Brady Website - Outright Lies?

[Commander]

The below information is from the Brady Campaign website:

"But an August 2000 study by the Violence Policy Center revealed that, from January 1996 through April 2000, the arrest rate for weapon-related offenses among Texas concealed handgun license holders was 66% higher than that of the general adult population of Texas. CCW license holders are committing crimes - including murder, rape, assault and burglary"

According to the DPS website, 5,498 CHLs have been either suspended or revoked since 1996. Compare that with 247,345 current CHL holders and you come up with 2% revoked/suspended. Breaking that down by years (10), you get 550 per year - for the whole state. Even if all of those were arrested, the numbers don't add up to the 66% higher arrest rate for CHL holders.

[longtooth]

Thanks for the web site on the DPS. Don't post this web site, I only get mad when I hear the name. My last self control issue.

[HighVelocity]

This is what I like to call anti-math.

For the sake of arguement say the 5,498 figure is accurate. What they don't show is how many NON chl holders are arrested for commiting crimes. Since the number of CHL holders is very small compared to the population of the entire state of TX, the percentage of people arrested appears much higher.

[jimlongley]

It has gotten to the point where, if the Bradys say the NRA eists, I would have to assume it didn't.

[stevie_d_64]

Brady Bunch = yawnnn...

Its always good to keep on top of the usual Bull-butter they spew...

I used to worry about how effective they really are, but now that I'm pretty confident they are on the backside of the wave now...They just amuse me from time to time...

I'm diligently working on getting Texas an "F-" in their book on state's gun-control efforts...Thats my goal...

[gigag04]

Keep in mind...

ONLY CHL holders CAN be arrested for violating CHL statutes...and those #'s aren't seperated from the research. Of course CHL arrest #'s are going to be higher since...well...non-CHL's can't break a law that they aren't bound to.

[jbirds1210]

I use the Brady site as a form of weight control......when I get hungry I just read some of their crapola and the urge to eat goes away

Jason

[ElGato]

I use the Brady site as a form of weight control......when I get hungry I just read some of their crapola and the urge to eat goes away

Jason

correction Jason the use of a capital letter shows too much respect bradybunch is more to my likeing.

[barres]

the arrest rate for weapon-related offenses among Texas concealed handgun license holders was 66% higher than that of the general adult population of Texas. CCW license holders are committing crimes - including murder, rape, assault and burglary"

As stated previously, part of those numbers comes from only CHL holders being held to laws regarding CHL holders. Another thing the brady bunch doesn't like to admit: those are arrest numbers, not conviction numbers. This is part of the reason the DPS website now lists conviction rates, not arrest numbers.

Their last sentence in the above quote is typical statistical misrepresentation. With their previous statement that CHL holders are being arrested more frequently than the rest of the population, the reader is supposed to conclude the number of CHL holders committing crimes is larger than the number in the rest of the population. Nothing could be further from the truth. Yes, there are a few "bad apples" in the bunch of CHL holders who have committed these crimes, but there are far fewer in terms of the percentage of the whole group than the percentage of criminals of this type in the overall population. Using DPS's 247345 CHL holders (a 2005 count, not 2001 as is the conviction list), there are only two crimes listed where the percentage of CHL holders convicted of a crime is greater than the percentage of the total population convicted of the same crime (Indecency with a Child and Harassment). Not knowing the number of CHL holders in 2001 (I assume less than in 2005, but we know what assumtions can do), these may not be greater percentage-wise, because the numbers are so close. In every other listed conviction rate (other than UCW by a CHL holder, which a non-CHL cannot be convicted of), the percentage of CHL'ers convicted is half or less the percentage of general population convicted.

Sorry for the long and slightly technical post, but the brady bunch royally piss me off when they use misinformation and deceptive wording in their attacks on those who legally exercise their 2nd Amendment rights.