Newsgroups: fidonet.guns Distribution: local From: Ken Grubb <[Ken Grubb] at [f120.n109.z1.fidonet.org]> Date: Tue, 16 Apr 96 23:00:00 -0700 Subject: 96 Firearm Fact Card 1/3 NRA FIREARMS FACT CARD -- 1996 SECOND AMENDMENT TO THE U.S. CONSTITUTION "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." Like all rights protected by the Bill of Rights, the right to keep and bear arms is possessed by each American individually. Gun prohibitionists' 20th- century "collective right" Second Amendment interpretation is a fraud. The Framers understood that all people are individually "endowed by their Creator" with rights and that states only possess such "powers" as the people allow. The Supreme Court has ruled in few cases addressing Second Amendment-related issues. The Court recognized that the right to arms is an individual right in U.S. v. Cruikshank (1876), Presser v. Illinois (1886), Miller v. Texas (1894), U.S. v. Miller (1939) and U.S. v. Verdugo -Urquidez (1990). Lower federal court decisions have been divided on the rights question, though those finding against the individual right are contrary to the Verdugo- Urquidez decision, in which the Court observed that the term "the people" has the same meaning in the Second Amendment as it does in the First, Fourth, Ninth and Tenth. "The people," the Court said, refers to all persons in our national community. These decisions support the generations-old understanding of the right to bear arms as one of our most important individual liberties. Second Amendment revisionists claim the National Guard, rather than the general citizenry, is the Militia referred to in the Constitution. For more than 400 years, however, the term "well regulated militia" has meant the people, with privately owned weapons, led by officers chosen by themselves. The Militia of the U.S. is defined under federal law to include all able-bodied males of age and some other males and females (10 U.S.C., 311; 32 U.S.C., 313), with the Guard established as only its "organized" element. The Guard, however, is subject to absolute federal control (Supreme Court, Perpich v. Dept. of Defense, 1990) and thus is not the militia envisioned by the Framers. RIGHT-TO-CARRY States with right-to-carry laws have lower overall violent crime rates than other states. The homicide rate is 28% lower and the firearm homicide rate is 33% lower and the handgun homicide rate is 38% lower. Since 1987, when Florida enacted right-to-carry, its homicide rate has dropped 27%, its firearm homicide rate has dropped 34% and its handgun homicide rate has dropped 38% while the U.S. rates rose 8%, 28% and 43%, respectively. (FBI) Only .017% of Florida carry licenses have been revoked because of firearm crimes after licensure. (Florida Dept. of State) Survey research by criminologist Gary Kleck indicates at least 2.5 million protective uses of firearms each year in the U.S., more than four times the reported number of violent crimes committed with firearms. Most protective uses do not involve discharge of a firearm. In only 0.1% of protective gun uses are criminals killed, and in only 1% are criminals wounded. A survey for the Dept. of Justice found that 40% of felons had chosen not to commit at least some crimes for fear their victims were armed, and 34% admitted being scared off or shot at by armed victims. (J. Wright, P. Rossi, Armed and Considered Dangerous, 1987) U.S. Dept. of Justice victimization surveys show that the protective use of a firearm lessens the chance that a rape, robbery or assault attempt will be successfully completed and also reduces the chance of injury to the intended victim. CLINTON GUN BAN More than 85% of the firearms banned as "assault weapons" by the Clinton crime bill are rifles. However, rifles are the type of firearm least often used in crime. Rifle use in homicide has dropped 36% since 1980. In 1994 rifles of any type were used in only 3% of homicides, far less than knives (13%), bare hands (5%) and clubs (4%). Since the first days of the "assault weapon" issue, reports from state and local law enforcement agencies have consistently shown that military-looking semi-automatic rifles and similarly-styled handguns and shotguns have been used in only a small percentage of violent crimes, a fact begrudgingly admitted by the Senate author of the "assault weapons" law, Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and the anti-gun Washington Post. Gun-ban supporters ignore police reports, basing their claim that "assault weapons" are used in crime on BATF firearms tracing data. BATF reports, however, that it "does not always know if a firearm being traced has been used in a crime." The Congressional Research Service reports that the BATF tracing system "was not designed to collect statistics. . . . Firearms selected for tracing do not constitute a random sample. . . . data from the tracing system may not be appropriate for drawing inferences such as which makes or models of firearms are used for illicit purposes. . . . A law enforcement officer may initiate a trace request for any reason. No crime need be involved. No screening policy ensures or requires that only guns known or suspected to have been used in crimes are traced. . . . It is possible that traces may be requested for a variety of reasons not necessarily related to criminal instances." "Gun control" lobbyists deliberately blur the differences between semi- automatic and fully-automatic firearms, one boasting that "anything that looks like a machinegun is presumed to be a machinegun" by a misinformed public. The fact is, so-called "assault weapons" function precisely like all other semi-automatic firearms, firing only one shot at a time. Because "assault weapons" use commonplace calibers of ammunition, they are well- suited for target shooting, hunting and/or defensive use. Semi-automatic firearms were invented more than 100 years ago, and constitute 15% of privately owned firearms in America. Contrary to President Clinton's claims, the greatest threat to police officers comes not from "assault weapons," but from criminals and the justice system that fails to punish them _ 73% of law enforcement officers' killers have prior arrests, 56% have prior convictions, and 23% are on probation or parole when they take officers' lives. According to the FBI's "Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted" reports, of firearms used to murder police officers during the past decade only 2-3% were "assault weapons." CLINTON AMMO BAN President Clinton claims new kinds of ammunition are being used to defeat bullet resistant vests and kill law enforcement officers, requiring an expansion of the federal "armor piercing ammunition" statute. No new armor piercing ammunition exists, however, and legislation introduced in Congress at the president's urging would outlaw most calibers of rifle ammunition, and many calibers of handgun ammunition, none of which is designed to defeat protective vests. According to the FBI, of officers fatally shot during the last decade, 70% were not wearing vests. Of those who wore vests, 95% were shot in unprotected areas. No law enforcement officer has ever been killed because an armor piercing bullet defeated a protective vest. BRADY ACT FAILURES "Gun control" supporters claim the federal 5-day waiting period prevents thousands of felons from buying handguns. In fact, most of these supposed "felons" are honest citizens whose applications are temporarily non- approved because background checks initially reveal incomplete or erroneous information. Most of these people are later approved. Brady should not be praised because it delays honest citizens' handgun purchases. Instead, Brady should be judged for its failure to impact on crime. Waiting periods do not stop felons from obtaining guns illegally. Since 1968 it has been illegal under federal law for felons to possess firearms (and violent crime has more than doubled). Furthermore, 93% of career armed criminals get their guns from sources other than gun stores (where waiting periods apply), mostly by theft or black market deals. (J. Wright, P. Rossi, Armed and Considered Dangerous, 1987) BATF, "Protecting America," 1992) Gun control" advocates speciously claim that violent crime has decreased in America because of the Brady Act. In fact, crime has decreased more in Brady-free states, such as those having an instant check system. FIREARM SAFETY Many television and newspaper reporters would have the public believe that fatal firearms accidents are an "epidemic," though such accidents are at an all-time low. Education, rather than restrictions on gun owners, has helped reduce the fatal firearms accident rate to 0.6 per 100,000 citizens, down 82% since the all-time high recorded in 1904. The fatal firearms accident rate pales in comparison to rates for motor vehicle accidents (16.5), home accidents (10.2), other public accidents (7.6), and work-related accidents (1.9). (Natl. Safety Council) Annual fatal firearms accident numbers are down 56% since the all-time high in 1930. This decline occurred as the population doubled, and the number of firearms owned quadrupled, proving that responsible gun ownership poses no inherent threat to safety. (Natl. Center for Health Statistics, Natl. Safety Council, Census Bureau, BATF) To promote more restrictive gun laws, some claim that car registration and driver licensing laws caused fatal motor vehicle accidents to decline 1968- 1991, and assume that similar laws against guns and gun owners would reduce gun accidents. However, those car laws were imposed (most before WWII) for reasons other than safety, and the fatal motor vehicle accident rate did not begin to decrease until 30 years later. Moreover, the fatal firearm accident rate dropped 50% 1968-1991, the greatest decline among major accident types. By comparison, the motor vehicle rate dropped the least, 37%. (Natl. Safety Council) GUN LAW FAILURES In 1976, Washington, D.C., enacted a virtual ban on handguns. By 1991, D.C.'s homicide rate had tripled, while the U.S. rate rose 12%. New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles and D.C. _ with very restrictive gun laws _ make up only 5% of the U.S. population, yet account for 16% of U.S. murders. California imposed a 15-day waiting period on handgun sales in 1975, and banned "assault weapons" in 1989 _ yet its homicide rate today is 38% higher than the rest of the country's. In 1975, South Carolina limited handgun sales to individuals to one per month. Since then, South Carolina's violent crime rate has risen more than 100%. Some have claimed D.C.'s homicide rate declined due to Virginia's 1993 law limiting handgun purchases to one per month. That belief is based on the illogical notion that D.C. murderers would obey a Virginia state law while violating a multitude of much harsher federal and D.C. gun laws. THE REAL CAUSES OF CRIME -- AND REAL SOLUTIONS From 1960-1980, the number of prison inmates per 1,000 violent crimes dropped from 738 to 227, and the crime rate tripled. Each year more than 60,000 felons convicted are not sent to prison. Only 29% of convicts are in prison: 71% are on parole or probation, free on the streets. Imprisoned criminals serve only one third of their sentences, on average: for murder, 7.7 years; rape, 4.6 years; robbery 3.3 years; and aggravated assault, 1.9 years. Every day in America there are 14 murders, 48 rapes and 578 robberies by convicted criminals on parole or early release from prison. The average career criminal commits more than 180 crimes a year (Rand Corp.), contributing significantly to the 14 million violent and property crimes last year. (FBI) The answer to this problem is expanded prison capacity and truth-in-sentencing laws which require prisoners to serve at least 85% of their sentences. Juvenile arrests for violent crime increased more than 30% from 1990 to 1993. Arrests for murder alone increased 28.5%. Gang related homicide, just 0.8% of all homicides in 1980, accounted for 3.6% of all such crimes by 1992. The addition of more than 500,000 men in the crime-active age 14-17 male population by the year 2000 will send juvenile crime skyrocketing, according to experts. Violent juvenile criminals who do "adult crime" should serve "adult time." Crime victims or their survivors are often unfairly barred from participating in the criminal justice process in any way, a problem that can be corrected by victims' rights legislation. For more information, contact CrimeStrike at 1-800-TOUGH-11. FIREARMS FACTS Guns in the U.S.: 230 million, incl. 75-80 million handguns (BATF) Gun owners in U.S.: 60-65 million, 30-35 million own handguns Owners who have used 11% of firearms owners guns for defense: 13% of handgun owners Annual criminal gun use: Less than 0.2% of firearms, Less than 0.4% of handguns About 99.8% of firearms and more than 99.4% of handguns will not be used to commit violent crimes in any given year. NRA Institute for Legislative Action 11250 Waples Mill Road Fairfax, Virginia 22030 NL00890 Rev. 1/96 25M =+=+=+=+ This information is provided as a service of the National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action, Fairfax, VA. This and other information on the Second Amendment and the NRA is available at any of the following URL's: http://WWW.NRA.Org, gopher://GOPHER.NRA.Org, wais://WAIS.NRA.Org, ftp://FTP.NRA.Org, mailto:[L--TP--C] at [NRA.Org] (Send the word help as the body of a message) Information may also be obtained by connecting directly to the NRA-ILA GUN-TALK Bulletin Board System at (703) 934-2121. ___ * UniQWK v4.3b* The Windows Mail Reader