Repeating the lie enough
The assault weapons ban has been effective in deterring crime, for crimes committed with assault weapons are down 66 percent since the ban was enacted. Moreover, a Department of Justice study has found that the Assault Weapons Ban has contributed to the reduction of the number of police officers killed with assault weapons.
First, the ATF has said gun trace data (where the 66% comes from) is irrelevant to overall crime statistics. And the Department of Justice study does not exist. It’s a Violence Policy Center interpretation of DOJ data. What the National Institute for Justice (the research arm of the DOJ) says is:
We cannot clearly credit the ban with any of the nation’s recent drop in gun violence. And, indeed, there has been no discernible reduction in the lethality and injuriousness of gun violence
and
It is thus premature to make definitive assessments of the ban’s impact on gun violence. Should it be renewed, the ban’s effects on gun violence are likely to be small at best and perhaps too small for reliable measurement
and
assault weapons were “rarely used in gun crimes even before the ban.”
The author concludes with:
As someone who lost his father to gun violence, I can not thank proponents of tough gun control enough. Hopefully, Congressman Fossella will eventually change his mind and support the assault weapons ban.
It is sad that your father was the victim of gun violence. I don’t wish that on anyone. However, don’t use it as a tool to lend credence to the bogus statistics of your cause.
August 31st, 2004 at 7:32 pm
Crimes with assault weapons down 66 % …well lets see what that really translates to uncle.
Assault weapons are only used in about 2 % of the crimes involving firearms, so for every 1000 crimes that is what about 20? Sixty six percent of 20 is around 13. What about the othe other 987 crimes? WOW a hole 13 crimes per 1000, or 130 per 10,000.
Since Phildephia recovered 5000 guns (1/3 of which were not apprently used in any crime)last year, none of which were reported to be the dreaded assault weapon, then I guess the ban had no effect on a large city in Pa. No wonder I stay confused all the time. According to statistics at least 98 of those guns should have been evil assault weapons, shouldn’t they have?
August 31st, 2004 at 7:51 pm
Actually, it’s not crime that’s down. It’s gun traces that are down.