Right to keep and bear arms, part 1
During a conversation with a co-worker this week, I realized that it is long overdue to really upset all of you whiny, ankle-grabbing, kum-bay-yah-singing, radical leftist weenies and opine about my ownership of firearms and the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (RKBA). Let the liberal whining begin.
Since all of you easily-duped, government-worshiping, socialist-loving, touchy-feely, unhappy bunny-huggers incessantly spread lies and distortions about firearms, crime, American values, and rights guaranteed under our beloved Constitution, it's time that ol' B2 sets the record straight with cold, hard, honest reality, courtesy of Mr. Guy Smith's fact-filled and informative Web site. Mr. Smith offers no crap, no pap, and no emotion regarding firearms...just something that is alien and evil to socialists everywhere: verifiable facts.
And as for all you misinformed, misguided, or 'fraidy-cat yahoos out there, just remember what Sigmund Freud said about you: "A fear of weapons is a sign of retarded sexual and emotional maturity." The following is excerpted from Gun Facts: Thoughts About Proposed Legislation:
DELUSION: Gun owners should be licensed like drivers.
Fact: Most highway deaths are caused by licensed drivers, so there is little evidence that licensing gun owners will reduce firearm deaths.
Fact: People are licensed to operate cars in public areas. People do not need to be licensed to keep a firearm in their home.
Fact: There are more firearms in the U.S. than cars, yet the accidental death rate from firearms is 31 times lower than for cars, despite drivers being licensed and cars being registered for 100 years.
Fact: No civil right can be licensed. If it is, it is no longer a right, but a privilege. Licensing firearm owners would be like licensing news reporters, priests or voters.
DELUSION: There's no harm in requiring a license before a person can buy a firearm.
Fact: Self-defense is an immediate issue. There is zero evidence that a waiting period deters violence, and in fact the waiting period in some states has caused many people that needed protection to fall victim to criminals. Requiring a license first will endanger more citizens.
Fact: Governments change rules. If firearm licensing were enacted, the laws could change every year until obtaining a firearm license was impossible.
Fact: Everyone has an inalienable, constitutional, and natural right to defend him or herself, and no one needs a license to exercise this right.
DELUSION: We license cars, marriages, even hair stylists -- why not gun owners?
Fact: In New York and Washington, D.C., such licensing schemes have been used to disarm law-abiding citizens, and in turn and they create astronomically high violent crime rates.
Fact: In Haynes v. U.S., the Supreme Court ruled that criminals do not have to register their firearms, nor do they have to apply for licenses.
DELUSION: 13 children die each day from gun violence.
Fact: This "statistic" includes "children" ages 18-24, gang members killed while committing felonies, and kids that commit suicides (FBI Uniform Crime Statistics, 1997). When all the subtraction is done, this number drops to less than one child per day.
Fact: Four children die each day in the U.S. from parental neglect and abuse. Perhaps we should register and license parents.
DELUSION: The availability of guns is the cause of crime and violence.
Fact: Though the number of firearms owned by private citizens has been increasing steadily since 1970, the overall rate of homicides and suicides has not risen, according to the FBI Uniform Crime Statistics.
Fact: Over 95 percent of gun-related crime is caused by gang activity (FBI Uniform Crime Statistics, 1976-98). These organized bands of criminals commit many crimes, and guns are tools they use. Control gangs and you will control gun violence.
Fact: Most guns used in crimes are stolen, according to James Johnson, Treasury Undersecretary for Enforcement. In fact, more than 27,000 lost or stolen firearms were reported by federal firearm licensees between 1998 and 1999.
DELUSION:Gun control reduces crime.
Fact: Violent crime appears to be encouraged by gun control. Most gun control laws in the United States have been written since 1968, yet the murder rate has risen during that time, according to National Center for Health Statistics (Vital Statistics, Revised July, 1999).
Fact: In 1976, Washington, D.C., enacted one of the most restrictive gun control laws in the nation. Since then, the city's murder rate has risen 134 percent while the national murder rate has dropped 2 percent, according to the FBI Uniform Crime Statistics.
Fact: 20 percent of U.S. homicides occur in four cities with just six percent of the population -- New York, Chicago, Detroit and Washington, D.C. -- and each has a virtual prohibition on private handguns.
Fact: Among the 15 states with the highest homicide rates, 10 have restrictive or very restrictive gun laws.
DELUSION:Handguns are 43 times more likely to kill a family member than a criminal.
Fact: Of the 43 deaths reported in this flawed "study" 86 percent were suicides. Other deaths involved criminal activity between the family members (drug deals gone bad).
Fact: Only 0.1 percent (1 in a thousand) of the defensive uses of guns result in the death of the predator, according to criminologist Dr. Gary Kleck. This means you are infinitely more likely to prevent a crime without bloodshed than hurt a family member.
DELUSION:The Brady bill has reduced gun crime significantly.
Fact: Both gun and non-gun murder rates fell during the same period, 1992 to 1997, and the Brady bill was not passed until 1994. In 1992, 68 percent of U.S. murders were committed with guns; in 1997, it was still 68 percent. Thus, the decreased gun homicide rate was part of an overall declining crime rate, not an effect of the Brady Bill.
OK freedom haters, that's enough for now -- Part Two tomorrow.