tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48717643938846110532024-03-14T00:42:12.612-07:00Ban The GunThe guns and the bombs,
the rockets and the warships,
are all symbols of human failure.
- Lyndon B. JohnsonMikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06273085114832546030noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4871764393884611053.post-69466478434872189212013-01-21T15:05:00.000-08:002013-08-09T04:18:05.836-07:0025 facts pro-gun advocates do not want you to know<span style="font-size: small;">1. To the enormous benefit of gun lobbyists and armaments manufacturers,
and to the great detriment of the public interest, many basic facts
about the proliferation of firearms, and its effects on American
society, remain obscured or unavailable.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">2. Most countries are not "disarmed"- in m<span style="font-size: small;">ost</span> of <span style="font-size: small;">the</span> E.<span style="font-size: small;">U.</span><span style="font-size: small;"></span> you can stil<span style="font-size: small;">l</span> buy certain firearms with a license.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">3. There have been at least 62 mass shootings in <span style="font-size: small;">America </span>in the last 30 years-and most of the killers got their guns legally.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">4. Recent homicide rates suggest around 1 in 133 Americans will be a murder victim, the figure rises to 1 in 30 for black males.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">5. Switzerland is no comparison to the United States, Switzerland is one of the richest countries in the world and their last war was almost 200 years ago. They do not have a conventional military so they need a militia; the US did not have a military when they wrote the Second Amendment and now they do not need a militia.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">6. Yemen has more guns per capita than Switzerland, they are second in gun
ownership only to the U.S., when they banned guns in their capital their
crime figures dropped by 43%. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">7. The Mexican homicide rate is no comparison to the U.S.: the U.S. has 4x the GDP per capita, the majority of Mexicans live below the poverty line, a better comparison is a state with a similar economic situation, like much of Europe.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">8. There has been less gang crime in the U.K. since the handgun ban, the murder rate is down to 1 per 100,000 population, and in the US it is around 5 per 100,000. So you are 5x more likely to be murdered in the U.S.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">9. According to official statistics, since the U.K. banned handguns the crime rate has steadily dropped since 2002 and in 2011/12 the murder rate was the lowest in 30 years in England and Wales. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">10. The Daily Mail - a sensationalist tabloid like the Sun - called the U.K. the crime capital of Europe in 2009, this is one of the most oft-cited sources by pro-gun advocates, but specific sources were not revealed by this study and it was sponsored by the Conservative Party who released a speech on crime the day it came out.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">11. There are far lower rates of robberies, rapes and murders in the U.K. than the U.S., despite Americans being allowed to own machine guns to defend themselves. The U.K. has a far broader definition of "violent" crimes than the U.S, </span><span style="font-size: small;">including purse-snatching and bicycle theft. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">12. China has a gun ban and has thousands less murders per year than the
United States, not bad considering they have over three times the
population of the U.S. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">13. Strict gun control laws have successfully reduced violent crime in cities like New York and Chicago.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">14. According to 2012 data, Houston, Texas, has twice the homicide rate of New York City.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">15. Guns did n<span style="font-size: small;">o</span>t save the millions of dead in Iraq or Afghanistan from American tanks and bombers.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">16. There have not been any dictator<span style="font-size: small;">s</span> in Germany or Japan since the U.S. took their guns.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">17. Smoking and drinking cause self-inflicted disease, but how often are people murdered by alcohol or tobacco? Never.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">18. The number of deaths by <span style="font-size: small;">car</span>s has been reduced by strict regulation, licenses, registration <span style="font-size: small;">and</span> seat-belts.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">19. Guns are not defensive tools, they are weapons only designed to harm and kill. Guns do not save lives<span style="font-size: small;">:</span> <span style="font-size: small;">guns</span> end lives.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">20. Pro-gun advocates like to claim that guns stop 2.5 million crimes a year, this estimate comes from one study and is highly disputed as other studies estimates vary to as low as 50,000.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">21. In the 18 years prior to Australia buying back and banning semi automatic rifles and pump-action shotguns in 1996, there were 13 gun massacres, and since then there have not been any. Firearm homicides dropped 59 per cent between 1995 and
2006 and there was no offsetting increase in non-firearm-related murders.
</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">22. Thomas Jefferson said <i>"Every constitution, and every law, naturally expires at the
end of nineteen years. If it be enforced longer, it is an act of force,
and not of right."</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">23. The Second Amendment was written by slave owners who used the fear of slave rebellion to pass it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">24. At the time of the Second Amendment the most powerful gun was a 1 shot musket.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">25. Hitler did not ban guns, and Stalin did not ban guns. Ironically, Hitler actually relaxed gun laws in 1938.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Sources: </b></span><br />
<h3>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><b>1.</b><a href="http://www.politicususa.com/iq-killing-plague-driving-gun-lobby.html"><b> </b>http://www.politicususa.com/iq-killing-plague-driving-gun-lobby.html</a> </span></h3>
<h3>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">2. <a href="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/120727080249-gps-firearms-map-c1-main.jpg">http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/120727080249-gps-firearms-map-c1-main.jpg</a></span></h3>
<h3>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">
3. <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/07/mass-shootings-map"><b> </b>http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/07/mass-shootings-map</a></span></h3>
<h3>
</h3>
<h3>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">4. <a href="http://www.wafb.com/story/20549515/do-guns-stop-violence-the-us-has-more-rapes-and-murders-than-uk">https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/bjs/104274.pdf</a></span> </h3>
<h3>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">5. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate">http://www.businessinsider.com/switzerlands-gun-laws-are-a-red-herring-2012-12</a></span></h3>
<h3>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">6. <a href="http://www.yobserver.com/news-varieties/10013289.html">http://www.yobserver.com/news-varieties/10013289.html</a></span></h3>
<h3>
</h3>
<h3>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">7. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28PPP%29_per_capita">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28PPP%29_per_capita</a></span></h3>
<h3>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">8.,12. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate</a></span></h3>
<h3>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">9. <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18900384">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18900384</a></span></h3>
<h3>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">10. <a href="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/46067000/gif/_46067937_crime_reported_466gr.gif">http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/46067000/gif/_46067937_crime_reported_466gr.gif</a></span></h3>
<h3>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">11. <a href="http://www.wtvm.com/story/20549515/do-guns-stop-violence-the-us-has-more-rapes-and-murders-than-uk">http://www.wtvm.com/story/20549515/do-guns-stop-violence-the-us-has-more-rapes-and-murders-than-uk</a></span></h3>
<h3>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">13. <a href="http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/interactives/factchecker/nycrime1_20071129.gif">http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/interactives/factchecker/nycrime1_20071129.gif</a> </span></h3>
<h3>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">14. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_cities_by_crime_rate">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_cities_by_crime_rate</a></span></h3>
<h3>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">15. <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/sep/16/iraq.iraqtimeline">http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/sep/16/iraq.iraqtimeline</a> </span></h3>
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</h3>
<h3>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">18. <a href="http://cordis.europa.eu/fetch?CALLER=EN_NEWS&ACTION=D&RCN=35406">http://cordis.europa.eu/fetch?CALLER=EN_NEWS&ACTION=D&RCN=35406</a></span></h3>
<h3>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">21. <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/brothers-in-arms-yes-but-the-us-needs-to-get-rid-of-its-guns-20120731-23ct7.html">http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/brothers-in-arms-yes-but-the-us-needs-to-get-rid-of-its-guns-20120731-23ct7.html</a></span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">22. <a href="http://news.illinois.edu/news/07/0212constitution.html">http://news.illinois.edu/news/07/0212constitution.html</a></span></h3>
<h3>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">23. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Henry#American_Revolution">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Henry#American_Revolution</a></span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">24. <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/12/17/1171331/-Second-Amendment-Gives-Right-to-Bear-a-Musket-and-black-powder-pistol">dailykos.com/story/2012/12/17/1171331/-Second-Amendment-Gives-Right-to-Bear-a-Musket-and-black-powder-pistol</a> </span></h3>
<h3>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">25. <a href="http://propagandaprofessor.net/2011/09/26/the-myth-of-hitlers-gun-ban/">http://propagandaprofessor.net/2011/09/26/the-myth-of-hitlers-gun-ban</a></span></h3>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">For further reading on why gun advocates are wrong: </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://prospect.org/article/ten-arguments-gun-advocates-make-and-why-theyre-wrong">http://prospect.org/article/ten-arguments-gun-advocates-make-and-why-theyre-wrong</a></span>Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06273085114832546030noreply@blogger.com1