canadian side by a factor of ten, rates of homicide were
virtually identical. 77
Myth: Gun registration works
Fact: Not in New Zealand. They repealed their gun registration law in the 1980s after
police acknowledged its worthlessness. 78
Fact: Not in Australia. One report states, “It seems just to be an elaborate system of
arithmetic with no tangible aim. Probably, and with the best of intentions, it may have
been thought, that if it were known what firearms each individual in Victoria owned,
some form of control may be exercised, and those who were guilty of criminal misuse
could be readily identified. This is a fallacy, and has been proven not to be the case.” 79
In addition, cost to Australian taxpayers exceeded $200 million annually. 80
Fact: Not in Canada. More than 20,000 Canadian gun-owners have publicly refused to
register their firearms. Many others (as many as 300,000 81) are silently ignoring the law.
• The provincial governments of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba have dumped
both the administration and the enforcement of all federal gun-control laws right back
into Ottawa's lap, throwing the Canadian government into a paper civil war.
• And all at a cost more than 1,646% the original projected cost 82 (the original cost was
estimated at 5% of all police expenditures in Canada 83). "The gun registry as it sits
right now is causing law abiding citizens to register their guns but it does nothing to
take one illegal gun off the street or to increase any type of penalty for anybody that
violates any part of the legislation," according to Al Koenig, President, Calgary Police
76
Response to Philip Alpers' submission to the California State Assembly Select Committee on Gun
Violence, Steven W. Kendrick, January 2000.
77
American Journal of Epidemiology, Brandon Centrewall, Volume 134, Page 1245-65.
78
Background to the Introduction of Firearms User Licensing Instead of Rifle and Shotgun Registration
Under the Arms Act 1983, (Wellington, New Zealand: n.p., 1983)
79
Registration Firearms System, Chief Inspector Newgreen, CRB File 39-1-1385/84
80
The Failed Experiment: Gun Control and Public Safety in Canada, Australia, England and Wales, Gary
Mauser, The Fraser Institute, 2003.
81
Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights, Evidence number 55, June 5, 2003
82
Ottawa Under Pressure Over Gun Registry Fiasco, David Ljunggren, Rueters, December 4, 2002.
83
When ‘Gun Control’ costs lives, John Lott, Firing Line, September 2001.

Association. 84 "We have an ongoing gun crisis, including firearms-related homicides
lately in Toronto, and a law registering firearms has neither deterred these crimes nor
helped us solve any of them," according to Toronto police Chief Julian Fantino . 85
• The system is so bad that six Canadian provinces (British Columbia joins Manitoba,
Saskatchewan, Alberta, Nova Scotia, and Ontario) are refusing to prosecute firearm
owners who fail to register. 86
• A bill to abolish the registry has been tabled (introduced) in the Canadian Parliament,
which if passed, would eliminate the registry completely. 87
• A Saskatchewan MP who endorsed the long gun registry when first proposed has
introduced legislation to abolish it stating that, “[the registry] has not saved one life in
Canada, and it has been a financial sinkhole … absolutely useless in helping locate the
255,000 people who have been prohibited from owning firearms by the courts.” 88
Fact: Not in Germany. The Federal Republic of Germany began comprehensive gun
registration in 1972. The government estimated that between 17,000,000 and 20,000,000
guns were to be registered, but only 3,200,000 surfaced, leaving 80% unaccounted for. 89
Fact: Not in Boston, Cleveland, or California. These cities and state require registration
of “assault weapons.” The compliance rate in Boston and Cleveland is about 1%. 90
Fact: Criminals don’t register their guns.
Myth: Gun registration will help police find suspects
Fact: Registration is required in Hawaii, Chicago, and Washington D.C. Yet there has
not been a single case where registration was instrumental in identifying someone who
committed a crime. 91 Criminals very rarely leave their guns at the scene of the crime.
Would-be criminals also virtually never get licenses or register their weapons.
Myth: Registration does not lead to confiscation
Fact: It did in Canada. The handgun registration law of 1934 was the source used to
identify and confiscate (without compensation) over half of the registered handguns in
2001. 92
84
Calgary Herald, September 1, 2000.
85
Opponents increase pressure to halt Canada's gun control program, Associated Press, Jan 3, 2002.
86
Victoria won't enforce firearms act, Vancouver Sun, June 06, 2003.
87
An Act to amend the Criminal Code and the Firearms Act, Received first reading June 19, 2006.
88
$2 billion worth of police will save more lives than one gun registry, Garry Breitkreuz, National Post,
February 27, 2009.
89
Why Gun Registration will Fail, Ted Drane, Australian Shooters Journal, May 1997.
90
The Samurai, the Mountie, and the Cowboy: Should America Adopt the Gun Controls of Other
Democracies, David B. Kopel, 231, n.210 (1992).
91
Gun Licensing Leads to Increased Crime, Lost Lives, John Lott, L.A. Times, Aug 23, 2000.
92
Civil Disobedience In Canada: It Just Happened To Be Guns, Dr. Paul Gallant, and Dr. Joanne Eisen,
Idaho Observer, August 2000,

Fact: It did in Germany. The 1928 Law on Firearms and Ammunition (before the Nazis
came into power) required all firearms to be registered. When Hitler came into power,
the existing lists were used for confiscating weapons.
Fact: It did in Australia. In 1996, the Australian government confiscated over 660,000
previously legal weapons from their citizens.
Fact: It did in California. The 1989 Roberti-Roos Assault Weapons Control Act
required registration. Due to shifting definitions of “assault weapons,” many legal
firearms are now being confiscated by the California government.
Fact: It did in New York City. In 1967, New York City passed an ordinance requiring a
citizen to obtain a permit to own a rifle or shotgun, which would then be registered. In
1991, the city passed a ban on the private possession of some semi-automatic rifles and
shotguns, and “registered” owners were told that those firearms had to be surrendered,
rendered inoperable, or taken out of the city.
Fact: It did in Bermuda, Cuba, Greece, Ireland, Jamaica, and Soviet Georgia as well.
Myth: Licensing will keep bad people from obtaining
or using guns
Fact: Not in Canada. Canadian homicide rates were virtually unchanged before and
after gun registration requirements were implemented (1.8/100,000 people in 1998 and
1.8/100,000 in 2007). 93
Fact: In New York State alone, approximately 100,000 persons are convicted of
unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle each year, and this is probably a small proportion
of the actual number of people who drive without a valid license. 94 Licensing
requirements don’t stop ineligible people from driving, and they do not stop ineligible
people from acquiring guns.
Fact: As long as the unlicensed purchaser is never caught with the handgun, the
unlawful sale will go unnoticed. The risk of detection is negligible. If the unlicensed
handgun owner is arrested, he could claim that he did not need a license because he had
owned this handgun before licensing went into effect. 95
Fact: Currently, federal prosecutors do not eagerly accept felon-in-possession cases for
prosecution unless the felon is a hardened criminal who represents a threat to the
public. 96
Fact: According to the Supreme Court, criminals do not have to obtain licenses or
register their weapons, as that would be an act of self-incrimination. 97
93
2007, Statistics Canada online, Homicide In Canada – 1998, Juristat, Cat no. 85-002-XIE Vol. 19 no. 10.
94
Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, Northwestern University School of Law, 1998.
95
Ibid.
96
Old Chief v. United States: Stipulating Away Prosecutorial Accountability, Daniel C. Richman, 83 Va.
L. Rev. 939, 982-85 (1997).
97
Haynes vs. U.S. 390 U.S. 85, 1968.

Fact: Prohibition (which started as a ‘moderation’ movement) didn’t keep people from
drinking. Instead it turned millions of otherwise honest and sober citizens into criminals,
overnight.
Fact: Most police do not see the benefit. “It is my belief that [licensing and registration]
significantly misses the mark because it diverts our attention from what should be our
common goal: holding the true criminals accountable for the crimes they commit and
getting them off the street.” 98
Fact: In 2005, agencies reported 1,400 arrests of persons denied a firearm or permit; but
the U.S. Department of Justice accepted only 135 of those denial cases for prosecution. 99
Given the poor performance of the Federal government in prosecuting felons identified
by an instant background check trying to buy firearms, there is little to support firearm
licensing as a crime prevention measure.
Myth: Guns from the U.S. create crime in other
countries
Fact: Canada, which shares the longest and most open border with the U.S., doesn’t
think so, saying that guns from the U.S. are a "small part" of the problem. 100
98
When ‘Gun Control’ costs lives, Bob Brooks, Firing Line, September 2001.
99
Background Checks for Firearm Transfers 2005, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs,
November 2006.
100
Globe and Mail, Paul Culver, August 15, 2005.

B ALLISTIC “ FINGERPRINTING ”
Myth: Every firearm leaves a unique "fingerprint"
that can pinpoint the firearm used
Fact: A group of National Research Council scientists concluded that this has not yet
been fully demonstrated. Their research suggests that the current technology for
collecting and comparing images may not reliably distinguish very fine differences. 101
Fact: "Firearms that generate markings on cartridge casings can change with use and can
also be readily altered by the users. They are not permanently defined like fingerprints or
DNA." 102
Fact: "Automated computer matching systems do not provide conclusive results.”103
Fact: “Because bullets are severely damaged on impact, they can only be examined
manually”. 104
Fact: “Not all firearms generate markings on cartridge casings that can be identified
back to the firearm.” 105
Fact: The same gun will produce different markings on bullets and casings, and different
guns can produce similar markings. 106 Additionally, the type of ammunition actually
used in a crime could differ from the type used when the gun was originally test-fired -- a
difference that could lead to significant error in suggesting possible matches. 107
Fact: The rifle used in the Martin Luther King assassination was test fired 18 times
under court supervision, and the results showed that no two bullets were marked alike. 108
“Every test bullet was different because it was going over plating created by the previous
bullet.”
Fact: "The common layman seems to believe that two bullets fired from the same
weapon are identical, down to the very last striation placed on them by the weapon. The
trained firearms examiner knows how far that is from reality." 109
101
Ballistic Imaging, Daniel Cork, John Rolph, Eugene Meieran, Carol Petrie, National Research Council,
2008.
102
Feasibility of a Ballistics Imaging Database for All New Handgun Sales, Frederic Tulleners, California
Department of Justice, Bureau of Forensic Services, October, 2001 (henceforth FBID).
103
Ibid.
104
Ibid.
105
Ibid.
106
Handbook of Firearms & Ballistics: Examining and Interpreting Forensic Evidence, Heard, 1997.
107
2008.
108
Ballistics 'fingerprinting' not foolproof, Baltimore Sun, October 15, 2002.
109
AFTE Journal , George G. Krivosta, Winter 2006 edition, Suffolk County Crime Laboratory,
Hauppauge, New York.

Myth: A database of ballistic profiles will allow
police to trace gun crimes
Fact: The National Research Council deemed a national ballistics database as
impractical due to practical limitations of current technology for generating and
comparing images of ballistic markings. 110
Fact: Maryland’s ballistics database “is not doing anything” 111 and “has not met the
mission statement of the state police." 112 In the first five years of implementation, it
failed to lead to any criminal arrest or convictions, despite collecting over 80,000
specimens at a cost of $2,567,633. 113
Fact: More than 70% of armed career criminals get their guns from "off-the-street sales"
and "criminal acts" such as burglaries 114, and 71% of these firearms are stolen. 115
Tracing these firearms will not lead to the criminals, as the trail stops at the last legal
owner.
Fact: Computer image matching of cartridges fails between 38-62% of the time,
depending on whether the cartridges are from the same or different manufacturers. 116
Fact: “Automated computer matching systems do not provide conclusive results"
requiring that “potential candidates be manually reviewed". 117
Fact: Criminals currently remove serial numbers from stolen guns to hide their origin.
The same simple shop tools can change a ballistic profile within minutes. “The minor
alteration required less than 5 minutes of labor”. 118 Criminals will make changing
ballistic profiles part of their standard procedures.
Myth: Ballistic imaging is used in Maryland and New
York and solves many crimes
Fact: Not so far. Neither New York nor Maryland has reported a single prosecution
based on matched casings or bullets. 119, 120, 121 The cost for this lack of success in
Maryland exceeds $2,500,000 a year, and in New York it exceeds $4,000,000.
110
2008.
111
Maryland State Police Report Recommends Suspending Ballistics ID System,Col. Thomas E. Hutchins,
the state police superintendent, WBAL-TV web site, January 17, 2005.
112
Sgt. Thornnie Rouse, Maryland State police spokesman, Ibid.
113
MD-IBIS Progress Report #2, Maryland State Police Forensic Sciences Division, September 2004.
114
Protecting America, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, 1992.
115
Armed and Considered Dangerous, U.S. Department of Justice, 1986.
116
Feasibility of a Ballistics Imaging Database for All New Handgun Sales, Frederic Tulleners, California
Department of Justice, Bureau of Forensic Services, October, 2001.
117
Ibid.
118
Ibid.
119
NY ballistic database firing blanks?, Associated Press, June 3, 2004.

Fact: In Syracuse, the police have submitted fewer than 400 handguns for ballistic
testing over a three-year span because the system is inefficient. 122
Myth: A ballistic database is inexpensive to
create/maintain
Fact: “ ... a huge inventory [of possible matches] will be generated for manual review.”
“[The] number of candidate cases will be so large as to be impractical and will likely
create logistic complications so great that they cannot be effectively addressed”. 123
Myth: Police want a ballistic database
Fact: “The National Fraternal Order of Police does not support any Federal requirement
to register privately owned firearms with the Federal government,” the group said. “And,
even if such a database is limited to firearms manufactured in the future, the cost to create
and maintain such a system, with such small chances that it would be used to solve a
firearm crime, suggests to the F.O.P. that these are law enforcement dollars best spent
elsewhere.” 124
Fact: “We in law enforcement know it will not, does not, cannot work. Then, no one
has considered the hundreds of millions of guns in the US that have never been registered
or tested or printed.” 125
Fact: “One, the barrel is one of the most easily changed parts of many guns and two, the
barrel, and the signature it leaves on a bullet, is constantly changing." 126
120
121
Townsend backs New Rule on Sale of Assault Rifles, Washington Post, October 30, 2002.
122
400 guns wait to be traced by Syracuse police, The Post-Standard, December 8, 2002.
123
124
F.O.P. Viewpoint: Ballistics Imaging and Comparison Technology, FOP Grand Lodge, October 2002.
125
Joe Horn, Detective, Retired.. Los Angeles County Sheriff's Dept., Small Arms Expert.
126
Ted Deeds, chief operating officer of The Law Enforcement Alliance of America, Dodge Globe, Oct 24,
2002.

M ICROSTAMPING
Background: Microstamping is a proposed means for
imprinting unique serial numbers onto cartridges fired
from a gun. Similar to “ballistic fingerprinting,” it
allegedly helps police identify what firearm might have
been used in a crime. Microstamping uses precision
equipment to remove microscopic amounts of metal from
the tip of the firing pin
Myth: Independent testing by
forensic technologists shows the Micro stamped Serial Number
technology is reliable
Fact: Firing pins are readily removable and swappable in most models of handguns, and
inexpensive replacement parts. Criminals who file down serial numbers on the sides of
guns won’t hesitate to file or exchange firing pins.
Fact: 46% of impressions ranked as “unsatisfactory” (i.e., illegible) after only ten
rounds. 127
Fact: Reloaded ammo (which is extremely common due to the economics of recycling
casings and home reloading tools) will make prosecuting cases nearly impossible once
the “reloaded ammo” defense is raised. A case may have two or more markings, making
the final shooter impossible to identify.
Myth: Filing the firing pin will make the gun
inoperable
Fact: Firing pins are designed to be pushed deeply into the primer (igniter) of the round.
The depth of the engraving (approximately 0.005 inch) 128 is vastly smaller than the
tolerance of the firing pins drive depth.
Fact: In a test, the engravings were removed using a 50-year-old knife sharpening stone
in less than a minute. The firearm still operated correctly after the filing. 129
Fact: Even if a criminal does not file down the firing pin, they might retrieve spent
cartridges. If they use a revolver, the cartridges stay with the firearm and are rarely
recovered by police.
Myth: The cost per firearm will be cheap
Fact: The National Shooting Sports Foundation, the representative for firearm
manufactures, estimates the cost will be upwards of $150 per firearm, more than tripling
the price of self-protection and making it unaffordable for low-income people. 130 The
127
NanoTagTM Markings From Another Perspective, George G. Krivosta, Suffolk County Crime
Laboratory, Hauppauge, New York, Winter 2006 edition of the AFTE Journal
128
Ibid
129
Ibid
130
Etched bullets interest law enforcement, The Record, September 25, 2006

Brady Campaign dispute those with firearm manufacturing experience claiming micro-
stamping would cost only 50¢?
Myth: The numbers will let police find the gun’s
owner
Fact: Most crime guns are stolen property, 131 which makes finding the original owner
worthless.
131
Armed and Considered Dangerous, U.S. Department of Justice, 1986

T HE AVAILABILITY OF GUNS
Myth: The availability of guns causes crime
Fact: Though
the number of H andguns, H om icides and S uicides
firearms owned 350 14
by private
Homicides/suicides Per 100,000

Handguns per 1,000 population
300 12
citizens has
been increasing 250 10
steadily since
1970, the 200 8
overall rate of
homicides and 150 6
suicides has not 100 4

risen. 132 As the
chart shows, 50 2
there is no
70
72
74
76
78
80
82
84
86
88
90
92
94
96
98
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
correlation
between the S O U R C E : FB I U niform Crim e H andgun Supply
R eports, C DC W IS Q AR S , H om icide R ate
availability of B ATF Firearm s Com m erce S uicide R ate
R eport, 2002 H andgun H om icide R ate
firearms and
the rates of
homicide and suicide in America.
Fact: Internationally speaking “There’s no clear relationship between more guns and
higher levels of violence.” 133
Fact: “... a detailed study of the major surveys completed in the past 20 years or more
provides no evidence of any relationship between the total number of legally held
firearms in society and the rate of armed crime. Nor is there a relationship between the
severity of controls imposed in various countries or the mass of bureaucracy involved
with many control systems with the apparent ease of access to firearms by criminals and
terrorists.” 134
Fact: Handgun ownership among groups normally associated with higher violent crime
(young males, blacks, low income, inner city, etc.) is at or below national averages. 135
Fact: The most significant correlation between the use of guns in the commission of
crimes occur when parents (27.5% of inmates) abuse drugs or have friends engaged in
132
, Targeting Guns: Firearms and Their Control, Gary Kleck, Aldine de Gruyter, 1997. (With supporting
data from the FBI Uniform Crime Statistics, 1972 to 1995.)
133
Small Arms Survey Project, Keith Krause, Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva, 2007
134
2003
135
Targeting Guns: Firearms and Their Control, Gary Kleck, Aldine de Gruyter, 1997. (Ownership tables
derived from the annual “General Social Survey.”)

illegal activities (32.5% with robberies and 24.3% for drug trafficking). 136
Fact: Five out of six gun-possessing felons obtained handguns from the secondary
market and by theft, and “[the] criminal handgun market is overwhelmingly dominated
by informal transactions and theft as mechanisms of supply.” 137
Fact: The majority of handguns in the possession of criminals are stolen, and not
necessarily by the criminals in question. 138
Fact: In 1968, the U.K. passed laws that reduced the number of licensed firearm owners,
and thus reduced
Homicide in England and Wales
firearm availability.
U.K. homicide rates 18
have steadily risen 1968
Homicides per 1,000,000 Population
16
139
since then. 14
Ironically, firearm use
12
in crimes has doubled
10
in the decade after the
8
U.K. banned
140
handguns. 6
4
Fact: Most violent
2
crime is caused by a
0
small minority of
00
10
99
20
30
40
50
55
60
65
70
75
80
85
90
95
97
98
00
repeat offenders. One
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
20
California study Source: A Century of Change: Trends in UK Statistics since 1900 &
International comparisons of criminal justice statistics 2000
found that 3.8% of a
group of males born in 1956 were responsible for 55.5% of all serious felonies. 141 75-
80% of murder arrestees have prior arrests for a violent (including non-fatal) felony or
burglary. On average they have about four felony arrests and one felony conviction.
Fact: Half of all murders are committed by people on “conditional release” (i.e., parole
or probation). 142 81% of all homicide defendants had an arrest record; 67% had a felony
arrest record; 70% had a conviction record; and 54% had a felony conviction. 143
136
Firearm Use by Offenders, Bureau of Justice Statistics, November 2001
137
The Armed Criminal in America: A Survey of Incarcerated Felons , James D. Wright, Peter H. Rossi,
National Institute of Justice (U.S.), 1985
138
Targeting Guns: Firearms and Their Control, Gary Kleck, Aldine de Gruyter, 1997.
139
A Century of Change: Trends in UK Statistics since 1900, Hicks, Joe; Allen, Grahame (SGS), Social and
General Statistics Section, House of Commons
140
Weapons sell for just £50 as suspects and victims grow ever younger, The Times, August 24, 2007
141
The Prevalence and Incidence of Arrest Among Adult Males in California, Robert Tillman, prepared for
California Department of Justice, Bureau of Criminal Statistics and Special Services, Sacramento,
California, 1987
142
,Probation and Parole Violators in State Prison, 1991: Survey of State Prison Inmates, Robyn Cohen,
U.S. Dept. of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1995

Fact: Per capita firearm ownership rates have risen steadily since 1959 while crime rates
have gone up and down depending on economics, drug trafficking innovations, and “get
tough” legislation. 144
Thoughts: Criminals are not motivated by guns. They are motivated by opportunity.
Attempts to reduce public access to firearms provide criminals more points of
opportunity. It is little wonder that high-crime cities also tend to be those with the most
restrictive gun control laws – which criminals tend to ignore.
Myth: Gun availability is what is causing school
shootings
Fact: Schoolyard shootings have been occurring since at least 1974, so it is not a new
phenomenon due to increases in gun ownership. 145
Fact: More than 50% of these terrorists start thinking about their assaults two or more
weeks before the shooting, and 75% planned-out their attacks. 146
Thoughts: In rural areas, guns are everywhere and children are taught to shoot at young
ages – yet these areas are almost devoid of schoolyard shootings. Clearly, availability is
not the issue.
Myth: Gun ownership is linked to higher homicide
rates
Fact: This “study” 147 has multiple defects which, when corrected, reverse the results.
Some of the defects of this study include:
• Exclusion of the District of Columbia, a high crime city
• Use of other crime rates to indirectly explain homicide rates
• Use of purely cross-sectional data that never allows control variable analysis
• Data from different years is used without any explanation (unemployment rate from
2000 to explain the homicide rate from 2001 to 2003, etc.).
143
Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1998, Brian Reaves, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of
Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, November 2001
144
Ibid. (Based on a compilation of 85 separate surveys from 1959 through 1996.)
145
U.S.S.S. Safe School Initiative: An Interim Report on the Prevention of Targeted Violence in Schools, B.
Vossekuil, M. Reddy, R. Fein, R. Borum, & W. Modzeleski, U. S. Secret Service, Threat Assessment
Center, 2000
146
Ibid.
147
State-level homicide victimization rates in the US in relation to survey measures of household firearm
ownership, 2001–2003, Matthew Miller, David Hemenwaya, Deborah Azrael, Harvard School of Public
Health, October 27, 2006

Myth: Handguns are 43 times more likely to kill a
family member than a criminal
Fact: Of the 43 deaths reported in this flawed study, 37 (86%) were suicides. Other
deaths involved criminal activity between the family members (drug deals gone bad). 148
Fact: Of the remaining deaths, the deceased family members include felons, drug
dealers, violent spouses committing assault, and other criminals. 149
Fact: Only 0.1% (1 in a thousand) of the defensive uses of guns results in the death of the
predator. 150 This means you are much more likely to prevent a crime without bloodshed
than hurt a family member.
148
, Protection or Peril? An Analysis of Firearm-Related Deaths in the Home, Arthur L. Kellerman, D.T.
Reay, 314 New Eng. J. Med. 1557-60, June 12, 1986. (Kellerman admits that his study did "not include
cases in which burglars or intruders are wounded or frightened away by the use or display of a firearm." He
also admitted his study did not look at situations in which intruders "purposely avoided a home known to
be armed." This is a classic case of a “study” conducted to achieve a desired result. In his critique of this
“study”, Gary Kleck notes that the estimation of gun ownership rates was “inaccurate”, and that the total
population came from a non-random selection of only two cities.)
149
Ibid.
150
Point Blank: Guns and Violence in America, Gary Kleck, New York: Aldine de Gruyter, 1991

G UNS AND CRIME PREVENTION
Myth: Private ownership of guns is not effective in
preventing crime
Fact: Every year, people in the United States use guns to defend themselves against
criminals an estimated 2,500,000 times – more than 6,500 people a day, or once every 13
seconds. 151 Of these instances, 15.6% of the people using firearms defensively stated that
they "almost certainly" saved their lives by doing so.
Firearms are used 60 times more often to protect lives than to take lives.
Fact: In 83.5% (2,087,500) of these successful gun defenses, the attacker either
threatened or used force first, proving that guns are very well suited for self-defense.
Fact: The rate of
Defensive Gun Use (DGU) v. Firearm Violent Crime
defensive gun use
(SGU) is six times
that of criminal gun 2,500,000
use. 152
Instances per year
2,000,000
Fact: Of the
1,500,000
2,500,000 times
citizens use guns to 1,000,000
defend themselves,
500,000
92% merely brandish
their gun or fire a -
warning shot to scare Firearm incidents DGU
off their attackers. Sources: Bureau of Just ice St at ist ics - Nat ional Crime Vict imizat ion Survey (2005)
Tar get ing Guns , Kleck average of major sur veys
Fact: Less than 8%
of the time does a
citizen wound his or her attacker, and in less than one in a thousand instances is the
attacker killed. 153
Fact: Of all forms of firearm homicide, 13% are civilian legal defensive homicides. 154
Fact: For every accidental death, suicide, or homicide with a firearm, 10 lives are saved
through defensive use.
Fact: When using guns in self-defense, 91.1% of the time not a single shot is fired. 155
151
Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, Fall 1995,
152
Crime statistics: Bureau of Justice Statistics - National Crime Victimization Survey (2005). DGU
statistics: Targeting Guns, Kleck (average of 15 major surveys where DGUs were reported)
153
Critical Incidents in Policing, FBI, 1991
154
Death by Gun: One Year Later, Time Magazine, May 14, 1990
155
National Crime Victimization Survey, 2000

Fact: After the implementation of Canada's 1977 gun controls prohibiting handgun
possession for protection, the “breaking and entering” crime rate rose 25%, surpassing
the American rate. 156
Myth: Only police should have guns
Fact: “...most criminals are more worried about meeting an armed victim than they are
about running into the police.” 157
Fact: 11% of police shootings kill an innocent person - about 2% of shootings by citizens
kill an innocent person. 158
Fact: Police have trouble keeping their own guns. Hundreds of firearms are missing
from the FBI and 449 of them have been involved in crimes. 159
Fact: People who saw the helplessness of the L.A. Police Department during the 1992
King Riots or the looting and violence in New Orleans after hurricane Katrina know that
citizens need guns to defend themselves.
Myth: You are more likely to be injured or killed using
a gun for self-defense
Fact: You are far more likely to survive a violent assault if you defend yourself with a
gun. In episodes where a robbery victim was injured, the injury/defense rates were: 160
Resisting with a gun 6%

Did nothing at all 25%
Resisted with a knife 40%
Non-violent resistance 45%
Myth: Guns are not effective in preventing crime
against women
Fact: Of the 2,500,000 annual self-defense cases using guns, more than 7.7% (192,500)
are by women defending themselves against sexual abuse.
Fact: When a woman was armed with a gun or knife, only 3% of rape attacks are
completed, compared to 32% when the woman was unarmed. 161
156
Residential Burglary: A Comparison of the United States, Canada and England and Wales, Pat
Mayhew , Nattional Institute. of Justice., Wash., D.C., 1987
157
Armed and Considered Dangerous: A Survey of Felons and Their Firearms, Wright and Rossi, 1986
158
Shall issue: the new wave of concealed handgun permit laws, Clayton Cramer, David Kopel,
Independence Institute Issue Paper. October 17, 1994
159
ABC News, July 17, 2001
160
British Home Office – not a “pro-gun” organization by any means
161
Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, Rape Victimization in 26 American Cities, U.S.
Department of Justice, 1979

Fact: The probability of serious injury from an attack is 2.5 times greater for women
offering no resistance than for women resisting with guns. Men also benefit from using
guns but the benefits are smaller, 1.4 times more likely to receive a serious injury. 162
Fact: 28.5% of women have one or more Rape Rates 1995–2003 (per 100,000 pop.)
guns in the house. 163 1995 2003 % Change
Fact: 41.7% of women either own or have Australia 72.5 91.7 +26.5
convenient access to guns. 164 United Kingdom 43.3 69.2 +59.8
Fact: In 1966, the city of Orlando responded United States 37.1 32.1 -13.5
to a wave of sexual assaults by offering
firearms training classes to women. Rapes dropped by nearly 90% the following year.
Fact: Firearm availability appears to be particularly useful in avoiding rape. Australia
and the United Kingdom virtually banned handgun ownership. During the same period
handgun ownership in the United States steadily rose. Yet the rate of rape decreased in
the United States, and skyrocketed in the other countries, as shown in the table.
Fact: More Americans believe having a gun in the home makes them safer. This belief
grows every year the survey is taken. 165
Fact: Arthur Kellerman, a researcher whose work is often cited by gun control groups
said “If you've got to resist, your chances of being hurt are less the more lethal your
weapon. If that were my wife, would I want her to have a .38 Special in her hand?
Yeah.” 166
162
National Crime Victimization Survey, Department of Justice
163
2001 National Gun Policy Survey of the National Opinion Research Center: Research Findings, Smith,
T, National Opinion Research Center, University of Chicago, December 2001.
164
Ibid
165
Americans by Slight Margin Say Gun in the Home Makes It Safer, Gallup Poll, October 20, 2006
166
Gun Crazy, S.F. Examiner, April 3, 1994

C RIME AND GUNS
Basic to the debates on gun control is the fact that most violent crime is commited by
repeat offenders. Dealing with recidivism is key to solving violence.
• 71% of gunshot victims had previous arrest records.
• 64% had been convicted of a crime.
• Each had an average of 11 prior arrests 167.
• 63% of victims have criminal histories and 73% of the time they
know their assailant (twice as often as victims without criminal
histories) 168.
Most gun violence is between criminals. This should be the public policy focus.
Myth: Guns are not a good deterrent to crime
Fact: Guns prevent an
estimated 2.5 million Property Crime and Handgun Supply
crimes a year, or 6,849 600 350
every day. 169 Often the gun 330
Property Crime per 1,000 households
is never fired and no blood 550

310
Handgun supply - millions

(including the criminal’s) is 290
shed. 500
270
Fact: It seems to be 450 250
slowing down property 230
crime (especially 400
210
burglaries). The chart 190
shows the legal handgun 350
170
supply in America (mainly
300 150
in civilian hands) to the
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977
1978
1979
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
property crime rate. 170
National Crime Victimization Survey, 2000, Bureau of Total Property Crime
Fact: Every day, 550 rapes, Justice Statistics, BATE firearm ownership ests. Handgun Supply Millions
1,100 murders, and 5,200
other violent crimes are
prevented just by showing a gun. In less than 0.9% of these instances is the gun ever
actually fired. 171
167
Richard Lumb, Paul Friday, City of Charlotte Gunshot Study, Department of Criminal Justice, 1994
168
Firearm-related Injury Incidents in 1999 – Annual Report, San Francisco Department of Public Health
and San Francisco Injury Center, February 2002
169
Targeting Guns, Dr. Gary Kleck, Criminologist, Florida State University, Aldine, 1997
170
National Crime Victimization Survey, 2000, Bureau of Justice Statistics, BATF estimates on handgun
supply
171
Ibid

Fact: 60% of convicted felons admitted that they avoided committing crimes when they
knew the victim was armed. 40% of convicted felons admitted that they avoided
committing crimes when they thought the victim might be armed. 172
Fact: Felons report that they avoid entering houses where people are at home because
they fear being shot. 173
Fact: 59% of the burglaries in Britain, which has tough gun control laws, are “hot
burglaries” 174 which are burglaries committed while the home is occupied by the
owner/renter. By contrast, the U.S., with more lenient gun control laws, has a “hot
burglary” rate of only 13%. 175
Fact: Washington D.C. has essentially banned gun ownership since 1976 and has a
murder rate of 56.9 per 100,000. Across the river in Arlington, Virginia, gun ownership is
less restricted. There, the murder rate is just 1.6 per 100,000, less than three percent of
the Washington, D.C. rate. 176
Fact: 26% of all retail businesses report keeping a gun on the premises for crime
control. 177
Fact: In 1982, Kennesaw, GA passed a law requiring heads of households to keep at least
one firearm in the house. The residential burglary rate dropped 89% the following
year. 178
Fact: A survey of felons revealed the following: 179
• 74% of felons agreed that "one reason burglars avoid houses when people are at
home is that they fear being shot during the crime."
• 57% of felons polled agreed, "criminals are more worried about meeting an armed
victim than they are about running into the police."
Myth: Private guns are used to commit violent crimes
Fact: 90% of all violent crimes in the U.S. do not involve firearms of any type. 180
172
Armed and Considered Dangerous: A Survey of Felons and Their Firearms, James Wright and Peter
Rossi, Aldine, 1986
173
Ibid
174
A “hot burglary” is when the burglar enters a home while the residents are there
175
Dr. Gary Kleck, Criminologist, Florida State University (1997) and Kopel (1992 and 1999)
176
Crime in the United States, FBI, 1998
177
Crime Against Small Business, U.S. Small Business Administration, Senate Document No. 91-14, 1969
178
Crime Control Through the Private Use of Armed Force, Dr. Gary Kleck, Social Problems, February
1988
179
The Armed Criminal in America: A Survey of Incarcerated Felons, U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics
Federal Firearms Offenders study, 1997: National Institute of Justice, Research Report, July 1985,
Department of Justice
180
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, 1998

Fact: Even in crimes where the offender possessed a gun during the commission of the
crime, 83% did not use or threaten to use the gun. 181
Fact: Less than 1% of firearms will ever be used in the commission of a crime. 182
Fact: Two-thirds of the people who die each year from gunfire are criminals being shot
by other criminals. 183
Fact: 94.4% of gun murders are gang related. 184
Myth: High capacity, semi-automatics are preferred by
criminals
Fact: The use of semi-automatic handguns used in crimes is slightly less than the ratio of
semi-automatic handguns owned by private citizens. Any increase in style and capacity
simply reflects the overall supply of the various types of firearms. 185
Myth: Banning “Saturday Night Specials” reduces
crime
Fact: This was the conclusion of the Johns Hopkins University Center for Gun Policy
and Research – and it is wrong. They studied firearm homicide rates from Maryland after
passage of a Saturday Night Special ban in 1998. It seems the firearm homicide rate has
gone up and stayed up, while the homicide rate declined over the rest of the country. 186
Fact: Even banning guns does not slow down criminals. In the U.K., where private
ownership of firearms is practically forbidden, criminals have and use guns regularly, and
even build their own. One enterprising fellow converted 170 starter pistols to functioning
firearms and sold them to gangs. Hundreds of such underground gun factories have been
established, contributing to a 35% jump in gun violence. 187
Myth: Criminals prefer "Saturday Night Specials" 188
Fact: “Saturday Night Specials” were used in less than 3% of crimes involving guns. 189
Fact: Fewer than 2% of all "Saturday Night Specials" made are used in crimes.
Fact: “What was available was the overriding factor in weapon choice [by criminals].”190
181
National Crime Victimization Survey, 1994, Bureau of Justice Statistics
182
183
Ibid
184
Homicide trends in the United States, Bureau of Justice Statistics, January 17 2007
185
Targeting Guns, Dr. Gary Kleck, Criminologist, Florida State University, Aldine, 1997
186
Injury Mortality Reports 1981-1998, Center for Disease Control, online database
187
Gun crime spreads 'like a cancer' across Britain, The Guardian, Oct 5, 2003
188
“Saturday Night Special” is a term, with racist origin, describing a inexpensive firearm. Part of the
origin of the term came from “suicide special”, describing an inexpensive handgun purchased specifically
for committing suicide. The racist origins are too detestable to repeat here.
189

Myth: Gun shows are supermarkets for criminals
Fact: Only 0.7% of convicts bought their firearms at gun shows. 39.2% obtained them
from illegal street dealers. 191
Fact: Less than 1% of “crime guns” were obtained at gun shows 192. This is a reduction
from a 1997 study that found 1.7% - 2% of guns used in criminal offenses were
purchased at gun shows. 193
Fact: The FBI concluded in one study that no firearms acquired at gun shows were used
to kill cops. “In contrast to media myth, none of the firearms in the study were obtained
from gun shows.” 194
Fact: Only 5% of metropolitan police departments believe gun shows are a problem. 195
Fact: Only 3.5% of youthful offenders reported that they obtained their last handgun at a
gun show. 196
Fact: 93% of guns used in crimes are obtained illegally (i.e., not at gun stores or gun
shows). 197
Fact: At most, 14% of all firearms traced in investigations were purchased at gun
shows. 198 But this includes all firearms that the police traced, regardless of if they were
used in crimes or not, which overstates the acquisition rate.
Fact: Gun dealers are federally licensed. They are bound to stringent rules for sales that
apply equally whether they are dealing from a storefront or a gun show. 199
Fact: Most crime guns are either bought off the street from illegal sources (39.2%) or
through family members or friends (39.6%). 200
190
Violent Encounters: A Study of Felonious Assaults on Our Nation's Law Enforcement Officers, U.S.
191
Firearm Use by Offenders, Bureau of Justice Statistics, February 2002
192
Ibid
193
Homicide in Eight U.S. Cities, National Institute of Justice, December 1997
194
195
On the Front Line: Making Gun Interdiction Work, Center to Prevent Handgun Violence, February
1998, survey of 37 police departments in large cities
196
Patterns in Gun Acquisition and Use by Youthful Offenders in Michigan, Timothy S. Bynum, Todd G.
Beitzel, Tracy A. O’Connell & Sean P. Varano, 1999
197
BATF, 1999
198
BATF, June 2000, covers only July 1996 through December 1998
199
BATF, 2000
200
Firearm use by Offenders, Bureau of Justice Statistics, November 2001

Myth: 25-50% of the vendors at most gun shows are
“unlicensed dealers”
Fact: There is no such thing as an “unlicensed dealer,” except for people who buy and
sell antique – curio – firearms as a hobby.
Fact: This 25-50% figure can only be achieved if you include those dealers not selling
guns at these shows. These non-gun dealers include knife makers, ammunition dealers,
accessories dealers, military artifact traders, clothing vendors, bumper sticker sellers, and
hobbyists. In short, 50% of the vendors at shows are not selling firearms at all!
Myth: Regulation of gun shows would reduce “straw
sales”
Fact: The main study that makes this claim had no scientific means for determining what
sales at the show were “straw sales.” Behaviours that Dr. Wintermute cited as “clear
evidence” of a straw purchase were observational only, and were more likely instances of
more experienced acquaintances helping in a purchase decision. No attempts were made
to verify that the sales in question were straw sales. 201
Myth: Prison isn't the answer to crime control
Fact: From 1960-1980, per capita imprisonment for violent crimes fell from 738 to 227.
In the same period, violent crime rates nationwide tripled.
Fact: Why does crime rise when criminals are released from prison early? Because they
are likely to commit more crimes. 67.5% were re-arrested for new felonies or serious
misdemeanors within three years. Extrapolating, those released felons killed another
2,282 people. 202
Fact: 45% of state prisoners were, at the time they committed their offense, under
conditional supervision in the community--either on probation or on parole. 203 Keeping
violent convicts in prison would reduce violent crimes.
Fact: Homicide convicts serve a little more than ½ of their original sentences. 204 Given
that men tend to be less prone to violent behavior as they age 205, holding them for their
full sentences would probably reduce violence significantly.
Fact: In 1991, 13,200 homicides were committed by felons on parole or probation. For
comparison sake, this is about ½ of the 1999 annual gun death totals (keep in mind that
gun deaths fell from 1991 to 1999).
201
Gun shows across a multistate American gun market, Dr. GJ Wintemute, British Medical Journal, 2007
202
Reentry Trends in the U.S., Recidivism, Department of Justice, 1999
203
US Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1991
204
Firearm Use by Offenders, Bureau of Justice Statiscs, November , 2001
205
Homicide rates peak in the 18-24 year old group, Bureau of Justice Statistics, online database

Fact: Los Angeles County saw repeat offender and re-arrest rates soar after authorities
closed jails and released prisoners early. In less than three years, early release of
prisoners in LA resulted in: 206
• 15,775 Rearrested convicts
• 1,443 Assault charges 207
• 518 Robbery charges
• 215, Sex offense charges
• 16 Murder charges
Myth: Waiting periods prevent rash crimes and
reduce violent crime rates
Fact: The “time-to-crime” of a firearm ranges from one to 12 years, making it rare that a
newly purchased firearm is used in a crime. 208
Fact: The national five-day waiting period under the Brady Bill had no impact on murder
or robbery. In fact, there was a slight increase in rape and aggravated assault, indicating
no effective suppression of certain violent crimes. Thus, for two crime categories, a
possible effect was to delay law-abiding citizens from getting a gun for protection. The
risks were greatest for crimes against women. 209
Fact: Comparing homicide rates in 18 states that had waiting periods and background
checks before the Brady bill, with rates in the 32 states that had no comparable laws, the
difference in change of homicide rates was “insignificant”. 210
Myth: Gun makers are selling plastic guns that slip
through metal detectors
Fact: There is no such thing as a ‘plastic gun’. This myth started in 1980 211 when Glock
began marketing a handgun with a polymer frame, not the entire firearm. Most of a Glock
is metal (83% by weight), detectable in common metal and x-ray detectors. "[D]espite a
relatively common impression to the contrary, there is no current non-metal firearm not
reasonably detectable by present technology and methods in use at our airports today, nor
to my knowledge, is anyone on the threshold of developing such a firearm." 212
Incidentally, Glock is one of the favorite handguns of police departments because it is
lightweight, thanks to the polymer frame.
206
Releasing Inmates Early Has a Costly Human Toll, Los Angeles Times, May 14, 2006
207
Keep in mind these are just charges. Each arrested convict may have committed multiple crimes.
208
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms as reported by Time Magazine, July 12, 2002
209
Dr. John Lott Jr., University of Chicago School of Law, 1997
210
Dr. Jens Ludwig , Dr. Philip J. Cook, Journal of the American Medical Association, August 2000
211
Heckler and Koch made a polymer framed firearm earlier, in 1968, but the myth seems to have erupted
after Glock began promoting theirs to police departments.
212
Billie Vincent, FAA Director of Civil Aviation Security, House Subcommittee on Crime, May 15, 1986

Myth: Machine guns 213 are favored by criminals
Fact: In the drug-ridden Miami of 1980, fewer than 1% of all gun homicides were with
machine guns. 214
Fact: None of over 2,220 firearms recovered from crime scenes by the Minneapolis
police in 1987-89 were machine guns. 215
Fact: 0.7% of seized guns in Detroit in 1991-92 were machine guns. 216
213
In this myth, “machine gun” represents “fully automatic” firearms, ones that fire bullets as long as the
trigger is pulled.
214
Miami Herald, August 23, 1984, based on figures from Dr. Joseph Davis, Dade County medical
examiner
215
1994, Minnesota Medical Association Firearm Injury Prevention Task Force
216
J. Gayle Mericle, 1989, Unpublished report of the Metropolitan Area Narcotics Squad, Will and Grundy
Counties

P OLICE AND GUNS
Myth: Police favor gun control
Fact: 94% of law enforcement officials believe that citizens should be able to purchase
firearms for self-defense and sporting purposes. 217
Fact: 65.8% believe there should be no gun rationing, such as ‘one gun per month’
schemes.
Fact: 97.9% of officers believe, that through illegal means, criminals are able to obtain
any type of firearm.
Fact: "Gun control has not worked in Washington D.C. The only people who have guns
are criminals. We have the strictest gun laws in the nation and one of the highest murder
rates. It's quicker to pull your Smith & Wesson than to dial 911 if you're being
robbed." 218
Myth: Police are our protection - people don't need
guns
Fact: Tell that to 18,209 murder victims, 497,950 robbery victims, and 96,122 rape
victims that the police could not help. 219
Fact: The courts have consistently ruled that the police do not have an obligation to
protect individuals. In Warren v. District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department,
444 A.2d 1 (D.C. App. 1981), the court stated: `… courts have without exception
concluded that when a municipality or other governmental entity undertakes to furnish
police services, it assumes a duty only to the public at large and not to individual
members of the community.' Well, except for politicians whom receive taxpayer-
financed bodyguards.
Fact: There are not enough police to protect everyone. In 1999, there were about
150,000 police officers on duty at any one time. 220
• This is on-duty police. This includes desk clerks, command sergeants, etc. – far
fewer than 150,000 cops are cruising your neighborhood.
• There were approximately 271,933,702 people living in the United States. 221
• Thus there is only one on-duty cop for every 1,813 citizens!
Fact: Former Florida Attorney General Jim Smith told Florida legislators that police
responded to only 200,000 of 700,000 calls for help to Dade County authorities.
217
17th Annual National Survey of Police Chiefs & Sheriffs, National Association of Chiefs of Police, 2005
218
Lt. Lowell Duckett, Special Assistant to DC Police Chief; President, Black Police Caucus, The
Washington Post, March 22, 1996
219
1997 FBI Uniform Crime Statistics
220
US Justice Department, 1998
221
US Census Bureau, 1999 estimate

Fact: The United States Department of Justice found that, in 1989, there were 168,881
crimes of violence for which police had not responded within 1 hour.
Fact: 95% of the time police arrive too late to prevent a crime or arrest the suspect. 222
Fact: In over 90% of U.S. cities, technology does not give police dispatchers the location
of a cellular telephone caller 223, making police protection nearly impossible for travelers.
Fact: 75% of protective/restraining orders are violated and police often won't enforce
them unless they witness the violation. 224
Fact: Despite prompt law enforcement responses, most armed and violent attacks at
schools were stopped by means other than law enforcement intervention. 225 Often these
interventions were by administrators, teachers, or other students who were licensed to
carry firearms.
Myth: The supply of guns is a danger to law
enforcement
Fact: The courts kill cops by letting felons out of prison early. Of police killed in the
line of duty:
• 70% are killed by criminals with prior arrest records
• 53% of these criminals have prior convictions
• 22% are on probation when the officer is killed
Myth: “Cop Killer” bullets need to be banned
Fact: KTW rounds, wrongly labeled as “cop killer” bullets, were designed by police
officers 226, for use by police to penetrate hard targets like car windshields. KTWs have
never been sold to the general public. 227
Myth: Teflon bullets are designed to penetrate
police bullet-proof vests
Fact: KTW rounds are Teflon coated to prevent heat build-up in a police officer’s gun
barrel, not to pierce body armor. 228
222
This is 911 ... please hold, Witkin, Gordon, Guttman, Monika and Lenzy, Tracy. U.S. News & World
Report, June 17, 1998
223
911 - hello? Hellooooo?, Susan Bahr, America's Network 103, April 1, 1999
224
Anti-stalking laws usually are unable to protect targets, Ellen Sorokin, Washington Times, April 16,
2000
225
Threat Assessment In Schools, U.S. Secret Service and U.S. Department of Education, 2002
226
Developed by Daniel Turcos (a police sergeant) and Donald Ward (Dr. Kopsch's special investigator)
227
Cop Killer Bullets, Mike Casey, July 2000
228
Ibid

C HILDREN AND GUNS
Myth: 13 children are killed each day by guns
Fact: Adults included – This “statistic” includes “children” up to age 19 or 24,
depending on the source. Most violent crime is committed by males ages 16-24, these
numbers end up including adult gang members dying during criminal activity 229. The
proper definition of ‘child’ is a person between birth and puberty (typically 13-14 years
old).
Fact: Criminals are included - 70% of these deaths are juveniles or adults, ages 17 to
20, during gang warfare. Half of the juveniles killed are involved in gang activity at the
time of their deaths: often
drug related firefights.
Child Homicides
Fact: Suicides and criminals 70%
included - These numbers
include criminal activities and 60%
suicides. 230 As suicides make 50%

up more than ½ of all gun
deaths, the number children 40%
killed could drop even further,

to about 1.3 a day. 231 30%
Fact: The federal government 20%
lists the total firearm related 10%

deaths for children were 612,
or 1.7 per day, in 1998. 154 0%
were suicides 232
0
6
4
7
0
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
20
Fact: Over 13 teenagers die Parent Other Family
every day in automobiles, Other Family Friend / acquaintance Stranger
seven behind the wheel. 233 Unknown
"Homicide Trends in the U.S.", Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2000

Fact: Four children die each
day in the U.S. from parental neglect and abuse. 234
Fact: For contrast: 1,917 children die each day from malaria 235 around the world and 15
men, women, and children per day are murdered by a convicted felon in government
supervised parole/probation programs in the U.S. 236
229
230
Rates of Homicide, Suicide, and Firearm-Related Death Among Children -- 26 Industrialized Countries
National Center for Health Statistics, , 1997
231
National Vital Statistics Report - Deaths: Final Data for 1998,,Center for Disease Control July 24, 2000
232
CDC WISQARS Injury Mortality Reports, 1981-1998
233
U.S. Department of Transportation's Fatality Analysis Reporting System, 2001
234
National Center on Child Abuse Prevention, 1998 Annual Survey

Myth: School yard shootings are an epidemic
Fact: “Compared to other types of violence and crime children face, both in and outside
of school, school-based attacks are rare. While the Department of Education reports 60
million children attend the nation's 119,000 schools, available statistics indicate that few
of these students will fall prey to violent situations in school
Schoolyard
settings". 237
Shootings
Fact: In states without “right to carry” laws, there have been 15
1992-93 55 deaths
school shootings; however, in states that allow citizens to carry
guns, there has been only one. 238 1993-94 51 deaths
Fact: The five school shootings that occurred during the '97-98 1994-95 20 deaths
school year took place after the 1995 Gun-Free School Zones law 1995-96 35 deaths
was enacted, which banned guns within 1,000 feet of a school. 239
1996-97 25 deaths
Fact: Schoolyard shooting deaths are not rising, rather, they have
been falling through most of the 1990s: 240 1997-98 40 deaths
Fact: Only 10% of public schools reported one or more serious

violent crimes during the 1996-97 school year. 241
Fact: In Pearl, Mississippi, the assistant principal carried a firearm to the school until the
1995 "Gun-Free School Zones" law passed, afterwards he began locking his firearm in
his car and parking at least a quarter-mile away from the school. When the shooting
started, he ran to his car, got his gun, ran back, disarmed the shooter and held him on the
ground until the police arrived. Had the law not been passed, the assistant principal
might have prevented the two deaths and seven shooting-related injuries.
Myth: Trigger locks will keep children from
accidentally shooting themselves
Fact: 31 of 32 models of gun locks tested by the government’s Consumer Product Safety
Commission could be opened without the key. According to their spokesperson, "We
found you could open locks with paper clips, a pair of scissors or tweezers, or you could
whack them on the table and they would open.” 242
235
Fact Sheet No 178, U.N. World Health Organization, 1998
236
US Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1998
237
Threat Assessment in Schools, U.S. Secret Service and U.S. Department of Education , May 2002
238
Multiple Victim Public Shootings, Bombings, and Right-to-Carry Concealed Handgun Laws:
Contrasting Private and Public Law Enforcement, Lott J, Landes W; ,University of Chicago – (covers
years 1977 to 1995)
239
Ibid
240
Violence and Discipline Problems in U.S. Public Schools, , National Center for Education
Statistics,1996-97
241
Principal/School Disciplinarian Survey on School Violence, Department of Education, March, 2000
242
Washington Post, Feb 7, 2001, Page A01

Fact: 85% of all communities in America recorded no juvenile homicides in 1995, and
93.4% of communities recorded one or no juvenile arrests (not convictions) for
murder. 243
Fact: In 1996, even though there were around 80 million people who owned a firearm,
there were only 44 accidental gun deaths for children under age 10, or about 0.0001%. 244
Fact: California has a trigger lock law and saw a 12% increase in fatal firearm accidents
in 1994. Texas doesn't have one and experienced a 28% decrease in the same year. 245
Also: trigger-locks render a firearm inaccessible for timely self-defense.
Fact: Children as young as seven (7) years old have demonstrated that they can pick or
break a trigger lock; or that
they can operate a gun with
Comparative Suicide Rates
a trigger lock in place. 246
60
Over half of non-criminal
firearm deaths for children 50
over age seven are suicides,
40
so trigger locks are unlikely
to reduce these deaths. 30
Fact: If criminals are 20

deterred from attacking
10
victims because of the fear
that people might be able to 0
defend themselves,
ay
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a
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en
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ed
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m
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lg
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Sw
er
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itz
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et
ew
ni
reduce the danger to

U
Suicide data from WHO, 2002 Suicides per 100,000 Population

criminals committing % Households With Guns
Firearm estimates from Interpol, 2002
crime, and thus increase
crime. This problem is
exacerbated because many mechanical locks (such as barrel or trigger locks) also require
that the gun be stored unloaded.
Myth: More than 1,300 children commit suicide with
guns
Fact: This statistic includes “children” ages 18-19. 247 As established previously, a child
is defined as a person between birth and the age of 13 or 14 (puberty).
Fact: Worldwide, the per capita suicide rate is fairly static (the suicide rate of the U.S. is
lower than many industrial countries, including many where private gun ownership is
243
Crime in the United States: Uniform Crime Reports, Federal Bureau of Investigation, 1996
244
CBS News web site,Prof. John Lott, March 20, 2000
245
National Center for Health Statistics, 1995
246
Accidental Shootings: many deaths and injuries caused by firearms could be prevented,United States
General Accounting Office, March 1991
247
Determined using CDC mortality data, and finding the only possible fit for the claim.

banned). A certain fraction of the population will commit suicide regardless of the
available tools.
Fact: The overall rate of suicide Homicide Weapons (victims under 13)
(firearm and non-firearm) among
children age 15 and under was
virtually unchanged in states that
passed and maintained “safe Firearms
19.8%
storage” laws for four or more Other
years. 248 40.5%
Fact: Among young girls, 71% of
all suicides are by hanging or
suffocation. 249 Feet, Fists,
Hands
Fact: People, including children, 39.7%
who are determined to commit
suicide will find a way. There is a
documented case of a man who
killed himself by drilling a hole in his skull by using a power drill. 250
Fact: Banning country music might be more effective – one study shows 51% of the
music-influenced suicide differential can be traced to country music. 251
Myth: Guns in America spark youth violence
Fact: Non-firearm juvenile violent crime rate in the U.S. is twice that of 25 other
industrialized western nations. The non-firearm infant-homicide rate in the U.S. is 3.5
times higher. 252 Thus we have a violence problem – not a “gun” problem.
Fact: Non-firearm related homicides of children out-rank firearm related homicides by
children almost 5-to-1 253
Myth: Stricter gun control laws could have
prevented the Columbine massacre
Fact: Harris and Klebold violated close to 20 firearms laws in obtaining weapons.
Would 21 laws really have made a difference? The two shotguns and one rifle used by
Harris and Klebold were purchased by a girlfriend who passed a background check, and
the TEC-9 handgun used was already banned.
248
Accidental Deaths, Suicides, and Crime Safe Storage Gun Laws, John Lott, Yale Law School, 2000
249
Suicide Trends Among Youths and Young Adults Aged 10--24 Years --- United States, 1990--2004,
Center for Disease Control, September, 2007
250
Drilled Head Husband Dies in Hospital, The Scotsman, April 28, 2003
251
The Effect of Country Music on Suicide, Steven Stack, Jim Gundlach, ,Social Forces. Volume: 71. Issue:
1., 1992
252
Kids and Guns Bulletin, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics, 2000. ( Covers years
1990-1995)
253

Myth: Children should be kept away from guns for
their own safety
Fact: 0% of children that get guns from Cause of injury % of children
their parents commit gun-related crimes All Automobile 51%
while 21% of those that get them illegally Drowning 17%
do. 254 Pedestrian 11%
Fires, burns 11%
Fact: Children that acquire firearms
illegally are twice as likely to commit street All other causes 10%
crimes (24%) than are those given a firearm Suffocation by ingested object 4%
by their parents (14%). 255 Falls 3%
Firearms 2%
Fact: Almost three times as many children Poisoning by solids, liquids 1%
(41%) take drugs if they also obtain National Center for Health Statistics, 1995
firearms illegally, as compared to children
given a firearm by their parents (13%). Cause of death Count % of children
Fact: In the 1950’s, children routinely Motor vehicle 4,550 46.2%
played cops and robbers, had toy guns, were Drowning 2,102 17.4%
given BB rifles and small caliber hunting Fire/burn 482 10.6%
rifles before puberty. Yet the homicide rate Suffocation 250 5.5%
in the 1950’s was almost half of that in the
Pedestrian, Other 145 3.2%
1980’s. 256
Other Land Transport 144 3.2%
Myth: More children are Fall 98 2.2%
hurt with guns than by Poisoning 81 1.8%
any other means Natural/ Environment 73 1.6%
Fact: Fewer than 2% of all unintentional Firearm 72 1.6%
injury deaths for children in the U.S. Other Transport 68 1.5%
between ages 0-14 are from firearms. 257 Struck by or Against 67 1.5%
Fact: The Center for Disease Control, a Other Spec., 62 1.1%
federal agency, agrees. According to them, classifiable
Center for Disease Control, 20 Leading Causes of Unintentional Injury
in 1998, children 0-14 years died from the Deaths, United States, 2001, All Races, Both Sexes, Ages: 1-14
following causes in the U.S. 258
Fact: Children are 12 times more likely to die in an automobile accident than from gun-
related homicides or legal interventions (being shot by a cop, for example) if they are age
0-14. For the group 0-24 years old (which bends the definition of “child” quite a bit), the
rate is still 8.6 times higher for cars. 259
254
Urban Delinquency and Substance Abuse ,U.S. Justice Department, 2000
255
Ibid
256
Vital Statistics ,National Center for Health Statistics, , Revised July, 1999
257
Injury Facts ,National Safety Council, , 1999 – (figures rounded for ease of display)
258
Deaths: Final for 1998,Center for Disease Control, , vol. 48 no. 11., July 24, 2000
259
National Vital Statistics Report , National Center for Health Statistics, 1997

Fact: In 2001, there were only 72 accidental firearm deaths for children under age 15, as
opposed to over 2,100 children who drowned (29 times as many drowning deaths as
firearm deaths). 260
Fact: Accidental firearm injuries for children and adolescents dropped 37% from 1993 to
1997, with the fastest
drop – a 64% reduction
Child Fiream Deaths and Handgun Supply
– being for children. 261
Fact: Boys who own 0.0006% 400
legal firearms have 350
much lower rates of 0.0005%
% of population ages 0-14

300
delinquency and drug
Handgun Supply
0.0004%
use and are even less 250
delinquent than non- 0.0003% 200
owners of guns. 262
150
Fact: The non-gun 0.0002%
100
homicide rate of
0.0001%
children in the U.S. is 50
more than twice as high 0.0000% 0
as in other western
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
countries. And eight
times as many children Child Accidential Firearm Deaths Handgun Supply
die from non-gun
violent acts than from gun crimes. 263 This indicates that the problem is violence, not
guns.
Fact: Fatal gun accidents for children ages 0-14 declined by almost 83% from 1981 to
2002 264 – all while the number of handguns per capita increased over 41%. 265
Fact: 82% of homicides to children age 13 and under were committed without a gun. 266
Myth: If it saves the life of one child, it is worth it
Fact: Firearms in private hands are used an estimated 2.5 million times (or 6,849 times
each day) each year to prevent crime; 267 this includes rapes, aggravated assaults, and
260
20 Leading Causes of Unintentional Injury Deaths ,Center for Disease Control, , United States, 2001,
(All Races, Both Sexes, Ages: 1-14)
261
Firearms Injury Surveillance Study, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, December 2001
262
Urban Delinquency and Substance Abuse ,U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice,
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, NCJ-143454, , August 1995
263
Kids and Guns ,Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention , “”, 2000
264
National Center for Health Statistics
265
BATF estimates on handguns in circulation, BATF, Firearms Commerce in the United States 2001/2002
266
267
Gary Kleck, Criminologist, Florida State University, 1997

kidnapping. The number of innocent children protected by firearm owning parents far
outweighs the number of children harmed.
Fact: Most Americans (firearm owners or not) believe that the way parents raise kids is
what causes gun violence (or just violence in general). Among non-firearm owners, 38%
said it was parental neglect that causes youth violence, while only 28% thought it was
due to the availability of guns. 268 They may be right as most homicides of children under
age five are by their own parents. Of homicides among children ages 5 and younger:
31% were killed by their own mother and another 31% were killed by their own
fathers. 269
268
Gallup/Women.com poll, May 2000
269
FBI, Supplementary Homicide Reports, 1976-98

A CCIDENTAL DEATHS
Myth: Accidental gun fatalities are a serious problem
Fact: Firearm misuse causes only a small number of accidental deaths in the U.S. 270 For
example, compared to accidental death from firearms, you are:
• Four times more likely to burn to death or drown
• 17 times more likely to be poisoned
• 19 times more likely to fall
• And 53 times more likely to die in an automobile accident
U.S. Accidental Death Rates

MV Traffic
Fall
Poisoning
Unspecified
Suffocation
Fire/burn
Drowning
Other Transport
Natural/ Environment
Other Spec., classifiable
Other Land Transport
Pedestrian, Other
Other Spec., NEC
Struck by or Against
Firearm 0.8%
Machinery
Pedal cyclist, Other
Cut/pierce
Overexertion
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45%
2001, Center for Disease Control, WISQARS
Fact: In 2001, there were only 65 accidental gun deaths for children under age 13. About
11 times as many children die from drowning. 271
Fact: In 1993, there were 1,334 drownings and 528 firearm-related accidental deaths
from ages 0-19. Firearms outnumber pools by a factor of over 30:1. Thus, the risk of
270
WISQARS Injury Mortality Report, Center for Disease Control, 2001
271
Ibid

drowning in a pool is nearly 100 times higher than from a firearm-related accident for
everyone, and nearly 500 times for ages 0-5. 272
Fact: Medical mistakes
kill 400,000 people per U.S. Accidental Fiream Deaths
year – the equivalent of
almost three fully loaded 2,000
Boeing 747 jet crashes 1,800
per day – or about 286 1,600
times the rate of all 1,400
accidental firearm 1,200
Deaths
deaths. 273 This translates 1,000
into 1 in 6 doctors 800

600
causing an accidental
400
death, and 1 in 56,666
200
gun owners doing the 0
same.
95
01
89
91
93
97
99
85
87
81
83
19
19
19
19
20
19
19
19
19
19
19
Fact: Only 3% of gun

2001, Center for Disease Control, WISQARS
deaths are from
accidents, and some
insurance investigations indicate that many of these may not be accidents after all. 274
Fact: Around 2,000 patients each year – six per day – are accidentally killed or injured in
hospitals by registered nurses. 275
Myth: Handguns are unsafe and cause accidents
Fact: Most fatal firearm accidents involve long guns, which are more deadly. These are
typically hunting accidents. 276
Fact: Handguns have triggers that are difficult for small (child) hands to operate, and are
rarely the cause of accidents. 277
Myth: Innocent bystanders are often killed by guns
Fact: Less than 1% of all gun homicides involve innocent bystanders.278
3
National Center for Health Statistics, and the National Spa and Pool Institute
273
Medical death statistics, Gun deaths, Dr. David Lawrence, CEO Kaiser Permanente, CDC report 1993
274
Targeting Guns: Firearms and Their Control, Gary Kleck, Aldine de Gruyter 1997 at 293-324
275
Chicago Tribune report, Sept 10, 2000
276
Targeting Guns: Firearms and Their Control, Gary Kleck , Aldine de Gruyter 1997, at 293-324
277
Ibid.
278
Stray bullets and ‘mushrooms’, Sherman, Steele, Laufersweiler, Hoffer and Julian, Journal of
Quantitative Criminology, 1989

Myth: Citizens are too incompetent to use guns for
protection
Fact: About 11% of police shootings kill an innocent person - about 2% of shootings by
citizens kill an innocent person. The odds of a defensive gun user killing an innocent
person are less than 1 in 26,000. 279 And that is with citizens using guns to prevent crimes
almost 2,500,000 times every year.
Fact: Most firearm accidents are caused by people with various forms of poor self-
control. These include alcoholics, people with previous criminal records, multiple
driving accidents, and other risky behaviors. 280
Myth: Gun accidents are flooding emergency rooms
Fact: The rate of gun accidents is so low the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
doesn't even mention them in their annual safety reports.
Myth: "Junk" guns are dangerous and should be
banned
Fact: In the history of the state of California, not one lawsuit against a gun maker had
been filed (until 2003) based on a weapon being defective or poorly designed. 281
Myth: Guns should be made to conform to product
liability laws
Fact: Guns are already covered under product liability laws. If you have a defective gun
that does not operate properly, you can sue the gun maker.
279
Shall Issue: The New Wave of Concealed Handgun Permit Laws, C. Cramer, and D. Kopel,
280
Targeting Guns: Firearms and Their Control, Gary Kleck, Aldine de Gruyter, 1997, at 307, 312
281
California Trial Lawyers Association, 1998

C ONCEALED CARRY LAWS AND WEAPONS
As of 2009-01-15
Myth: Concealed carry laws increase crime

Fact: Thirty-nine states 282, comprising the majority of the American population, are
"right-to-carry" states. Statistics show that in these states the crime rate fell (or did not
rise) after the right-to-carry law became active (as of July, 2006). Nine states restrict the
right to carry and two deny it outright.
Fact: Crime rates involving gun owners with carry permits have consistently been about
0.02% of all carry permit holders since Florida’s right-to-carry law started in 1988. 283
Fact: After passing their concealed carry law, Florida's homicide rate fell from 36%
above the national average to 4% below, and remains below the national average (as of
the last reporting period, 2005). 284
Fact: In Texas, murder rates fell 50% faster than the national average in the year after
their concealed carry law passed. Rape rates fell 93% faster in the first year after
282
At publication time two more states, Kansas and Nebraska, have pass shall-issue legislation, but
insufficient data was available to determine how the change has impacted crime rates.
283
Florida Department of Justice, 1998
284
Shall issue: the new wave of concealed handgun permit laws, Cramer C and Kopel D. Golden CO:

enactment, and 500% faster in the second. 285 Assaults fell 250% faster in the second
year. 286
Fact: More to the point, crime is significantly higher in states without right-to-carry
laws 287:
Fact: States that disallow concealed carry have violent crime rates 11% higher than
national averages. 288
Type of Crime % Higher in
Fact: Deaths and injuries from mass Restrictive States
public shootings fall dramatically after
right-to-carry concealed handgun laws Robbery 105%
are enacted. Between 1977 and 1995, 289 Murder 86%
the average death rate from mass Assault 82%
shootings plummeted by up to 91% after Violent Crime 81%
such laws went into effect, and injuries Auto theft 60%
dropped by over 80%. 290 Rape 25%
285
Some criminologist believe measuring first year change is shortsighted as it takes more than a year for
permits to be issued, reach critical quantities, and for the criminally minded to recognize the new situation
and avoid violent confrontations.
286
Bureau of Justice Statistics, online database, reviewing Texas and U.S. violent crime from 1995-2001.
287
Crime, Deterrence, and Right-to-Carry Concealed Handguns, Lott, John R., and Mustard, David B. J. of
Legal Studies, vol.26, n.1, pp.1-68 (Jan. 1997): This study involved county level crime statistics from all
3,054 counties in the U.S., from 1977 through 1992. During this time ten states adopted right-to-carry
laws. It is estimated that if all states had adopted right-to-carry laws, in 1992 the US would have avoided
1,400 murders, 4,200 rapes, 12,000 robberies, 60,000 aggravated assaults – and saved over $5,000,000,000
in victim expenses.
288
FBI, Uniform Crime Reports, 2004 - excludes Hawaii and Rhode Island - small populations and
geographic isolation create other determinants to violent crime.
289
Federal legislation created a nation “gun-free schools” policy, effective in 1996. Some criminologists
maintain this created a new dynamic, encouraging mass murder on campus. Thus after 1995 it is increasing
difficult to make comparisons based on the effects of CCWs and mass shootings.
290
Contrasting Private and Public Law Enforcement, John Lott and William Landes, Law School of the
University of Chicago, Law & Economics Working Paper No. 73

Myth: People with concealed weapons permits will
commit crimes
Fact: The results for State 291 Permits Revoked % Re- Violent Crime
the first 30 states that issued permits voked Rate
passed “shall-issue” Change 292
laws for concealed
carry permits are Florida 1,327,321 293 4,129 0.3% -30.5%
similar. Virginia 50,000 294 0 0.0% -21.9%
295
Fact: In Texas, Arizona 63,000 50 0.9% -28.7%
citizens with concealed North Carolina 59,597 296
1,274 1.2% -26.4%
carry permits are 14 297
times less likely to Minnesota 46,636 12 0.03% 8.0% 298
commit a crime. They Michigan 155,000 299 2,178 0.1% 1.4%
are also five times less
likely to commit a violent crime. 300
Fact: People with concealed carry permits are: 301
• 5.7 times less likely to be arrested for violent offenses than the general public
• 13.5 times less likely to be arrested for non-violent offenses than the general
public
Fact: Even gun control organizations agree it is a non-problem, as in Texas – “because
there haven't been Wild West shootouts in the streets”. 302
Fact: Of 14,000 CCW licensees in Oregon, only 4 (0.03%) were convicted of the
criminal (not necessarily violent) use or possession of a firearm.
291
Reports were as received. No selection or filtering process was used.
292
Violent crime rates are from inception of “shall issue” CCW through 2006, the most recent period
available through the Bureau of Justice Statistics online database.
293
October 1987 through Jan 2008
294
1995 – no follow-up data available
295
1994 through 2007
296
1995 through 2004
297
2002 through 2006
298
In 2005 and 2006, Minnesota had an abnormal spike in robbery and aggravated assaults. The first three
years of CCW in Minnesota saw violent crime rates being roughly stable and the problem has somewhat
abated since then.
299
2001 through 2007
300
Texas Department of Public Safety and the U.S. Census Bureau, reported in San Antonio Express-News,
September, 2000
301
An Analysis of the Arrest Rate of Texas Concealed Carry Handgun License Holders as Compared to the
Arrest Rate of the Entire Texas Population, William E. Sturdevant, PE, September 11, 1999
302
Nina Butts, Texans Against Gun Violence, Dallas Morning News, August 10, 2000

Fact: In Florida, a state that has allowed concealed carry since late 1987, you are twice as
likely to be attacked by an alligator as by a person with a concealed carry permit. 303
Myth: Texas CCW holders are arrested 66% more
often
Fact: Most arrests cited are not any form of violent crime (includes bounced checks or
tax delinquency). 304
Fact: The VPC "study" only includes arrests, not convictions.
Fact: Many of these arrests in this premature VPC "study" came in the early years of
Texas CCWs when the law was not understood by most of the law enforcement
community or prosecutors.
Fact: Compared to the entire Texas Crime Rates
population, Texas CCW 7,000
holders are about 7.6 times less

likely to be arrested of a 6,000
violent crime. 305 The numbers

5,000
Per 100,000 population
breakdown as follows:
• 214,000 CCW holders 306 4,000
• 526 (0.2%) felony arrests 3,000

General Population
CCW Licensees
of CCW holders that have
been adjudicated 2,000
• 100 (0.05%) felony

1,000
convictions
Fact: A different study -
1996 1997 1998 1999
concludes that the four year
Source: Texas Department of Public Safety (1996
violent crime arrest rate for
CCW holders is 128 per
100,000. For the general population, it is 710 per 100,000. In other words, CCW holders
are 5.5 times less likely to commit a violent crime. 307
303
Concealed Weapons/Firearms License Statistical Report, Florida Department of State, 1998 – Florida
Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission, December 1998
304
Basis For Revocation Or Suspension Of Texas Concealed, Texas Department of Public Safety,
December 1, 1998
305
Texas Department of Corrections data, 1996-2000, compiled by the Texas State Rifle Association,
www.tsra.com/arrests.htm
306
These are year 2000 records. As of 2005, the number of Texas concealed carry permit holders was
248,874.
307
An Analysis Of The Arrest Rate Of Texas Concealed Handgun License Holders As Compared To The
Arrest Rate Of The Entire Texas Population, William E. Sturdevant, PE, September 11, 1999

Myth: CCWs will lead to mass public shootings
Fact: Multiple victim
Murder and Injuries in Multiple Victim Public Shootings
public shootings drop
in states that pass 0.16
shall-issue CCW 0.14
legislation. 308
Per 100,000 Population
Year the law took effect

0.12
Myth: People 0.1
do not need 0.08
concealable 0.06
weapons 0.04
0.02
Fact: In 80% of gun
0
defenses, the defender -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
used a concealable Year Before/After CCWs Were Available
handgun. A quarter of
the gun defenses occurred in places away from the defender's home. 309
Fact: 77% of all violent crime occurs in public places. 310 This makes concealed carry
necessary for almost all self-defense needs. But due to onerous laws forbidding
concealed carry, only 26.8% of defensive gun uses occurred away from home. 311
Fact: Often, small weapons that are capable of being concealed are the only ones usable
by people of small stature or with physical disabilities.
Fact: The average citizen doesn’t need a Sport Utility Vehicle, but driving one is
arguably safer than driving other vehicles. Similarly, carrying a concealable gun makes
the owner – and his or her community – safer by providing protection not otherwise
available.
Myth: Police are against concealed carrying by
citizens
Fact: 66% of police chiefs believe that citizens carrying concealed firearms reduce rates
of violent crime. 312
308
Contrasting Private and Public Law Enforcement, Lott John R., Landes William M.; University of
Chicago – covers years 1977 to 1995
309
Armed Resistance to Crime: The Prevalence and Nature of Self-Defense with a Gun, by Gary Kleck and
Marc Gertz, in The Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology, Northwestern University School of Law,
Volume 86, Number 1, Fall, 1995
310
Criminal Victimization in the United States, U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1993
311
Kleck and Gertz, National Self Defense Survey, 1995
312
National Association of Chiefs of Police, 17th Annual National Survey of Police Chiefs & Sheriffs,
2005

Fact: “All the horror stories I thought would come to pass didn’t happen ...I think it’s
worked out well, and that says good things about the citizens who have permits. I’m a
convert.” 313
Fact: “I ... [felt] that such legislation present[ed] a clear and present danger to law-
abiding citizens by placing more handguns on our streets. Boy was I wrong. Our
experience in Harris County, and indeed statewide, has proven my fears absolutely
groundless”. 314
Fact: Explain this to the Law Enforcement Alliance of America, Second Amendment
Police Department, and Law Enforcement for the Preservation of the Second
Amendment, all of whom support shall-issue concealed carry laws.
313
Glenn White, president, Dallas Police Association, Dallas Morning News, December 23, 1997
314
John B. Holmes, Harris County Texas district attorney, Dallas Morning News, December 23, 1997

G OVERNMENT, GUN LAWS , AND SOCIAL COSTS
Myth: Gun control reduces crime
Fact: The U.S. government “found insufficient evidence to determine the effectiveness
of any of the firearms laws or combinations of laws reviewed on violent outcomes” 315
and also concluded in one study that none of the attackers interviewed was "hindered by
any law--federal, state or local--that has ever been established to prevent gun ownership.
They just laughed at gun laws." 316
Fact: Violent crime
appears to be encouraged US Murder Rate per 100,000
by gun control. Most gun 12.0
control laws in the United
States have been written 10.0
since 1968, yet the
murder rate rose during
the 70s, 80s and early 8.0
90s. 317
6.0
Fact: In 1976,
Washington, D.C.
enacted one of the most 4.0
restrictive gun control
laws in the nation. The 2.0
city's murder rate rose
134 percent through 1996
while the national murder 0.0
1900
1905
1910
1915
1920
1925
1930
1935
1940
1945
1950
1955
1960
1965
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
rate has dropped 2
percent. 318
National Center for Health Statistics,
Fact: Among the 15 Vital Statistics, Revised July, 1999
states with the highest
homicide rates, 10 have restrictive or very restrictive gun laws. 319
Fact: Maryland claims to have the toughest gun control laws in the nation and ranks #1
in robberies and #4 in both violent crime and murder. 320 . The robbery rate is 70% more
315
First Reports Evaluating the Effectiveness of Strategies for Preventing Violence: Firearms Laws, CDC,
Task Force on Community Preventive Services, Oct 3, 2003 – a systematic review of 51 studies that
evaluated the effects of selected firearms laws on violence
316
317
National Center for Health Statistics, Vital Statistics, Revised July, 1999
318
Dr. Gary Kleck, University of Florida using FBI Uniform Crime Statistics, 1997
319
Ibid
320
Index of Crime by State, FBI Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) for 2000, p. 79, Table 5

than the national average. 321 These numbers are likely low because one of their more
violent cities, Baltimore, failed to report their crime levels.
Fact: In 2000, 20% of U.S. homicides occur in four cities with just six percent of the
population – New York, Chicago, Detroit, and Washington, D.C. – most of which
have/had a virtual prohibition on private handguns. 322
Fact: The landmark federal Gun Control Act of 1968, banning most interstate gun sales,
had no discernible impact on the criminal acquisition of guns from other states. 323
Fact: Washington, D.C.'s 1976 ban on the ownership of handguns (except those already
registered in the District) was not linked to any reduction in gun crime in the nation's
capital. 324
Fact: New York has one of the most restrictive gun laws in the nation – and 20% of the
armed robberies. 325
Fact: There are more than 22,000 326 gun laws at the city, county, state, and federal level.
If gun control worked, then we should be free of crime. But the Federal government
concluded that no criminal that attacked a police officer was “hindered by any law--
federal, state or local--that has ever been established to prevent gun ownership. They just
laughed at gun laws." 327
Fact: In analyzing 10 different possible reasons for the decline in violent crime during
the 1990s, gun control was calculated to have contributed nothing (high imprisonment
rates, more police and legalized abortion were considered the primary factors,
contributing as much as 28% of the overall reduction). 328
Myth: Guns should be registered and licensed like
cars
Fact: You do not need a license to buy a car. You can buy as many as you want and
drive them all you like on your own property without a license.
Fact: Cars are registered because they are (a) sources of tax revenue, (b) objects of fraud
in some transactions, and (c) significant theft targets. Thus we ask the government to
track them.
321
FBI Uniform Crime Reports, September 15, 2000
322
Ibid
323
Under the Gun, Wright, Rossi, Daly, University of Massachusetts, 1981
324
Ibid
325
Ibid
326
Under the Gun: Weapons, Crime, and Violence in America,Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
estimate and reported via James Wright, Peter H. Rossi, Kathleen Daly, 1983
327
Violent Encounters: A Study of Felonious Assaults on Our Nation's Law Enforcement Officers, As
presented by Ed Davis, criminal investigative instructor FBI Behavioral Science Unit, to the International
Association of Chiefs of Police, reporting from U.S. Department of Justice, August 2006
328
Understanding Why Crime Fell in the 1990s, Steven Levit, Journal of Economic Perpectives, Winter
2004

Fact: There is no constitutionally guaranteed right to keep and bear automobiles, and
thus they are subject to greater regulation than guns.
Fact: There are more guns in the U.S. than cars (228,000,000 guns and 207,754,000
automobiles). Yet you are 31 times more likely to be accidentally killed by a car than a
gun according to the National Safety Council 329 ... despite cars having been registered
and licensed for almost 100 years.
Myth: The Brady Bill caused a decrease in gun
homicides
Fact: All violent crime (including gun and non-gun murders) fell during the same period,
1992 to 1997. However, the percent of homicides committed with guns stayed the same.
In 1992, 68% of murders were committed with guns; in 1997, it was still 68%. 330 Thus,
the decreased gun homicide rate was part of an overall declining crime rate, not an effect
of the Brady Bill.
Fact: Gun possession by criminals has risen in the Brady years – 18% of state prisoners
(was 16% before Brady) and 15% for federal prisoners (was 12% before Brady) are
caught with firearms. 331
Fact: The Brady law has so far failed to appreciably save lives. 332
Fact: Violent crime started falling in 1991, three years before passage of the Brady law.
The Brady law did not apply in 18 states, yet violent crime in those states fell just as
quickly. 333
Fact: A majority of Americans agree that the bill is worthless. 51% believe the act has
been ineffective at reducing violent crime, and 56% believe it has had no impact on
reducing the number of homicides in the U.S. 334
Myth: Gun laws are being enforced
Fact: During the Clinton administration, federal prosecutions of gun-related crimes
dropped more than 44 percent. 335
Fact: Of the 3,353 prohibited individuals that obtained firearms, the Clinton
administration only investigated 110 of them (3.3%). 336
329
Automobiles estimates: Federal Highway Administration, October 1998. Firearm estimates: FBI
Uniform Crime Statistics, 1996.
330
FBI Uniform Crime Reports for 1992 and 1997
331
Firearm Use by Offenders, Bureau of Justice Statistics, November 2001
332
Dr. Jens Ludwig, Dr. Philip J. Cook, Journal of the American Medical Association, August 2000
333
Gun Licensing Leads to Increased Crime, Lost Lives, Prof John Lott, L.A. Times, Aug 23, 2000, based
on both the FBI Uniform Crime Statistics for 1990s and the U.S. Justice Department Crime Victimization
Survey
334
Portrait of America survey, August 2000
335
Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University covering 1992 through
1998

Fact: Despite 536,000 prohibited buyers caught by the National Instant Background
Check, only 6,700 people (1.25%) have been charged for these firearms violations. This
includes 71% of the violations coming from convicted or indicted felons. 337 None of
these crimes were prosecuted by the Federal government in 1996, 1997, or 1998. 338
Fact: In 1998, the government prosecuted just eight children for gun law violations. 339 In
that same year, there were only:
• 8 prosecutions for juvenile handgun possession.
• 6 prosecutions for handgun transfer to juveniles.
• 1 prosecution for Brady Law violations.
Fact: Some of the reasons listed for not prosecuting known gun criminals include
“minimal federal interest” and “DOJ/U.S. Attorney policy”.340
Fact: Half of referrals concerning violent criminals were closed without investigation or
prosecution. 341
Fact: The average sentence for a federal firearms violation dropped from 57 months to
46 months from 1996 to 1998. 342
Fact: 18-20 year olds commit over 23% of all gun murders. 343 None of these criminals
are allowed by law to purchase a handgun, but the Federal government under Clinton
rarely enforced this law. i
Fact: Project Exile in Richmond, Virginia prosecutes felons caught with guns, and
prosecutes them using Federal laws that require mandatory imprisonment. The first year
result was a 33% drop in homicides for the Richmond Metro area in a year where the
national murder rate was climbing. 344 This shows that enforcement works. And
according to Andrew McBride of the Richmond Justice Department Office, these cases
are as easy to prosecute as "picking change up off the street."
Myth: Federal gun crime prosecutions increased 25%
Fact: 1992: 9,885 BATF referrals for federal firearm purchase violations
1998: 4,391 (56% drop)
336
General Accounting Office (GAO) 2000 audit of the National Instant Check System between 11/30/98
and 11/30/99
337
Bureau of Justice Statistics, Federal Firearm Offenders and Background Checks for Firearm Transfers,
June 4, 2000
338
U.S. Justice Department statistics, 1999
339
Ibid
340
Bureau of Justice Statistics, Federal Firearm Offenders and Background Checks for Firearm Transfers,
June 4, 2000
341
General Accounting Office report on the Implementation of NICS, February, 2000
342
Ibid
343
United States Treasury and Justice Department Report, 1999
344

1999: 5,489 (fictitious “25% increase”)345
Fact: 1992: 12,084 BATF referrals for all firearm law violations
1998: 5,620 (a 53% drop)
Myth: The social cost of gun violence is enormous
Fact: Because guns are used an estimated 2.5 million times per year to prevent crimes,
the cost savings in personal losses, police work, and court and prison expenses vastly
outweighs the cost of criminal gun violence and gun accidents. The net savings, under a
worst-case scenario, is about $3.5 billion a year. 346
Fact: Guns are used 65 times more often to prevent a crime than to commit one. 347
Fact: The medical cost of gun violence is only 0.16% of America’s annual health care
expenditures. 348
Fact: Drunken drivers killed 15,935 people in 1998 349 while homicides with guns were
12,102 for the same year. Drunken drivers continue to kill people randomly despite a
decade of increased strictness and social pressure against drunk drivers.
Myth: The social cost of gun violence is $20-100
billion
Fact: One “study” 350 included the lifetime earnings of people that die from guns, not just
the true social costs. This included lost incomes of criminals killed by law-abiding
citizens, and costs associated with suicides, and the “emotional costs experienced by
relatives and friends of gunshot victims, and the fear and general reduction in quality of
life ... including people who are not victimized”. If the same methodology were used to
calculate the social savings from private gun ownership, we would see a benefit to
society of half a trillion dollars, or 10% of the 1999 US Gross Domestic Product.
Fact: Another “study” 351 started by polling people how much they would be willing to
have their taxes raised in order to reduce firearm violence by 30%, and then projected
these bids to the entire U.S. population. This seriously flawed methodlogy does not
measure the “cost” of the problem, just what people are willing to spend to reduce the
problem.
345
BATF, 1999
346
Suing Gun Manufacturers: Hazardous to Our Health, Sterling Burnett, National Center for Policy
Analysis, 1999
347
Taking Dr. Gary Kleck’s estimate of 2.5 million gun defenses each year, divided by the FBI estimates of
crimes committed with a firearm.
348
Shooting in the dark: estimating the cost of firearm injuries, Max W and Rice DP, Health Affairs, 1993
349
Compiled by Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD)
350
The Financial Costs of Gun Violence, Linda Gunderson, Annals of Internal Medicine, Septemer 21,
1999
351
Gun Violence : The Real Costs, Ludwig, Cook, 2000

Fact: Social saving from private ownership are not used in these studies. One study 352
indicated between 240,000 and 300,000 defensive use of firearms, as described by the
victim “… almost certainly had saved a life.”
Myth: Gun “buy back” programs get guns off the
streets
Fact: According to the federal government, gun ‘buybacks’ have “no effect”. 353
Fact: “Buy backs” remove no more than 2% of the firearms within a community. And
the firearms that are removed do not resemble guns used in crimes. “There has never
been any effect on crime results seen”. 354
Fact: Up to 62% of people trading in a firearm still have another at home, and 27% said
they would or might buy another within a year. 355
Fact: More than 50% of the weapons bought via a gun buy-back program were over 15
years old, whereas almost half of firearms seized from juveniles are less than three years
old. 356
Fact: According to a variety of sources, the actual effect is that gun buy-back programs:
• Disarm future crime victims, creating new social costs
• Gives criminals an easy way to dispose of evidence
• Are turned in by those least likely to commit crimes (the elderly, women, etc.)
• Cheap guns are bought and sold back to the government for a profit
• Cause guns to be stolen and sold to the police, creating more crime
• Seldom return stolen guns to their rightful owners
Fact: "They do very little good. Guns arriving at buy backs are simply not the same guns
that would otherwise have been used in crime. If you look at the people who are turning
in firearms, they are consistently the least crime-prone [ed: least likely to commit
crimes]: older people and women." 357
Myth: Closing down “kitchen table” gun dealers will
reduce guns on the street
Fact: 43% of gun dealers had no inventory and sold no guns at all. Congressional
testimony documented that the large number of low-volume gun dealers is a direct result
of BATF policy. The BATF once prosecuted gun collectors who sold as few as three
352
Armed Resistance To Crime, Kleck, Gertz, Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, vol. 86, no. 1,
1995: 150
353
Preventing Crime: What Works, What Doesn't, What's Promising, National Institute of Justice, July
1998
354
Garen Wintemute, Violence Prevention Research Program, U.C., Davis, 1997
355
Jon Vernick, John Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research, Sacramento and St. Louis studies
356
District of Columbia buyback program, 1999
357
David Kennedy, Senior Researcher, Harvard University Kennedy School Program in Criminal Justice,
in appearance on Fox News, November 22, 2000

guns per year at gun shows, claiming that they were unlicensed, and therefore illegal, gun
dealers. To avoid such harassment, thousands of American gun collectors became
licensed gun dealers. Now the BATF claims not to have the resources to audit the
paperwork monster it created.
Fact: Reforms of the Federal Firearm Licensing program – mainly focused at small
volume retailers and traders – produced no significant results in firearm crime rates. 358
Myth: Only the government should have guns
Fact: Only if you want criminals to have them as well. Loose inventory controls are
notorious in government agencies, as shown by the Immigration and Naturalization
Service (INS) that has “misplaced” 539 weapons, including a gas-grenade launcher and
39 automatic rifles or machine guns. Six guns were eventually linked to crimes (two
guns had been used in armed robberies, one confiscated in a raid on a drug laboratory and
two others during arrests. One was being held as evidence in a homicide investigation). 359
And in July of 2001, it was reported that the FBI lost 449 weapons, including machine
guns.
Myth: “Safe storage” laws protect people
Fact: 15 states that passed “safe storage” laws saw 300 more murders, 3,860 more rapes,
24,650 more robberies, and over 25,000 more aggravated assaults in the first five years.
On average, the annual costs borne by victims averaged over $2.6 billion as a result of
lost productivity, out-of-pocket expenses, medical bills, and property losses. "The
problem is, you see no decrease in either juvenile accidental gun deaths or suicides when
such laws are enacted, but you do see an increase in crime rates." 360
Fact: Only five American children under the age of 10 died of accidents involving
handguns in 1997. 361 Thus, the need for “safe storage” laws appears to be low.
Fact: In Merced California, an intruder stabbed three children to death with a pitchfork.
The oldest child had been trained by her father in firearms use, but could not save her
siblings from the attacker because the gun was locked away to comply with the state’s
“safe storage” law. 362
358
Christopher Koper of Pennsylvania's Jerry Lee Center of Criminology, reported in Criminology &
Public Policy, American Society of Criminology, March 2002
359
Associated Press report, April 17, 2001
360
Safe Storage Gun Laws: Accidental Deaths, Suicides, and Crime, Prof. John Lott, Yale School of Law,
March 2000
361
Ibid
362
Sierra Times and various wire services, September, 2000

Myth: Local background checks reduce gun
suicides 363
Fact: The research reports only a change in the “firearm suicide rate” and not the total
suicide rate. No strict correlation between overall suicides and background checks exists.
Fact: The report did not explain the disparity between states that all had local
background checks and radically different suicide rates (Hawaii with 2.82/100,000 and
Washington with 9.28/100,000). Nor does it explain how states with different levels of
background checks have nearly identical suicide rates (Hawaii has local checks and a
2.82 firearm suicide rate while New York uses state checks and has a lower 2.72 rate).
Fact: The report was a two year snapshot, which makes trending impossible. Proper
analysis would have examined change in suicide rates in states before and after
background check policy changed.
Fact: Researcher split homicide and suicide propensity controls by age (65+ for suicides
and 15-29 for homicides).
363
This myth derives from Firearm Death Rates and Association with Level of Firearm Purchase
Background Check, Steven A. Sumner, Layde, Guse, American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Volume
35, Issue 1, Pages 1-86 (July 2008)

.50-C ALIBER RIFLES
Myth: .50-calibers are the favorite weapon of
terrorists
Fact: Most terrorist attacks are in the form of bombings (90%). Other acts, such as
kidnapping (6%), armed attack (2%), arson (1%), firebombing (1%), and other methods
(2%), are far less common. 364 Of the “armed attacks,” the most common weapons used
are fully-automatic AK-47 rifles.
Fact: A single.50 caliber rifle costs upwards of $10,000, yet terrorists can buy the
favored AK-47 in Pakistan for less than $200. History shows they opt for the AK-47.
Fact: .50-caliber rifles are heavy (20-35 pounds), expensive (from $3,000 to $10,000
each, with ammunition costing $2-$5 for each round), impossible to conceal (typically
four feet long), usually single shot (slow to reload), and impractical for terrorists.
Fact: .50-caliber rifles have only been used in 18 crimes in the history of the United
States. 365
Myth: American gun makers sold .50-calibers to
terrorists
Fact: This “study” by the anti-gun Violence Policy Center was inaccurate. The rifles in
question were sold to the United States government. Years later, the U.S. government
gave the rifles to Afghan freedom fighters to defeat the former Soviet Union. There is no
direct connection between gun makers and terrorists, and none of the rifles have been
used in terrorist actions. 366
Myth: .50-caliber shooters are terrorists in training
Fact: The average .50-caliber enthusiast is a successful businessman with an annual
income of $50,000 or more – hardly a terrorist profile. 367
Myth: The Founding Fathers would have had no use
for a .50-caliber rifle
Fact: Common guns of the early American republic were larger than .50-caliber, many
measuring up to .812 caliber. The famous Kentucky Rifle (a name eventually given to
most rifles made by German immigrants) was usually between .60- to .75-caliber.
364
Facts and Figures About Terrorism, Dexter Ingram, Heritage Foundation, September 14, 2001 (some
attacks had multiple methods which accounts for a total in excess of 100%).
365
Weaponry: .50 Caliber Rifle Crime, General Accounting Office Report number OSI-99-15R, revised
Oct. 21, 2001.
366
Barret Manufacturing letter on their web site available January 12, 2001. This was confirmed during a
visit by the BATF according to Dave Kopel in a National Review article “Guns and (Character)
Assassination”, December 21, 2001.
367
John Burtt, Fifty Caliber Shooters Policy Institute, Congressional testimony

Myth: .50-calibers are capable of piercing airline
fuel tanks from a mile away
Fact: Most expert long distance shooters cannot hit a stationary target under perfect,
windless conditions at such distances (one notable exception in Vietnam 368). Ill-trained
terrorists shooting a high-recoil .50-caliber rifle at fast moving targets – a 600 mph
airplane – have no chance.
Fact: The only known uses of .50-caliber weapons in downing aircraft have been military
aircraft using fully-automatic machine guns spraying fire while in combat against other
aircraft, and as sniper fire on stationary aircraft (i.e., on the ground) on enemy airfields.
Not even the military's best sharp shooters are going to ignite a jet's fuel tank when the jet
is flying between 150-500 miles per hour.
Myth: .50-caliber bullets can penetrate concrete
bunkers
Fact: "It takes 300 rounds to penetrate 2 meters of reinforced concrete at 100 meters.” 369
At $5 per round, it would cost a terrorist $1,500 in ammunition to shoot into one bunker.
Myth: .50-caliber Bullets can pierce light armor at 4
miles 370
Fact: "At 35 meters distance [0.5% of the mythical “four mile” distance], a .50-caliber
round will go through one inch armor plate." 371 Piercing any armor at four miles is
highly improbable.
Fact: "It is exceedingly difficult to hit a target, even a large one … at anything over
1200 to 1500 yards by even highly trained individuals ... The ammo is designed for a
machine gun, and is generally only good for 2-3 minutes [fraction of a degree] of
accuracy. That equates to a 30-45 inch circle at 1500 yards with a perfect rifle, no wind
or other conditions and a trained shooter." 372
Myth: .50-caliber rifles can knock a helicopter from
the sky
Fact: The terminal energy of a .50-caliber (6,000 ft-lbs) is not enough to knock a
modern military aircraft from the sky unless it hits a critical component like a fuel line.
Records exist showing this has been done with common, smaller caliber assault rifles
such as AK-47s.
Myth: .50-caliber guns are for snipers
Fact: Americans have been long-distance target shooters since revolutionary times.
368
One Shot, One Kill: American Combat Snipers in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Beirut, C. Sasser and
C. Roberts, Pocket Books , referring to Marine sniper Carlos Hathcock.
369
An Infantryman's Guide to Combat in Built-up Area, field manual 90-10-1, US Army, May 1993.
370
Senator Dianne Feinstein, Senate testimony, March 9, 2001.
371
An Infantryman's Guide to Combat in Built-up Area, field manual 90-10-1, US Army, May 1993.
372
Ibid.

According to period writings, Americans were shooting small targets at upwards of 150
yards using simple Kentucky long rifles and muskets. 373
Fact: “The use of [.50-caliber] by the IRA in Northern Ireland to shoot both soldiers and
police officers at very short range (never more than 275 yards) also gave the weapon a
worldwide notoriety when the world's media slapped a ‘sniper’ label on the terrorists
taking the shots. They obviously were not and soon ran scared when professional snipers
were deployed to stop them.” 374
373
Firearms Ownership & Manufacturing In Early America, Clayton Cramer, unpublished.
374
Sniper, Mark Spicer, Salamander Books, 2001.

A SSORTED MYTHS
Myth: 30,000 people are killed with guns every year.
Fact: 54% of these deaths are suicides 375 (80% in Canada 376). Numerous studies have
shown that the presence or absence of a firearm does not change the overall (i.e., gun plus
non-gun) suicide rate.
Myth: The Brady
Campaign has a good
ranking system of state
gun control laws.
Fact: There is zero correlation between
the letter grades given by the Brady
Campaign and the violent crime or
murder rate in those states, making the
Brady grade irrelevant (see chart at
right). 377
Myth: 1,000 people die
each day from guns
Fact: 25% of this unreliable figure 378 includes “direct war deaths”, and another 14% are
suicides. The bulk of the rest come from violence-prone and near lawless localities.
Fact: The source for this raw data admits “A complete dataset on people killed in
conflict—directly or indirectly—does not exist. All published figures are estimates based
on incomplete information.” 379
Fact: Indeed, the definition of “gun” seems to be very broad: “… revolvers and self-
loading pistols, rifles and carbines, assault rifles, sub-machine guns, and light machine
guns.” Light weapons are “… heavy machine guns, hand-held under-barrel and mounted
grenade launchers, portable antitank and anti-aircraft guns, recoilless rifles, portable
launchers of anti-tank and antiaircraft missile systems, and mortars of less than 100mm
caliber.” And they admit to the problem of a broad definition: “The Survey uses the
terms ‘small arms,’ ‘firearms,’ and ‘weapons’ interchangeably. Unless the context
dictates otherwise, no distinction is intended between commercial firearms (e.g. hunting
rifles), and small arms and light weapons designed for military use (e.g. assault
rifles).” 380
375
National Center for Health Statistics, average rates for years 1981 through 2003.
376
Death Involving Firearms, Kathryn Wilkins, Health Report vol. 16, no 4, Statistics Canada.
377
State Got a Poor ‘Brady Gun Grade’? Don’t Rush to Pack Your Bags, Denton Bramwell, 2006.
378
Bringing the global gun crisis under control, IANSA, 2006 citing Small Arms Survey.
379
Small Arms Survey 2005, www.smallarmssurvey.org.
380
Small Arms Survey 2002, www.smallarmssurvey.org.

Myth: High capacity guns lead to more deadly
shootings
Fact: Much of this myth comes from the fact that the general availability of high-
capacity handguns briefly preceded the rise in the crack cocaine trade, which brought a
new kind of violence in local drugs wars. 381
Fact: The number of shots fired by criminals has not changed significantly even with the
increased capacity of handguns and other firearms. Indeed, the number of shots from
revolvers (all within 6-8 round capacity) and semi-automatics were about the same – 2.04
vs. 2.53. 382 In a crime or gun battle, there is seldom time or need to shoot more.
Fact: Fatal criminal shootings declined from 4.3% to 3.3% from 1974 through 1995,
when the increase in semi-automatics and large capacity handguns were rising at their
fastest rate. 383 Fatal shootings of police officers declined sharply from 1988 through
1993. 384
Fact: Drug dealers tend to be “more deliberate in their efforts to kill their victims by
shooting them multiple times”. 385
Myth: The “powerful gun industry” stops all gun
control legislation
Fact: The firearms industry is composed of "small, marginally profitable companies,"
with combined revenues of $1.5 billion to $2 billion per year, making it politically
ineffective. 386
Fact: Total political contributions from firearm industry members, PACs and employees
was under $4.4 million in the 2002 election cycle, which made the industry the 64th
ranked contributor. Compare that to $33 million from the American Federation of State,
County & Municipal Employees. 387
Fact: Perhaps the "gun industry" being referenced is the 100+ million adults who
peacefully own firearms and do not want their civil rights restricted.
381
Targeting Guns, Gary Kleck, 1997.
382
Urban firearm deaths: A five-year perspective, Michael McGonigal, John Cole, William Schwab,
Donald Kauder, Michael Rotondo, Peter Angood, Journal of Trauma, 1993.
383
FBI Uniform Crime Statistics, 1966-1995.
384
Firearm injury from crime, Marianne Zawitz, 1996, Bureau of Justice Statistics.
385
Epidemiological changes in gunshot wounds in Washington D.C, Webster, Champion, Gainer and
Sykes, Archives of Surgery, 1992.
386
New York Times, Mar. 18, 2000.
387
OpenSecrets.org, May 2003.

Myth: Access to Handguns and Suicides
guns increases 20,000 340
the risk of
suicide 19,000
330
Fact: The rate of suicide 18,000
is not affected by the 17,000

320
presence of a firearm.
This is true in either a 16,000 310
time-series analysis (like 15,000

the chart at right showing 300
the change in handgun 14,000
supply in the U.S. over 13,000

290
388
time), or through cross-
national analysis. For 12,000 280
1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998
example, Japan has no SOURCE: FBI Uniform Crime Reports,
private handgun CDC WISQARS, BATF Firearms Suicides Handguns (m)
Commerce Report, 2002
ownership (aside from an
extremely limited number
of licensed Olympic sport shooters), and yet had a suicide rate more than twice that of the
United States in 2002. 389
388
FBI Uniform Crime Statistics online, BATFE Firearm Commerce Report for 2002.
389
FBI Uniform Crime Statistics, World Health Organization Suicide Prevention country reports (online).

G UN OWNERS AND PUBLIC OPINION
Myth: Gun owners are a tiny minority
Fact: The Federal government estimated that there were over 65 million gun owners in
the U.S. and more than 50% were handgun owners. 390 This number is generally
considered low due to the reluctance of many to admit to a government agency that they
own a gun. Other estimates indicate that between 41% and 49% of U.S. households are
gun-owning households.
Fact: 43% of Americans claim that they own a gun. 391
Myth: People do not believe that the 2nd Amendment is
an individual right
Fact: A Gallup survey confirms that 73% of Americans believe the 2nd Amendment
“guarantees” the right to keep guns, and that a mere 20% believe it exists to enable state
militias. 392
Fact: A Zogby poll 393 concluded that 75% of Americans believe the right to keep and
bear arms is an individual right. ABC determined the rate to be 77%. 394
Myth: Most Americans favor gun control
Fact: Few "surveys" conducted in this country on the subject of gun control are unbiased.
Professional survey designers have criticized both Harris and Gallup gun surveys for their
construction – that the surveys have
been designed to reach a desired Cause of Gun Violence Percent
395
conclusion. The way parents raise their children 45%
Fact: Americans believe that Popular culture 26%
parents and popular culture are Availability of guns 21%
more responsible for violence in Other 6%
America than firearms. 396 No opinion 2%
390
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, 1997.
391
Americans by Slight Margin Say Gun in the Home Makes It Safer, Gallup Poll, October 20, 2006.
392
Public Believes Americans Have Right to Own Guns, Gallup Poll, May 27, 2008.
393
SAF survey of 1,015 likely voters, Zogby, June 2002.
394
ABC News, May 14, 2002.
395
Often these surveys use questions like "If it reduced crime, would you favor stronger gun control laws?"
These questions are rephrased in headline to read "Americans demand gun control" while ignoring the
leading goal of reducing crime. These surveys also fail to ask counter balancing questions to
prove/disprove any bias in questions. A counter-balancing question might be: "If it were shown that gun
control laws were ineffective in preventing crime, would you favor enacting more gun control laws?"
396
Gallup Poll, May 2000 – (this despite a question design which made “availability of guns” the most
likely choice due to order ranking).

Should gun manufacturers be held liable
Fact: 52% of Americans in
for gun violence?
2006 do not believe more gun
control is needed. 397
Fact: An Associated Press poll
in April, 2000 showed 42% No
thought stricter enforcement 85%
was more likely to cut gun
violence. Only 33% said
enacting tougher gun laws was
better. Sometimes
Yes
5%
Fact: A survey in April, 2000 10%
by ABC News/Washington
CNN Survey, 1999
Post asked whether "passing
stricter gun control laws" or
"stricter enforcement of existing laws" is the best way to curb gun violence. Enforcement
was preferred by 53% to 33%.
Fact: 58% percent of Americans believe better enforcement of existing laws "is a better
way to reduce handgun violence” than new gun control laws. 398
Fact: A 1999 survey by CBS (hardly a pro gun organization) found these responses:
• Only 14% of Americans believe that gun control can prevent violence with guns.
• 56% of people said enforcement of existing laws is the better way to reduce violent
crime than new gun control laws.
• Only 4% said gun control should be a top issue for the government.
Fact: A recent and well-constructed survey by Time Magazine showed some interesting
results. From 33,202 adult Americans surveyed in 1998:
Yes No
Should the U.S. have stricter gun control 6.73% 92.25%
laws?
Do you believe that allowing people to 92.22% 7.76%
carry concealed weapons reduce crime?
Do you believe that U.S. cities should sue 1.96% 98.01%
gun manufacturers to recoup money spent
dealing with gun-related crime?
How would you rate the effectiveness of 0.52% Very effective
the Brady Bill and the “assault weapons” 3.79% Somewhat effective
ban in preventing the illegal use and 6.19% Somewhat ineffective
distribution of guns?
87.27% Not at all effective
2.23% Don't know
397
Rasmussen Reports, February 19, 2006.
398
Portrait of America Survey, August 2000.

Fact: According to an AOL.com poll in March 2000:
How can gun violence be effectively prevented? People Percent
Stricter gun control laws 10,841 17.8%
Proper enforcement of current gun control laws 13,587 22.4%
Ban on handguns 8,008 13.2%
Stricter punishment for crimes involving guns 21,596 35.6%
Other 5,094 8.4%
Not sure 1,613 2.7%
Fact: A CNN survey in the summer of 1999 asked if gun makers should be held liable
for gun violence. Obviously not.
Fact: A 1999 survey by the Associated Press showed:
• A plurality (49%) felt enforcing existing laws was the key to reducing violent crime.
• 52% felt that background checks did not help reduce the number of crimes committed
with guns.
Fact: A 2000 Zogby telephone Zogby December 2000 Survey
survey of 1,201 adults concluded
Enforce existing laws 52%
that, by almost a two-to-one margin,
Americans prefer enforcement of Banning handguns 15%
existing laws instead of new and Teach children self-control 15%
tougher gun legislation to fight Additional congressional legislation 2%
crime. The same poll found that Other 8%
68% of the public disagrees with Don’t know 2%
cities suing gun makers for the
criminal misuse of guns.
Fact: A December 2000 Zogby poll of 1,028 American adults showed that they felt
enforcing current laws was the “best way to solve gun violence in America.”
Fact: A January 2001 Zogby, “American Values,” poll found that 66% of voters felt that
the U.S. should spend more money enforcing current laws including mandatory jail time
for those who commit a crime with a handgun, while only 26% felt there should be more
gun control laws including mandatory gun locks.
Myth: More and more Americans support stricter gun
control
Fact: The Gallup Poll has been asking Americans this question since 1990 and in the 16
years thereafter, the number supporting stricter gun control has fallen from 78% to
56%. 399
Fact: Twice as many Americans currently reject the idea of a handgun ban, though a
majority favored such a ban in 1959. 400
399
Americans by Slight Margin Say Gun in the Home Makes It Safer, Gallup Poll, October 20, 2006.

MYTH: People want to ban handguns
Fact: Only 29% of Americans believe handguns should be banned from private
ownership and this rate
is down from 60% Enforce Existing Laws?
when polling began in
the 1950’s. 401 70% 64%
62%
MYTH: Most 60%
51%
people think 50%
% of Respondents
50%
guns in the
home are 40% 35%
dangerous 30%
Fact: Gallup poll 20%

concludes that a slight
majority (47% vs. 43%) 10%
believe that having a
0%
firearm in the home All Whites Hispanics Blacks
makes it safer. 402 Better Enforcement
Zogby telephone survey, 2000
New Laws
400
Ibid.
401
Before Recent Shootings, Gun-Control Support Was Fading, Gallup Poll, April 8, 2009.
402
Ibid.

G UN C ONTROL P ROPONENTS
Politicians
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
"Only the police should have handguns."
“When we got organized as a country, we wrote a fairly radical Constitution with
a radical Bill of Rights, giving a radical amount of individual freedom to
Americans. There’s too much personal freedom. When personal freedom’s being
abused, you have to move to limit it.” 403
Fact: Wang Jun – son of the late Chinese President Wang Zhen – who is
chairman of the China International Trade and Investment Company and
President of Polytechnologies Corp., attended a White House coffee with Clinton
in February 1996 and was granted a meeting with Commerce Secretary Ronald
Brown the next day.
He was also connected to more than $600,000 in illegal campaign contributions to
the Democrats, the report said. Polytechnologies is an arms-trading company
indicted for trying to smuggle 2,000 Chinese AK-47 assault rifles into the United
States and it is the largest of the corporate structures owned by the People's
Liberation Army. 404
V.I. LENIN
"One man with a gun can control 100 without one. ... Make mass searches and
hold executions for found arms."
DIANNE FEINSTEIN, U.S. SENATOR FROM CALIFORNIA
"Banning guns addresses a fundamental right of all Americans to feel safe.” 405
"If I could have gotten 51 votes in the Senate of the United States for an outright
ban, picking up every one of them; "Mr. and Mrs. America, turn 'em all in," I
would have done it.” 406
"The National Guard fulfills the militia mentioned in the Second amendment.
Citizens no longer need to protect the states or themselves."
JOSEPH STALIN
"If the opposition disarms, well and good. If it refuses to disarm, we shall disarm
it ourselves."
403
Enough is Enough, MTV, March 22, 1994
404
CNN May 24, 1999
405
Associated Press, November 18, 1993
406
60 Minutes, CBS, February 5, 1995

FRANK LAUTENBERG, U.S. SENATOR FROM NEW JERSEY
"We have other legislation that all of you are aware that I have been so active on,
with my colleagues here, and that is to shut down the gun shows.” 407
ADOLF HITLER
“The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to allow the subject
races to possess arms. History shows that all conquerors who have allowed their
subject races to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by so doing.” 408
GISELA KALLENBACH, GERMAN MEMBER OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
"We in Europe … do not consider the freedom to buy weapons a human right." 409
HOWARD METZENBAUM, FORMER U.S. SENATOR
"No, we're not looking at how to control criminals ... we're talking about banning
the AK-47 and semi-automatic guns."
CHARLES PASHAYAN, U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FROM CALIFORNIA
"All of this has to be understood as part of a process leading ultimately to a treaty
that will give an international body power over our domestic laws." 410
PETE STARK, U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FROM CALIFORNIA
"If a bill to ban handguns came to the house floor, I would vote for it.” 411
WILLIAM CLAY, U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FROM MISSOURI
" ...we need much stricter gun control, and eventually should bar the ownership of
handguns"
JOSEPH BIDEN, U.S. SENATOR FROM DELAWARE
"Banning guns is an idea whose time has come."
JOHN CHAFEE, FORMER U.S. SENATOR FROM RHODE ISLAND
“I shortly will introduce legislation banning the sale, manufacture or possession of
handguns (with exceptions for law enforcement and licensed target clubs)... . It is
time to act. We cannot go on like this. Ban them!” 412
407
Press conference on March 1, 2000
408
Hitler's Secret Conversations, trans. Norman Cameron and R. H. Stevens, Signet Books, 1961, 403
409
EU legislattors push together gun controls, International Herald Tribune, November 29, 2007
410
United Nations Conference on Small Arms, 2001
411
Town Hall Meeting, June 1999, Fremont California
412
In View of Handguns' Effects, There's Only One Answer: A Ban, Minneapolis Star Tribune, June 15,
1992, at 13A

JAN SCHAKOWSKY, U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FROM ILLINOIS
“I believe.....this is my final word......I believe that I'm supporting the Constitution
of the United States which does not give the right for any individual to own a
handgun...." 413
MAJOR OWENS, U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FROM NEW YORK
“We have to start with a ban on the manufacturing and import of handguns. From
there we register the guns which are currently owned, and follow that with
additional bans and acquisitions of handguns and rifles with no sporting purpose.”
BOBBY RUSH, U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FROM ILLINOIS
"My staff and I right now are working on a comprehensive gun-control bill. We
don't have all the details, but for instance, regulating the sale and purchase of
bullets. Ultimately, I would like to see the manufacture and possession of
handguns banned except for military and police use. But that's the endgame. And
in the meantime, there are some specific things that we can do with legislation."
414
FERDINAND E. MARCOS, FORMER PRESIDENT/DICTATOR OF THE PHILIPPINES

President Marcos declared Martial Law by virtue of Proclamation No.1081 on
Sept.21, 1972 and on the following day issued General Order No. 6 declaring that
no person shall keep, possess or carry any firearms with penalties ranging up to
death. The Philippines was under his dictatorship for the next 14 years.
ACTS OF VIOLENCE COMMITTED BY MEMBERS OF GUN CONTROL ORGANIZATIONS
• Barbara Graham, speaker at the “Million Mom March” in 2000, was convicted of
shooting and paralyzing for life a man she mistook as one who had killed her
son. 415
• In Fort Collins, a woman who opposes the right of self-defense struck a member
of the Tyranny Response Team with a clipboard. 416
• At a rally in Boulder early in 2000, Robert Howell, vice president of the anti-gun
Boulder Bell Campaign, attacked Shariar Ghalam, bloodying his nose. (Ghalam
was carrying a concealed handgun but never drew it, not believing his life was in
danger.)
• In the summer of 2000, supporters of the anti-gun Million Mom March stole
supplies from the Second Amendment Sisters and vandalized SAS property. 417
413
Tape recorded on June 25, 2000 by Matt Beauchamp at the Chicago Gay Pride Parade
414
Chicago Tribune, December 5, 1999
415
Mother Convicted in Shooting, Washington Post, February 2, 2001, Page B01 – Woman Goes on Trial
In Ambush Shooting, January 24, 2001, Page B01
416
New gun laws by force, Boulder Weekl, August 24, 2000
417
Million Mom Marchers ransack pro-gun display, WorldNetDaily, August 1, 2000

• Ari Armstrong, a pro-civil rights activist in Colorado, received threatening
telephone calls allegedly from members of S.A.F.E (an anti-gun group) after Ari
appeared on television promoting firearm freedoms. 418
Anti-freedom political activists
THE COALITION TO STOP GUN VIOLENCE
"It is our aim to ban the manufacture and sale of handguns to private
individuals.” 419
“We will never fully solve our nation's horrific problem of gun violence unless we
ban the manufacture and sale of handguns and semiautomatic assault
weapons.” 420
NELSON T. “PETE” SHIELDS, CHAIRMAN EMERITUS, HANDGUN CONTROL, INC. 421
" .... the final problem is to make the possession of all handguns and all handgun
ammunition except for the military, policemen, licensed security guards, licensed
sporting clubs, and licensed gun collectors -- totally illegal.” 422
"Yes, I'm for an outright ban (on handguns).” 423
"We'll take one step at a time, and the first is necessarily - given the political
realities - very modest. We'll have to start working again to strengthen the law,
and then again to strengthen the next law and again and again. Our ultimate goal,
total control of handguns, is going to take time. The first problem is to slow down
production and sales. Next is to get registration. The final problem is to make
possession of all handguns and ammunition (with a few exceptions) totally
illegal.” 424
SARAH BRADY, CHAIRPERSON FOR HANDGUN CONTROL, INC. (NOW THE BRADY
CAMPAIGN)
"...I don't believe gun owners have rights.” 425
"We would like to see, in the future, what we will probably call needs-based
licensing of all weapons. ...Where it would make it much more difficult for
anybody to be able to purchase handguns...." 426
"To me, the only reason for guns in civilian hands is for sporting purposes.” 427
418
Compiled and reported by the Boulder Weekly, August 24, 2000
419
Recruiting flyer, 1996
420
Jeff Muchnick, Legislative Director, USA Today, December 29, 1993
421
It is interesting to note that HCI was originally named National Council to Ban Handguns.
422
The New Yorker, July 26, 1976
423
60 Minutes interview
424
New Yorker Magazine, June 26, 1976, pg. 53
425
Handguns in America, Hearst Newspapers Special Report, October 1997
426
Sarah Brady speech to the Women's National Democratic Club, Sept. 21, 1993

JIM BRADY
“[Handguns] For target shooting, that’s okay. Get a license and go to the range.
For defense of the home, that’s why we have police.” 428
ELLIOT CORBETT, SECRETARY, NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR A RESPONSIBLE FIREARMS
POLICY
"Handguns should be outlawed."
BERNARD PARKS, CHIEF OF POLICE, L.A. CALIFORNIA
“We would get rid of assault weapons. There would not be an assault weapon in
the United States, whether it's for a show or someone having it in a collection.” 429
JOSH SUGARMANN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE VIOLENCE POLICY CENTER
“ ... immediately call on Congress to pass far-reaching industry regulation like the
Firearms Safety and Consumer Protection Act ... [which] would give the Treasury
Department health and safety authority over the gun industry, and any rational
regulator with that authority would ban handguns.” 430
PATRICK V. MURPHY, FORMER NEW YORK CITY POLICE COMMISSIONER
“We are at the point in time and terror where nothing short of a strong uniform
policy of domestic disarmament will alleviate the danger which is crystal clear
and perilously present. Let us take the guns away from the people.” 431
AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION (ACLU)
“We urge passage of federal legislation ... to prohibit ... the private ownership and
possession of handguns.” 432
ROSIE O'DONNELL, TV TALK SHOW HOSTESS
“I think there should be a law -- and I know this is extreme -- that no one can have
a gun in the U.S. If you have a gun, you go to jail. Only the police should have
guns." 433
“I don't care if you want to hunt, I don't care if you think it's your right. I say,
sorry, you are not allowed to own a gun, and if you do own a gun I think you
should go to prison." 434
427
Tampa Tribune, Oct 21, 1993
428
Parade Magazine, June 26, 1994
429
Reuters, June 9, 2000
430
Houston Chronicle, Nov. 5, 1999
431
Testimony to the National Association of Citizens Crime Commissions
432
Board of Directors in September 1976 - see national ACLU policy #47
433
Ottawa Sun, April 29, 1999
434
The Rosie O'Donnell Show April 19, 1999

VIOLENCE POLICY CENTER
“[gun] Licensing systems are very expensive to administer ... licensing and
registration in America would have little effect on the vast majority of gun
violence.”
“[We are] the largest national gun control advocacy group seeking a ban on
handgun production.” 435
ALAN M. DERSHOWITZ, LAWYER AND FRANKFURTER PROFESSOR OF LAW
“The Second Amendment has no place in modern society.” 436
BROOKS BROWN, SAFE COLORADO
“It was worth lying to him or deceiving him ...” 437
The media
MICHAEL GARDNER, PRESIDENT OF NBC NEWS
"There is no reason for anyone in this country ... to buy, to own, to have, to use a
handgun ...The only way to control handgun use in this country is to prohibit the
guns.” 438
"In fact, only police, soldiers -- and, maybe, licensed target ranges -- should have
handguns. No one else needs one." 439
EDITORIAL, LOS ANGELES TIMES
“Why should America adopt a policy of near-zero tolerance for private gun
ownership? Because it's the only alternative to the present insanity. Without both
strict limits on access to new weapons and aggressive efforts to reduce the supply
of existing weapons, no one can be safe.” 440
"...The Times supports a near-total ban on the manufacture and private ownership
of handguns and assault weapons, leaving those guns almost exclusively in the
hands of law enforcement officials.” 441
JACK E. WHITE, TIME MAGAZINE NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT
“Why not just ban the ownership of handguns when nobody needs one? Why not
just ban semi-automatic rifles? Nobody needs one." 442
435
Politics, paranoia fuel war of words over guns, The Times Union, October 18, 2004
436
The Crimson Daily, April 9, 2003
437
SAFE Colorado Says Washington Stunt Was Irresponsible, The Denver Channel, July 26, 2001,
discussing an attempt to influence a congressman on a gun control bill
438
USA Today, January 16, 1992
439
The Wall Street Journal, January 10, 1991
440
Taming the Monster: Get Rid of the Guns, Dec. 28, 1993
441
Taming the Monster: The Guns Among Us, Dec. 10, 1993
442
Washington Times, May 8, 1999

GARY WILLS, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST
"Every civilized society must disarm its citizens against each other." 443
The media in general
A two-year study by the Media Research Center concluded that television
reporters are overwhelmingly opposed to Second Amendment rights. For
broadcasts from major networks from July 1, 1995 to June 30, 1997, covering 244
gun policy stories:
• The ratio of anti-gun to pro-gun bias was 16:1.
• Anti-gun spokespeople (Sarah Brady, etc) were given three times the
number of sound bites than pro-gun spokespeople (NRA, etc).
The American government
The following exchange is from the appeal of the case of U.S. vs. Emerson in the Fifth
Circuit Court. Meteja was the attorney for the U.S. Government.
Judge Garwood: [to federal lawyer] "You are saying that the Second
Amendment is consistent with a position that you can take guns away from the
public? You can restrict ownership of rifles, pistols and shotguns from all people?
Is that the position of the United States?"
Meteja: [federal lawyer] "Yes"
Garwood: "Is it the position of the United States that persons who are not in the
National Guard are afforded no protections under the Second Amendment?"
Meteja: Exactly.
Meteja then said that even membership in the National Guard isn't enough to
protect the private ownership of a firearm. It wouldn't protect the guns owned at
the home of someone in the National Guard.
Garwood: Membership in the National Guard isn't enough? What else is needed?
Meteja: The weapon in question must be used in the National Guard.
GEORGE NAPPER, ATLANTA PUBLIC-SAFETY COMMISSIONER
"If I had my druthers, the only people who would have guns would be those who
enforce the law." 444
JANET RENO, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL
"The most effective means of fighting crime in the United States is to outlaw the
possession of any type of firearm by the civilian populace." 445
443
Philadelphia Inquirer, May 17, 1981
444
U.S. News and World Report
445
Addressing a 1984 B'nai B'rith gathering in Coral Gables, Florida, per affidavit written by Fred
Diamond of Miami.

MARION BARRY, FORMER MAYOR, WASHINGTON D.C.
"Our neighbors in Virginia are just as responsible for these killings as the
criminals are because they won't pass strong gun [control] legislation." 446 (ed:
The claim being that citizens of Virginia were responsible for murders committed
in Washington D.C..)
446
This Week With David Brinkley, ABC TV, March 19, 1989

G UN C ONTROL O PPONENTS
JOHN F. KENNEDY, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
"Today, we need a nation of Minutemen, citizens who are not only prepared to take
arms, but citizens who regard the preservation of freedom as the basic purpose of
their daily life and who are willing to consciously work and sacrifice for that
freedom."
"By calling attention to 'a well regulated militia,' the 'security' of the nation, and the
right of each citizen 'to keep and bear arms,' our founding fathers recognized the
essentially civilian nature of our economy. Although it is extremely unlikely that the
fears of governmental tyranny, which gave rise to the Second Amendment, will ever
be a major danger to our nation, the Amendment still remains an important
declaration of our basic civilian-military relationships, in which every citizen must be
ready to participate in the defense of his country. For that reason I believe the Second
Amendment will always be important."447
MAHATMA GANDHI, PEACEFUL REVOLUTIONARY
“Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the
Act depriving a whole nation of arms, as the blackest."
ARISTOTLE
"Those who have the command of the arms in a country are masters of the state, and
have it in their power to make what revolutions they please. [Thus,] there is no end to
observations on the difference between the measures likely to be pursued by a
minister backed by a standing army, and those of a court awed by the fear of an
armed people."
GEORGE ORWELL
“The totalitarian states can do great things, but there is one thing they cannot do: they
cannot give the factory-worker a rifle and tell him to take it home and keep it in his
bedroom. That rifle, hanging on the wall of the working-class flat or laborer’s
cottage, is the symbol of democracy. It is our job to see that it stays there." 448
HUBERT HUMPHREY, FORMER U.S. SENATOR AND VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED
STATES
"Certainly one of the chief guarantees of freedom under any government, no matter
how popular and respected, is the right of citizens to keep and bear arms.... The right
of citizens to bear arms is just one guarantee against arbitrary government, one more
safeguard against tyranny... " 449
447
Know Your Lawmakers, Guns Magazine, April 1960, Page 4
448
Don't Let Colonel Blimp Ruin the Home Guard, Evening Standard, , Jan 8, 1941
449
Know Your Lawmakers, Guns Magazine, Feb 1960, Page 6

JOHN ADAMS, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
“Resistance to sudden violence, for the preservation not only of my person, my limbs,
and life, but of my property, is an indisputable right of nature which I have never
surrendered to the public by the compact of society, and which perhaps, I could not
surrender if I would." 450
"Here, every private person is authorized to arm himself, and on the strength of this
authority, I do not deny the inhabitants had a right to arm themselves at that time, for
their defense, not for offense..." 451
ST. GEORGE TUCKER, AMERICAN REVOLUTION MAJOR AND POST REVOLUTION JUDGE
"In America we may reasonably hope that the people will never cease to regard the
right of keeping and bearing arms as the surest pledge of their liberty." 452
WALTER MONDALE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT AND U.S. AMBASSADOR TO JAPAN
"Gun bans don't disarm criminals, gun bans attract them." 453
THOMAS JEFFERSON, AUTHOR OF THE AMERICAN DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
"No freeman shall be debarred the use of arms (within his own lands or
tenements)." 454
"What country can preserve it's liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to
time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance. Let them take arms." 455
"The constitutions of most of our States assert that all power is inherent in the people;
that... it is their right and duty to be at all times armed." 456
"One loves to possess arms, though they hope never to have occasion for them." 457
"I learn with great concern that [one] portion of our frontier so interesting, so
important, and so exposed, should be so entirely unprovided with common fire-arms.
I did not suppose any part of the United States so destitute of what is considered as
among the first necessaries of a farm-house." 458
450
Boston Gazette, Sept. 5, 1763
451
Legal Papers of John Adams, Butterfield and Zobel; 1965, opening statement as defense counsel for
British soldiers on trial for the Boston Massacre in 1770
452
American Blackstone, 1803
453
April 20, 1994
454
Draft Virginia Constitution (with his note added), Thomas Jefferson, 1776. Papers 1:353
455
Letter to James Madison, Dec. 20, 1787, in Papers of Jefferson, ed. Boyd et al.
456
Thomas Jefferson to John Cartwright, 1824. Millennium Edition of The Writings of Thomas Jefferson
16:45
457
Thomas Jefferson to George Washington, 1796. Millennium Edition of The Writings of Thomas
Jefferson 9:341
458
Thomas Jefferson to Jacob J. Brown, 1808. Millennium Edition of The Writings of Thomas Jefferson
11:432

"None but an armed nation can dispense with a standing army. To keep ours armed
and disciplined is therefore at all times important."
JAMES MADISON, AMERICAN FOUNDING FATHER
“[The Constitution preserves] the advantage of being armed which Americans possess
over the people of almost every other nation...[where] the governments are afraid to
trust the people with arms.”
OLIVER STONE, MOVIE DIRECTOR
"I like automatic weapons. I fought for my right to use them in Vietnam."
PATRICK HENRY, AMERICAN FOUNDING FATHER AND CATALYST FOR THE BILL OF
RIGHTS
"The great objective is that every man be armed ... . Everyone who is able may have a
gun."
MACHIAVELLI
"The Swiss are well armed and enjoy great freedom" 459
“From this we plainly see the folly and imprudence of demanding a thing, and saying
beforehand that it is intended to be used for evil; … For it is enough to ask a man to
give up his arms, without telling him that you intend killing him with them; after you
have the arms in hand, then you can do your will with them.” 460
TENCHE COXE, REVOLUTIONARY ERA WRITER
"As civil rulers, not having their duty to the people before them, may attempt to
tyrannize, and as the military forces which must be occasionally raised to defend our
country, might pervert their power to the injury of their fellow citizens, the people are
confirmed by the article in their right to keep and bear their private arms." 461
"Congress have no power to disarm the militia. Their swords, and every other
terrible implement of the soldier, are the birthright of an American... The unlimited
power of the sword is not in the hands of either the federal or state government, but,
where I trust in God it will ever remain, in the hands of the people" 462
MALCOLM X, AMERICAN BLACK CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST
"It is criminal to teach a man not to defend himself when he is the constant victim of
brutal attacks. It is legal and lawful to own a shotgun or a rifle. We believe in obeying
the law." 463
459
In Switzerland, males age 20 to 42 serving in the army are required to keep rifles or pistols at home
460
Discourses on the First Ten Books of Titus Livius, Niccolò Machiavelli
461
Remarks on the First Part of the Amendments to the Federal Constitution under the pseudonym ‘A
Pennsylvanian' in the Philadelphia Federal Gazette, June 18, 1789 at 2 col. 1
462
Pennsylvania Gazette, Feb. 20, 1788
463
Statement to the press, March 12, 1964

“... I must say this concerning the great controversy over rifles and shotguns. The
only thing I've ever said is that in areas where the government has proven itself either
unwilling or unable to defend the lives and the property of Negroes, it's time for
Negroes to defend themselves. Article number two of the constitutional amendments
provides you and me the right to own a rifle or a shotgun. It is constitutionally legal to
own a shotgun or a rifle." 464
SAMUEL ADAMS, MEMBER OF THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS
"That the said Constitution shall never be construed to authorize Congress to infringe
the just liberty of the press or the rights of conscience; or to prevent the people of
The United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms..." 465
WILLIAM RAWLE, POST-REVOLUTION U.S. ATTORNEY
"The prohibition is general. No clause in the Constitution could by any rule of
construction be conceived to give to Congress a power to disarm the people. Such a
flagitious attempt could only be made under some general pretense by a state
legislature. But if in any blind pursuit of inordinate power, either should attempt it,
this amendment may be appealed to as a restraint on both." 466
THOMAS PAINE, AMERICAN REVOLUTION POLITICAL PHILOSOPHER
"Arms, like laws, discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe and preserve
order..."
MAFIA INFORMANT SAMMY "THE BULL" GRAVANO
"Gun control? It's the best thing you can do for crooks and gangsters. I want you to
have nothing. If I'm a bad guy, I'm always gonna have a gun. Safety locks? You
will pull the trigger with a lock on, and I'll pull the trigger. We'll see who wins."
RICHARD HENRY LEE, MEMBER OF THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS
“[W]hereas, to preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people
always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use
them;” 467
ALEXANDER HAMILTON, AUTHOR OF THE FEDERALIST PAPERS
"The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be properly
armed." 468
ZACHARIAH JOHNSON
"The people are not to be disarmed of their weapons. They are left in full possession
of them." 469
464
Malcolm X Speaks, Merit Publishers, 1965
465
Debates and Proceedings in the Convention of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, at 86-87
466
A View of the Constitution 125-6 (2nd ed. 1829)
467
Letters from the Federal Farmer to the Republican, at 21,22,124
468
The Federalist Papers at 184-8

TIMOTHY DWIGHT, ARMY CHAPLAIN DURING THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
"To trust arms in the hands of the people at large has, in Europe, been believed...to be
an experiment fraught only with danger. Here by a long trial it has been proved to be
perfectly harmless...If the government be equitable; if it be reasonable in its
exactions; if proper attention be paid to the education of children in knowledge and
religion, few men will be disposed to use arms, unless for their amusement, and for
the defense of themselves and their country." 470
CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST
"The Brady Bill's only effect will be to desensitize the public to regulation of
weapons in preparation for their ultimate confiscation.” 471
"Passing a law like the assault weapons ban is a symbolic, purely symbolic move. ... Its
only real justification is not to reduce crime but to desensitize the public to the regulation
of weapons in preparation for their ultimate confiscation." 472
469
Debates in the Several State Conventions, Jonathan Elliot, 646
470
Travels in New England and New York, 1823
471
The Washington Post, April 5, 1996
472
Ibid

T HE S ECOND A MENDMENT
Justification clause: "A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of
a free State,"
Rights clause: "the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be
infringed."
The justification clause does not modify, restrict, or deny the rights clause. 473
For a full discussion of how the 2nd Amendment was created and revised, see “Origin of
the 2nd Amendment” in the “Miscellaneous information” section of this book.
Myth: The Supreme Court ruled the Second
Amendment is not an individual right
Fact: In D.C. v Heller the Supreme Court (2008) firmly established the 2nd Amendment
is an individual right, as they had in Cruikshank and Dred Scott.
Fact: Of 300 decisions of the federal and state courts that have taken a position on the
meaning of the Second Amendment or the state analogs to it, only 10 have claimed that
the right to keep and bear arms is not an individual right. Many of the other decisions
struck down gun control laws because they conflicted with the Second Amendment, such
as State v. Nunn (Ga. 1846). 474
Fact: In the Dred Scott case of 1856, the Supreme Court listed the protected rights of
citizens and explicitly listed the right to keep and bear arms, and gave this right equal
weight to the other freedoms enumerated in the constitution.
Myth: The Second Amendment is a collective right,
not an individual right
Fact: St. George Tucker, any early legal commentator and authority of the original
meaning of the constitution wrote in Blackstone’s Commentaries "… nor will the
constitution permit any prohibition of arms to the people” 475
Fact: The Second Amendment was listed in a Supreme Court ruling as an individual
right. 476
Fact: The Supreme Court specifically reaffirmed that the right to keep and bear arms did
not belong to the government. 477
473
Eugene Volokh, Prof. Law, UCLA
474
For the Defense of Themselves and the State: The Original Intent and Judicial Interpretation of the
Right to Keep and Bear Arms, Clayton Cramer, Praeger Press, 1994
475
Blackstone’s Commentaries, St. GeorgeTucker, Vol 1. Note D. Part 6. Restraints on Powers of Congress
(1803).
476
Dred Scott, Casey v. Planned Parenthood, U.S. v. Cruikshank and others
477
United States v. Miller

Fact: In 22 of the 27 instances where the Supreme Court mentions the Second
Amendment, they quote the rights clause and not the justification clause.
Fact: Courts disagree. “We find that the history of the Second Amendment reinforces
the plain meaning of its text, namely that it protects individual Americans in their right to
keep and bear arms whether or not they are a member of a select militia or performing
active military service or training” and “We reject the collective rights and sophisticated
collective rights models for interpreting the Second Amendment” 478
Fact: Citizens disagree. 62% believe the 2nd Amendment guarantees an individual right,
while a mere 28% believe it protects the power of the states to form militias. 479
Fact: There are 23 state constitutions with RKBA clauses adopted between the
Revolution and 1845, and 20 of them are explicitly individual in nature, only three have
"for the common defense...." or other “collective rights” clauses. 480
Fact: James Madison, considered to be the author of the Bill of Rights, wrote that the
Bill of Rights was "calculated to secure the personal rights of the people". He never
excluded the Second Amendment from this statement.
Fact: Patrick Henry commented on the Swiss militia model (still in use today) noting
that they maintain their independence without "a mighty and splendid President" or a
standing army. 481
Fact: "The congress of the United States possesses no power to regulate, or interfere
with the domestic concerns, or police of any state: it belongs not to them to establish any
rules respecting the rights of property; nor will the constitution permit any prohibition of
arms to the people; or of peaceable assemblies by them, for any purposes whatsoever, and
in any number, whenever they may see occasion." 482
Fact: Tench Coxe, in Remarks on the First Part of the Amendments to the Federal
Constitution said "As civil rulers, not having their duty to the people duly before them,
may attempt to tyrannize, and as the military forces which must be occasionally raised to
defend our country, might pervert their power to the injury of their fellow-citizens, the
people are confirmed by the next article in their right to keep and bear their private
arms.”
478
U.S. v. Emerson, 5th court of Appeals decision, November 2, 2001, No. 99-10331
479
Associated Television News Survey, August 1999, 1,007 likely voters
480
For the Defense of Themselves and the State: The Original Intent and Judicial Interpretation of the
Right to Keep and Bear Arms, Clayton Cramer, , Praeger Press, 1994, cited as an authority in USA v.
Emerson (N.D. Texas 1999)
481
Where Kids and Guns Do Mix, Stephen P. Halbrook, Wall Street Journal, June 2000
482
Blackstone’s Commentaries, St. George Tucker, Volume 1 Appendix Note D., 1803 – Tucker's
comments provide a number of insights into the consensus for interpretation of the Constitution that
prevailed shortly after its ratification, after the debates had settled down and the Constitution was put into
practice.

Myth: The "militia" clause is to arm the National
Guard
Fact: “Militia” is a Latin abstract noun, meaning "military service", not an "armed
group", and that is the way the Latin-literate Founders used it. To the Romans, "military
service" included law enforcement and disaster response. Today “militia” might be more
meaningfully translated as "defense service", associated with a "defense duty", which
attaches to individuals as much as to groups of them, organized or otherwise. When we
are alone, we are all militias of one. In the broadest sense, militia is the exercise of civic
virtue. 483
Fact: The Dick Act of 1903 designated the National Guard as the "organized militia"
and that all other citizens were the "unorganized militia" – thus the National Guard is
only part of the militia, and the whole militia is composed of the population at large.
Before 1903, the National Guard had no federal definition as part of the militia at all.
Fact: The first half of the Second Amendment is called the "justification clause".
Justification clauses appear in many state constitutions, and cover liberties including right
to trial, freedom of the press, free speech, and more. Denying gun rights based on the
justification clause means we would have to deny free speech rights on the same
basis. 484 See http://www.law.ucla.edu/faculty/volokh/beararms/testimon.htm
Fact: The origin of the phrase "a well regulated militia" comes from a 1698 treatise "A
Discourse of Government with Relation to Militias" by Andrew Fletcher, in which the
term "well regulated" was equated with "well-behaved" or "disciplined". 485
Fact: “We have found no historical evidence that the Second Amendment was intended
to convey militia power to the states, limit the federal government's power to maintain a
standing army, or applies only to members of a select militia while on active duty. All of
the evidence indicates that the Second Amendment, like other parts of the Bill of Rights,
applies to and protects individual Americans.” 486
Fact: “The plain meaning of the right of the people to keep arms is that it is an
individual, rather than a collective, right and is not limited to keeping arms while engaged
in active military service or as a member of a select militia such as the National Guard
...” 487
483
Militia, The Constitution Society, www.constiution.org
484
Eugene Volokh, Prof. Law, UCLA
485
This document was widely published during the colonial and revolutionary periods, and was the basis
for state and federal 'bills of rights'.
486
487
Ibid

Fact: Before there was a Bill of Rights, most of the 13 original states had their own
constitutions, and it is from these that the original Bill of Rights was distilled. The state
constitutions of that time had many “right to keep and bear arms” clauses that clearly
guaranteed an individual right. Some examples include:
Connecticut: Every citizen has a right to bear arms in defense of himself and the
state.
Kentucky: … the right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and
the State shall not be questioned.
Pennsylvania: That the people have a right to bear arms for the defense of
themselves and the state; ... The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of
themselves and the State shall not be questioned.
Rhode Island: The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be
infringed.
Vermont: … the people have a right to bear arms for the defense of themselves
and the State.
Myth: U.S. v. Cruikshank denied an individual right to
bear arms
Fact: The court ruled that both the 2nd Amendment right to bear arms and the 1st
Amendment right to assembly were "pre-existing rights", and that it was incumbent upon
the states to enforce that right. Specifically the court ruled:
The right was not created by the amendment; neither was its continuance
guaranteed, except as against congressional interference. For their
protection in its enjoyment, therefore, the people must look to the States.
…
Myth: U.S. v. Miller said that the Second Amendment is
not an individual right
Fact: The Miller case specifically held that specific types of guns might be protected by
the Second Amendment. It depended on whether a gun had militia use, and the court
wanted evidence presented confirming that citizens have a right to military style
weapons. Since no evidence was taken at the trial level in lower courts, they remanded
the case for a new trial. Specifically the court said:
"The signification attributed to the term Militia appears from the debates in the
Convention, the history and legislation of Colonies and States, and the writings of
approved commentators. These show plainly enough that the Militia comprised
all males physically capable of acting in concert for the common defense. "A
body of citizens enrolled for military discipline." And further, that ordinarily
when called for service these men were expected to appear bearing arms supplied
by themselves and of the kind in common use at the time."
“In the absence of any evidence tending to show that possession or use of a
‘shotgun having a barrel of less than 18 inches in length’ at this time has some
reasonable relationship to the preservation or efficiency of a well-regulated

militia, we cannot say that the Second Amendment guarantees the right to keep
and bear such an instrument. Certainly it is not within judicial notice that this
weapon is any part of the ordinary military equipment or that its use could
contribute to the common defense.”
Fact: Even the US government agreed. Here are some sentences from the brief filed by
the government in the appeal to the Supreme Court:
“The Second Amendment does not grant to the people the right to keep and bear
arms, but merely recognizes the prior existence of that right and prohibits its
infringement by Congress.”
“The "arms" referred to in the Second Amendment are, moreover, those which
ordinarily are used for military or public defense purposes ...”
“The Second Amendment does not confer upon the people the right to keep and
bear arms; it is one of the provisions of the Constitution which, recognizing the
prior existence of a certain right, declares that it shall not be infringed by
Congress. Thus the right to keep and bear arms is not a right granted by the
Constitution and therefore is not dependant upon that instrument for its source.”
Fact: The federal 8th Court of Appeals holds that the Miller case protects an individual
right to keep and bear arms. “Although an individual's right to bear arms is
constitutionally protected, see United States v. Miller ...” 488
Fact: Federal courts reject the myth. “We conclude that Miller does not support the
[government's] collective rights or sophisticated collective rights approach to the Second
Amendment.” 489 They continue, “There is no evidence in the text of the Second
Amendment, or any other part of the Constitution, that the words ‘we the people’ have a
different connotation within the Second Amendment than when employed elsewhere ...”.
Summary of various court decisions concerning gun
rights
DECISIONS THAT EXPLICITLY RECOGNIZED THAT THE SECOND AMENDMENT
GUARANTEES AN INDIVIDUAL RIGHT TO PURCHASE, POSSESS OR CARRY FIREARMS, AND
IT LIMITS THE AUTHORITY OF BOTH FEDERAL AND STATE GOVERNMENTS:
• Parker vs. D.C., Fed (2007),
Court Rulings on the 2nd Amendment
confirmed an individual right to
keep arms and overturning a
handgun ban. Individual
• U.S. vs. Emerson, 5 Fed rights
97%
(1999), confirmed an individual
right requiring compelling
government interest for regulation.
Collective
rights
3%
488
U.S. v. Hutzel, 8 Iowa, No. 99-3719
489

• Nunn v. State, 1 Ga. 243, 250, 251 (1846) (struck down a ban on sale of small,
easily concealed handguns as violating Second Amendment).
• State v. Chandler, 5 La.An. 489, 490, 491 (1850) (upheld a ban on concealed
carry, but acknowledged that open carry was protected by Second Amendment).
• Smith v. State, 11 La.An. 633, 634 (1856) (upheld a ban on concealed carry, but
recognized as protected by Second Amendment "arms there spoken of are such as are
borne by a people in war, or at least carried openly").
• State v. Jumel, 13 La.An. 399, 400 (1858) (upheld a ban on concealed carry, but
acknowledged a Second Amendment right to carry openly).
• Cockrum v. State, 24 Tex. 394, 401, 402 (1859) (upheld an enhanced penalty for
manslaughter with a Bowie knife, but acknowledged that the Second Amendment
guaranteed an individual right to possess arms for collective overthrow of the
government).
• In Re Brickey, 8 Ida. 597, 70 Pac. 609, 101 Am.St.Rep. 215, 216 (1902) (struck
down a ban on open carry of a revolver in Lewiston, Idaho as violating both Second
Amendment and Idaho Const. guarantee).
• State v. Hart, 66 Ida. 217, 157 P.2d 72 (1945) (upheld a ban on concealed carry
as long as open carry was allowed based on both Second Amendment and Idaho
Const. guarantee).
• State v. Nickerson, 126 Mont. 157, 166 (1952) (striking down a conviction for
assault with a deadly weapon, acknowledging a right to carry based on Second
Amendment and Montana Const. guarantee).
• U.S. v. Hutzell, 8 Iowa, 99-3719, (2000) (cite in dictum that "an individual's right
to keep and bear arms is constitutionally protected, see United States v. Miller, 307
U.S. 174, 178-79 (1939).
DECISIONS THAT RECOGNIZED THE SECOND AMENDMENT GUARANTEES AN INDIVIDUAL
RIGHT TO POSSESS OR CARRY FIREARMS, BUT ONLY LIMITING THE FEDERAL
GOVERNMENT'S AUTHORITY:
• U.S. v. Cruikshank, 92 U.S. 542, 552 (1876) (limiting use of the Enforcement Act
of 1870 so that Klansmen could not be punished for mass murder and disarming of
freedmen).
• State v. Workman, 35 W.Va. 367, 373 (1891) (upholding a ban on carry of
various concealable arms).
• State v. Kerner, 181 N.C. 574, 107 S.E. 222 (1921) (overturning a ban on open
carry of pistols based on North Carolina Const., but acknowledging Second
Amendment protected individual right from federal laws).
DECISIONS IN WHICH THE SECOND AMENDMENT WAS ARGUED OR RAISED AS A
LIMITATION ON STATE LAWS, AND IN WHICH THE COURT RULED THAT IT ONLY LIMITED
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, TACITLY ACKNOWLEDGING THAT THE RIGHT WAS
INDIVIDUAL IN NATURE:
• Andrews v. State, 3 Heisk. (50 Tenn.) 165, 172, 173 (1871).

• Fife v. State, 31 Ark. 455, 25 Am.Rep. 556, 557, 558 (1876); State v. Hill, 53 Ga.
472, 473, 474 (1874).
• Dunne v. People, 94 Ill. 120, 140, 141 (1879); Presser v. Illinois, 116 U.S. 252,
265, 266 (1886) (upholding a ban on armed bodies marching through the streets).
• People v. Persce, 204 N.Y. 397, 403 (1912); In re Rameriz, 193 Cal. 633, 636,
226 P. 914 (1924) (upholding a ban on resident aliens possessing handguns).
DECISIONS IN WHICH THE SECOND AMENDMENT WAS IMPLIED TO GUARANTEE AN
INDIVIDUAL RIGHT, THOUGH UNCLEAR AS TO WHETHER IT LIMITED ONLY THE FEDERAL
GOVERNMENT OR STATES AS WELL, BECAUSE THE TYPE OF ARM IN QUESTION WASN'T
PROTECTED:
• English v. State, 35 Tex. 473, 476, 477 (1872).
• State v. Duke, 42 Tex. 455, 458, 459 (1875) (upholding a ban on carrying of
handguns, Bowie knives, sword-canes, spears, and brass knuckles).
• People v. Liss, 406 Ill. 419, 94 N.E.2d 320, 322, 323 (1950) (overturning a
conviction for carrying a concealed handgun and acknowledging that the right in the
Second Amendment was individual).
• Guida v. Dier, 84 Misc.2d 110, 375 N.Y.S.2d 827, 828 (1975) (denying that
"concealable hand weapons" were protected by the Second Amendment, but
acknowledging that an individual right protects other firearms).
DECISIONS IN WHICH THE SECOND AMENDMENT HAS BEEN CLASSED WITH OTHER
INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS, WITH NO INDICATION THAT IT WAS NOT AN INDIVIDUAL RIGHT:
• Robertson v. Baldwin, 165 U.S. 275, 281, 282, 17 S.Ct. 826, 829 (1897); U.S. v.
Verdugo-Urquidez, 110 S.Ct. 1056, 1060, 1061 (1990).
DECISIONS THAT COULD HAVE BEEN VERY MUCH SHORTER IF THE COURT HAD SIMPLY
DENIED THAT THE SECOND AMENDMENT PROTECTED AN INDIVIDUAL RIGHT:
U.S. v. Miller, 307 U.S. 174 (1939) (the Supreme Court upholding the National
Firearms Act of 1934, after district judge released defendants on the grounds that it
violated Second Amendment).

T HOUGHTS ON GUN CONFISCATION
In 1911, Turkey established gun control. Subsequently, from 1915 to 1917, 1.5-million
Armenians, deprived of the means to defend themselves, were rounded up and killed.
In 1929, the Soviet Union established gun control. Then, from 1929 to 1953,
approximately 20-millon dissidents were rounded up and killed.
In 1938 Germany established gun control. From 1939 to 1945 over 13-million Jews,
gypsies, homosexuals, mentally ill, union leaders, Catholics and others, unable to fire a
shot in protest, were rounded up and killed.
In 1935, China established gun control. Subsequently, between 1948 and 1952, over 20-
million dissidents were rounded up and killed.
In 1956, Cambodia enshrined gun control. In just two years (1975-1977) over one million
"educated" people were rounded up and killed.
In 1964, Guatemala locked in gun control. From 1964 to 1981, over 100,000 Mayan
Indians were rounded up and killed as a result of their inability to defend themselves.
In 1970, Uganda embraced gun control. Over the next nine years over 300,000 Christians
were rounded up and killed.
Over 56-million people have died because of gun control in the last century ... 490
Senator Diane Feinstein, speaking on "60-Minutes" said "if I
thought I could get the votes, I'd have taken them all."
S ERIOUS QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF

• If guns are effective enough to be a criminal's preferred tool, why are they not
good enough to use for protection?
• Why do politicians insist their bodyguards be armed, but not you and I?
• If you and your children were face-to-face with a male attacker twice your
size, what would you do; If you weren't armed? If you were armed?
• If guns are "too dangerous" to be in our society, then why do our leaders want
to be the only ones who have them? Do you trust our leaders implicitly to
protect you at all times?
• Which is better – more gun control and the eventual banning of all guns in our
society, or not sitting by helplessly watching as an intruder repeatedly rapes
your 13-year-old daughter?
• If we ever completely ban guns, do you think there would be no more armed
criminals in America?
• With so many gun laws already on the books, why do "gun crimes" still exist?
490
(Most of the genocide statistics were reported in:) “Death by ‘Gun Control’: The Human Cost of Victim
Disarmament,” Aaron Zelman & Richard W. Stevens, 2001.

M ISCELLANEOUS STATISTICS
Number of firearms in America: Between 223,000,000 491 and 290,000,000 492
Number of firearm owning households: At least 50,600,000 493
Projected firearm owning households in America: 60-85 million
Number of guns used in crimes: 450,000 494
Percentage of guns used in crimes: 0.09%
Violent crimes committed daily by paroled prisoners:
Murders: 14
Rapes: 48
Robberies: 578
M ISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION
British crime statistics
The U.K. measures crime using two different processes:
British Crime Survey (BCS): The Home Office conducts surveys of the
population to determine how often subjects have been affected by criminal
activity. Data is projected to reflect the entire population.
Police reporting: Crimes are reported to the police and nationwide,
census-level statistics are summarized.
The BCS has been reporting a declining crime rate in the UK while police reporting has
shown an increase. The BCS has routinely been criticized because it under reports crime
due to the following factors:
• Murdered and imprisoned people do not answer surveys
• Some crimes are not surveyed when victims are below age 16 495
• Crime against institutions (bank robbery, etc.) are not included
• Crimes are recorded at final disposition (conviction/acquittal), leaving many
crimes completely unreported 496
491
Guns Used in Crime, Bureau of Justice Statsitics, Marianne W. Zawitz, 1995.
492
Small Arms Survey, Graduate Institute of International Studies, 2008
493
Surveys show a “reported” ownership rate of 46%, but it is universally believed that these surveys
under-reported (i.e., people that own firearms don’t want to admit so to a pollster). This is validated by
surveys performed by the National Opinion Research Center. They perform their surveys face-to-face at
the respondent’s home, and routinely have reported gun ownership rates 3-6% lower than telephone based
surveys.
494
Ibid.
495
This is a serious omission as most gang crime is committed by and against young people.

These deficiencies are so significant that even the British government does not believe
the accuracy of the BCS.
[T]he BCS did not record ‘various categories of violent crime’, including
murder and rape, retail crime, drug-taking, or offences in which the
victims were aged below 16. The most reliable measure of crime is that
which is reported to the police. We're facing over a million violent crimes
a year for the first time in history. 497
One curious tidbit: Murder rates initially appear to decline after 2002/2003. This is
chiefly due to the scores of killings attributed to serial killer, Dr. Harold Frederick
Shipman, which were booked in 2002/03 and did not recur in 2003/04.
More curious are the sudden leaps in reported violent crime when the British Home
Office enforced standardized methods for recording reported crime (which led the Home
Office to claim crime reports to be of poor quality, and thus rely on the suspect survey
mechanism):
The 1998 changes to the Home Office Counting Rules had a very
significant impact on violent crime; the numbers of such crimes recorded
by the police increased by 83 per cent as a result of the 1998 changes …
The National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS), introduced in April
2002, again resulted in increased recording of violent crimes particularly
for less serious violent offences. 498
Origin of the 2nd Amendment
Before the United States Constitution or Bill of Rights existed, most of the thirteen
original states had clauses in their constitutions protecting the right to keep and bear
arms. When the time came for Congress to draft the Bill of Rights, states submitted
clauses from their constitutions that they thought should be added to the Federal Bill of
Rights.
Three predominant arms clauses existed at that time (many states had word-for-word
copies from other state constitutions and the redundant versions are not mentioned
herein).
Pennsylvania (1776): That the people have a right to bear arms for the defence
of themselves and the state; and as standing armies in the time of peace are
dangerous to liberty, they ought not to be kept up; and that the military should be
kept under strict subordination, to, and governed by, the civil power. (Simplified
in 1790 to read “The right of the citizens to bear arms in defence of themselves
and the State shall not be questioned.”)
496
“Fear in Britain,” Dr. Paul Gallant and Dr. Joanne Eisen, National Review, July 18, 2000.
497
“Row over figures as crime drops 5%,” David Davis, Shadow Home Secretary, The Guardian, July 22,
2004.
498
"Crime in England and Wales 2005/06," British Home Office, July 2006.

Vermont (1777): That the people have a right to bear arms for the defence of
themselves and the State – and as standing armies in time of peace are dangerous
to liberty, they ought not to be kept up; and that the military should be kept under
strict subordination to and governed by the civil power.
Massachusetts (1780): The people have a right to keep and to bear arms for the
common defence. And as, in time of peace, armies are dangerous to liberty, they
ought not to be maintained without the consent of the legislature; and the military
power shall always be held in an exact subordination to the civil authority, and be
governed by it.
North Carolina (1776): That the people have a right to bear arms, for the
defence of the State; and, as standing armies, in time of peace, are dangerous to
liberty, they ought not to be kept up; and that the military should be kept under
strict subordination to, and governed by, the civil power.
We can see in these state constitution clauses the conjoined purposes as viewed by the
people at the time that the 2nd Amendment was drafted.
CALLS FOR THE RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS FROM STATE RATIFICATION
CONVENTIONS
Five states that ratified the Constitution sent demands for a Bill of Rights to Congress.
All of these demands included a right to keep and bear arms. The relevant parts of these
written demands are:
New Hampshire: Twelfth[:] Congress shall never disarm any Citizen unless such
as are or have been in Actual Rebellion.
Virginia: … Seventeenth, That the people have a right to keep and bear arms;
that a well regulated Militia composed of the body of the people trained to arms is
the proper, natural and safe defence of a free State. That standing armies in time
of peace are dangerous to liberty, and therefore ought to be avoided, as far as the
circumstances and protection of the Community will admit; and that in all cases
the military should be under strict subordination to and governed by the Civil
power.
New York: ... That the People have a right to keep and bear Arms; that a well
regulated Militia, including the body of the People capable of bearing Arms, is the
proper, natural and safe defence of a free State; That the Militia should not be
subject to Martial Law except in time of War, Rebellion or Insurrection. That
Standing Armies in time of Peace are dangerous to Liberty, and ought not to be
kept up, except in Cases of necessity; and that at all times, the Military should be
under strict Subordination to the civil Power.
North Carolina: Almost identical to Virginia’s demand, but with, "the body of the
people, trained to arms," instead of, "the body of the people trained to arms."
Rhode Island: Almost identical to Virginia’s demand, but with, "the body of the
people capable of bearing arms," instead of, "the body of the people trained to

arms," and with a, "militia shall not be subject to martial law," proviso as in New
York’s.
2ND AMENDMENT DRAFTING, PROPOSALS, AND EDITING
James Madison had the duty of drafting the Bill of Rights from proposed amendments
submitted by the states, and most coming from state constitutions. The Bill of Rights
went through several revisions. The initial version of the 2nd Amendment read as
follows:
The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be
infringed; a well armed and well regulated militia being the best
security of a free country; but no person religiously scrupulous of
bearing arms shall be compelled to render military service in
person.
The second drafting of the 2nd Amendment saw a rearrangement of the justification and
rights clauses, but no change in the intents and purposes therein:
A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the
people, being the best security of a free State, the right of
the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed,
but no person religiously scrupulous shall be compelled to
bear arms.
Notice that in the original draft, Madison used the phrase “free country” as the object of
what is protected by the militia. In subsequent drafts, the word “state” was substituted.
This is important because the concept of “state” and “country” are interchangeable,
whereas “states” (plural) and “country” are not. Throughout the rest of the Constitution,
when the states and their powers were defined, the plural was always used but in the 2nd
Amendment it was not. Clearly, the intent of militia protection defined in the 2nd
Amendment was to protect a form of government, not define the power of the several
states.
Four further revisions removed objectionable concepts (such as the “conscientious
objector” clause). On September 9, 1789, a member of the Senate proposed adding "for
the common defense" onto the draft of the Second Amendment. In other words, the
proposed wording of the amendment would have read:
A well regulated militia being the security of a free State,
the right of the people to bear arms for the common
defense, shall not be infringed.
The proposed change was voted down. This is instructive because some believe that the
current wording of the amendment exists specifically for collective/common/mutual
defense, and has no bearing on individual self defense. However, the Senate considered
adding this restriction and rejected it.
It is clear from these origins and first drafts, and from contemporary commentaries on the
clause, that the original intent was to secure an individual right. The commentaries of St.
George Tucker (The American Blackstone) and Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story,

both of whom were federal jurists and chronologically close to the authoring of the
amendment, bear this out.
ARMS CLAUSES OF STATES THAT JOINED SHORTLY AFTER THE 2ND AMENDMENT WAS
RATIFIED
Also worth review are arms clauses in the constitutions of states that joined the Union
shortly after ratification of the Bill of Rights. These demonstrate the contemporary
understanding of the amendment and the rights of the people:
Kentucky (1792): That the right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of
Tennessee (1796): That the freemen of this State have a right to keep and to bear
arms for their common defence.
Kentucky (1799): That the rights of the citizens to bear arms in defense of
Ohio (1802): That the people have a right to bear arms for the defence of
themselves and the State; and as standing armies, in time of peace, are dangerous
to liberty, they shall not be kept up, and that the military shall be kept under strict
subordination to the civil power.
Indiana (1816): That the people have a right to bear arms for the defense of
themselves and the State, and that the military shall be kept in strict subordination
to the civil power.
Mississippi (1817): Every citizen has a right to bear arms, in defence of himself
and the State.
Connecticut (1818): Every citizen has a right to bear arms in defense of himself
and the state.
Maine (1819): Every citizen has a right to keep and bear arms for the common
defence; and this right shall never be questioned.
Alabama (1819): That every citizen has a right to bear arms in defence of
himself and the state.
Missouri (1820): That the people have the right peaceably to assemble for their
common good, and to apply to those vested with the powers of government for
redress of grievances by petition or remonstrance; and that their right to bear
arms in defence of themselves and of the State cannot be questioned.
i
Federal Firearm Offenders report, Bureau of Justice Statistics, June 4, 2000 – firearm suspects declined for
prosecution by U.S. attorneys … some of the reasons listed for not prosecuting known gun criminals
include “minimal federal interest” and “DOJ/U.S. Attorney policy”


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Table of Contents

Table of Contents ..................................................................................................... i

Gun Facts Version 5.1 Page i

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world, with people three times 7

Per Capita Homicide Rates

any relationship between the

total number of legally held

firearms in society and the rate International Journal of Gun ownership

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of gun and knife

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Firearm Act of 1988

Firearm Act of 1997

significant gun control, 400

the rate was 9% – 350

for England and Wales

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Homicides/suicides Per 100,000

suicides has not 100 4

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Resisting with a gun 6%

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is never fired and no blood 550

Handgun supply - millions

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