15 myths about gun control-some interesting reading

[stoneface]

This seems to be a pretty in-depth source, with some info I haven't seen elsewhere (such as the statement that the primary reason many criminals carry weapons is not to commit crimes, but to defend themselves from other criminals).

http://www.ncpa.org/pub/st/st176/s176b.html

[seamusTX]

It's pretty good. I have a couple of quibbles:

In "Myth 9," which concerns waiting periods, they say:

Gun control proponents argue that, during the waiting period, officials would have the opportunity to check out the criminal records of potential purchasers. A waiting period does give them that opportunity. But as a practical matter, most criminal records are not kept where they are accessible to gun dealers, police departments or anyone else. In general, there is no national reporting of criminal records and no computer records system that can be tapped into.

This part seems to ignore NICS, which came into use in 1998: http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cjisd/nics.htm

I get the feeling that it was written before 1998. The copyright says 2001, though.

In "Myth No. 1: Guns cause crime," they say:

... nations like Japan and England also have low crime rates but low gun ownership.

The U.K. may have had lower rates of violent crime than the U.S. ten years ago, but that is no longer the case. The U.K. now has higher rates of violent crime (though most of it is assault that does not result in death or permanent injury). They also have sharply increasing rate of criminals using firearms and killing police, which was nearly unheard-of in the 20th century.

Most of the weapons in the U.K. are in the hands of gangs that smuggle illegal drugs and immigrants.

The U.K. (except for Northern Ireland) has had a complete ban on handguns since 1997.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/u ... 317307.ece

- Jim

[htxred]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlLdWOMPdvs