310 lines
14 KiB
Plaintext
310 lines
14 KiB
Plaintext
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NRA FIREARMS FACT CARD 1993
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SECOND AMENDMENT TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION
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"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free
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State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be
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infringed."
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This guarantee is clearly a fundamental individual right, not the 20th
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century invention of a "collective right" because the Framers
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understood the concept of a "right" to apply only to individuals and
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used the word "states" when collective meanings were intended.
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In a 1990 ruling, the Supreme Court confirmed that the right to
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keep and bear arms is an individual right held by "people" a "term
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employed in select parts of the Constitution:' specifically the
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Preamble, First, Second, Fourth, Ninth, and Tenth Amendments
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(U.S. v. Verdugo-Urquidez).
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The 20th-century National Guard, wholly controlled by the federal
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government, could not have been the type of body envisioned by the
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framers, even if the goal were to protect only an organized state
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militia. Under federal law, the "unorganized militia"' consists of
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all able-bodied males of an age to serve, and some females and older
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men. (10 U.S.C.$31 1(b)) .
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Historically, English Common Law recognized this right as making
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possible both common and personal defense.
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All four relevant Supreme Court decisions have recognized that the
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Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to keep and bear
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arms. No Supreme Court decision has ever held this right to be
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collective.
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FIREARMS FACTS: GENERAL
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NUMBER OF GUNS IN U.S :Approx. 200 million firearms.
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65-70 million handguns
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GUN OWNERS IN US. :60-65 million,
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30-35 million own handguns
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FIREARMS USED FOR PROTECTION :11% of firearms owners
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13% of handgun owners
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CRIMINAL MISUSE OF FIREARMS YEARLY :Less than 0.2% of firearms
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Less than 0.4% of handguns
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Over 98.8% of U.S. firearms and 98.6% of U.S. handguns will not
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be involved in criminal activity in any given year.
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WHY AMERICANS OWN FIREARMS
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Based on 1978 Decision Making information surveys, with handgun data
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confirmed by 1978 Caddell survey; abuse data from US. Public Health
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Service and F.B.I. data.
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Primary Reasons Own/Use Firearms % of Owners,
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Projected Number of Americans
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(Approx. 65 million owners of 200,000,000 guns)
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HUNTING: 51%, 33,000,000 Americans
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PROTECTION: 32%; 21,000,000
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Used Gun for Protection: 11% 7,000,000
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TARGET SHOOTING: 13%; 8,500,000
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COLLECTING: 4%; 2,600,000
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Primary Reasons Own/Use Handguns: % of Owners,
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Projected Number of Americans
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(30-35 million owners of 65,000,000 handguns)
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HUNTING: 10%; 3,500,000 Americans
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PROTECTION: 58%; 21,000,000
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Used Gun For Protection: 13%; 4,600,666
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TARGET SHOOTING: 18%; 6,300,000
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COLLECTING: 14%; 5,000,000
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FIREARMS AND SELF-DEFENSE
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Survey research indicates that about 645,000 Americans use handguns
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each year for protection against criminals. An additional 300,000
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protective uses occur with rifles and shotguns, with still more
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hundreds of thousands of protective uses from animals. A Department
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of Justice-sponsored survey of felons found that 80% of "handgun
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predators" had encountered armed citizens, 53% did not commit at
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least one specific crime for fear the victim was armed, and 57%
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admitted being scared off or shot at by armed victims.
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U.S. Department of Justice victimization surveys show that the
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protective use of firearms lessens the chance that rape, robbery,
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and assault attempts will be successfully completed, while also
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reducing the likelihood of injury to the intended victim.
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CIVILIAN MARKSMANSHIP PROGRAM (DCM)
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Trains American youth in marksmanship with membership of about
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132,000; supports 1751 civilian rifle clubs; trains over 440,000
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juniors annually.
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Holds 138 regulation state, local, and national matches yearly.
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Early socialization into the gun culture predisposes individuals
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to enlist in the armed forces later in life, which suggests
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that the gun culture is positively functional for the success of the
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volunteer army." (James D. Wright, et al., Under The Gun, 1983)
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COMPARISON OF ROBBERY AND HOMICIDE RATES BETWEEN SELECTED U.S. CITIES
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WITH RESTRICTIVE AND NONRESTRICTIVE FIREARMS LAWS/ENFORCEMENT Based
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on 1991 F.B.I. Uniform Crime Reports and City Police
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No gun law, in any city, state, or nation, has ever reduced violent
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crime, or slowed its rate of growth, compared to similar jurisdictions
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without such laws. Indeed, most such laws are defended with
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citations of the number of persons denied lawful access to handguns,
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while crime trends are ignored. With a virtual handgun ban,
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enforced with federal aid, from 1976 to 1991, the murder rate in
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Washington, D.C., has risen 200%, with a 300% rise in handgun-
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related homicide, as handgun use went from less than 60% of killings
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to 80%. Since it became a felony to go outside New York to evade New
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York City's virtual handgun ban, the city's homicide rate has risen
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three times faster than the rest of the country's. With less than 3%
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of the nation's population, NYC reports nearly one-seventh of the
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nation's handgun-related homicides. The two crimes most feared by
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Americans are murder in the course of another crime (50%) and
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robbery (43%) (1978 DMI poll); robbery and robber-murder rates are
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consistently higher in cities with restrictive firearms laws and/or
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hostile enforcement of such laws. Examples among cities over 250,000
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population. Overall, big cities: Homicide: 26.7 per 100,000;
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Robbery: 905.2
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CITIES: RESTRICTIVE GUN LAWS/ENFORCEMENT
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Rates per 100,000
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Homicide Robbery
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Washington, D.C. 80.6 1215.0
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Detroit 59.3 1309.4
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Baltimore 40.6 1439.6
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Cleveland 34.3 1006.5
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Chicago 32.9 1557.3
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Newark 31.8 1880.9
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New York City 29.3 1340.3
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Los Angeles 28.9 1117.9
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CITIES: LENIENT GUN LAWS/ENFORCEMENT
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Homicide Robbery
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Phoenix 12.9 346.2
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Oklahoma City 10 3 187 0
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Austin 10.3 327.0
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El Paso 9.3 281.9
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Colorado Springs 8.7 134.3
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Wichita 7.8 458.3
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Tucson 5.8 214.3
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12 LEADING CAUSES OF DEATH IN U.S.
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Source: National Center for Health Statistics (1991, latest official
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estimates)
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ALL CAUSES......................................2,165,000
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Heart Disease.....................................718,090
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Cancers...........................................514,310
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Strokes...........................................144,070
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ACCIDENTS......................................... 91,700
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Motor Vehicle*.....................................47,575
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Falls*.............................................12,151
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Poisoning (solid, liquid, gas)*.....................6,524
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Fires and Flames* ..................................4,716
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Drowning (incl. water transport drownings)'.........4,716
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Suffocation (mechanical, ingestion)* ...............4,491
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Surgical/Medical misadventures** ...................2,850
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Other Transportation (excl. drownings)* ............2,160
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Natural/Environmental factors* .....................1,816
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Firearms ...........................................1,489
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(includes estimated 500 handgun and 200 hunting accidents)
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Chronic pulmonary diseases ........................89,130
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Pneumonia and influenza ...........................74,980
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Diabetes ..........................................49,980
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Diseases of the arteries ..........................41,970
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Suicide*** ........................................30,200
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HIV Infections (AIDS) .............................28,850
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Homicide and legal intervention **** ..............27,440
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Cirrhosis and other liver diseases ................24,740
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*1989, latest official figures
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**A Harvard University study suggests 93,000 deaths related to
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medical negligence, excluding tens of thousands more deaths from
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non-hospital medial office/lab mistakes and thousands of hospital
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caused infections.
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***Approximately 60% involve firearms.
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Approximately 60% involve firearms. Criminologist Gary estimates
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1500-2,000 self-defense and justifiable homicides by civilians and
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300-600 by police annually.
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U.S. COMPARED WITH FOREIGN COUNTRIES
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All criminologists studying the firearms issue reject simple
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comparisons of violent crime among foreign countries. (James D.
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Wright, et. al ., Under the Gun, 1983) "Gun control does not deserve
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credit for the low crime rates in Britain, Japan, or other
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nations.... Foreign style gun control is doomed to failure in
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America; not only does it depend on search and seizure too intrusive
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for American standards, it postulates an authoritarian philosophy of
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government fundamentally at odds with the individual, egalitarian .
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. . American ethos." (David Kopel, "Foreign Gun Control in American
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Eyes," 1987)
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Gun laws and firearms availability have no relationship with murder
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or suicide rates. Most states bordering Canada have homicide rates
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similar to their northern neighbors, despite much higher rates of
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firearms availability. While the American homicide rate is 4-8 times
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that of most European nations, and firearms are frequently involved
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in American murders, America's violent crime rates are even higher
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for crimes where guns are infrequently (robbery) or rarely (rape)
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involved. The difference is violence, not firearms; and America's
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system of revolving door justice.
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England has twice as many homicides with firearms as before
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adopting its repressive laws; yet counters rising crime by
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increasing strictures on rifles and now on most shotguns. During the
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past dozen years, handgun-related robbery rose 200% in Britain, five
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times as fast as the rise in the U.S.
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Japan's low homicide rate is accompanied by a suicide rate twice
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that of the United States, despite Japan's virtual gun ban. And
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Japan's low crime rate is attributable to police-state type law
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enforcement which would be anathema to Americans.
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Comparisons of Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia, homicide
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ignore the face that non-Hispanic whites have a lower homicide rate
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in Seattle than in Vancouver, and that Vancouver's homicide rate, and
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handgun use in homicide, did not go down following Canada's adopting
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a "tough" gun law.
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CAREER CRIMINALS AND JUSTICE SYSTEM FAILURES
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(Based on Department of Justice (DOJ) victimization surveys, felon
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surveys, NACP law enforcement survey, PROMIS studies, research by
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the Rand Corp., James D. Wright et al., and Gary Kleck.)
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75-80% of U.S. violent crimes are committed by career criminals,
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many on some form of conditional or early release. 30-35% of career
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criminals are rearrested with previous criminal charges still
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pending. Most career criminals' crime is drug-related.
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Laws requiring mandatory, tough sentencing of violent criminals
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have reduced violent crime especially murder and robbery when
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enforced, yet two-thirds of the states, and D.C., are under federal
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court orders to release prisoners due to prison overcrowding.
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Out of prison, an active career felon commits between 187-287
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crimes per year, costing society about $430,000 vs. Iess than
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$25,000 per year cost of imprisonment and less than $75,000 for cost
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of a new prison bed.
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Youthful violent criminals explain most recent crime increases. Yet
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criminologists note, "it matters less, perhaps, where these juveniles
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get their guns than where they get the idea that it is acceptable to
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kill" and "nearly everything that leads to gun-related violence
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among youths is already against the law. What is needed are not new
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and more stringent gun laws but rather a concerted effort to rebuild
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the social structure of inner cities."
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More than 90% of police chiefs and sheriffs agree that criminals
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are not affected by a ban on any type of firearm, while more than
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70% oppose "waiting periods" for the same reason.
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Only half of violent crimes are reported to the police, and less
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than half of those (46%) are cleared by arrest of criminals.
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Unsuccessful investigations and lenient prosecutions and judgements
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free most criminals from legislated sentences.
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SEMI-AUTOMATICS AND SO-CALLED "ASSAULT WEAPONS"
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In a deliberate effort to have public policy made by deception,
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anti-gunners invented the "assault weapon" issue by noting the
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public could not readily distinguish full-auto from semi-auto
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firearms. Fully-automatic firearms have been sharply restricted by
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federal law since 1934. There is no evidence that a registered
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"machine gun" has ever been used in crime. Semi-autos which
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externally resemble fully-automatic firearms are very difficult to
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convert to full-auto, and such conversion is a federal felony.
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There is no evidence that semi-autos are disproportionatly used in
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crime. Semi-autos and all other rifles are involved In 4% of
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homicide, and the number is declining. Data from big cities and
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states suggest military lookalikes constitute 0-3% of guns used in
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crime while accounting for 2% of the guns owned by Americans.
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Overall, semi-autos targeted by anti- gun legislation account for 10-
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15% of the guns owned. Data from big cities suggest military
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look-alikes constitute 1-1/2% of guns seized by police, while
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accounting for about 2% of the guns owned by Americans. Semi-autos
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targeted by anti-gun legislation could affect 10-15% of the guns
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owned by Americans.
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Since only 1% of guns used in violent crimes are traced, BATF
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traces tell nothing about the types of guns used by criminals,
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making the Cox "study" worthless.
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The anti-gunners have spoken: Having said handguns are not
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protected by the Second Amendment because they have no "militia"
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purpose, they now want to ban all rifles and shotguns and handguns
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which do. Clearly their ultimate goal is total gun prohibition.
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Downloaded from GUN-TALK (703-719-6406)
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A service of the
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National Rifle Association
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Institute for Legislative Action
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Washington, DC 20036
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