Good article, IMO:
PHYLLIS SCHLAFLY REPORT -- June 2000 (Part 1)
> >
> > The Media Campaign Against Gun Ownership
> >
> > The Million Moms March was not a grassroots uprising of mothers
> > but a slick media event orchestrated by Bill Clinton's public relations
> > experts and led by Donna Dees-Thomases, who worked for
> > Democrats in Congress, contributed to Hillary Clinton's campaign
> > and is the sister-in-law of Susan Thomases, a top Clinton adviser.
> > The contrived nature of the campaign was evident in the cozy
> > meeting with the President, extravagant television coverage,
> > multi-page color "ads" disguised as "news" in national magazines,
> > and the distribution of color brochures in airports.
> >
> > The anti-gun moms pretended to model themselves on Mothers
> > Against Drunk Driving, but those mothers are smart enough to go
> > after criminally reckless drivers, not against automobiles. The
> > anti-gun moms either aren't smart enough to see that kids are killed
> > by criminals not by guns, or they are just trying to elect Al Gore. The
> > march was such phony political theater. The Associated Press
> > reported that Bill Clinton had "tears in his eyes" when he talked to
> > the Marching Moms (who, of course, didn't number anywhere near a
> > million).
> >
> > The march was advertised as growing out of mothers' outrage at the
> > large number of children who are killed by guns. But Professor John
> > Lott Jr., senior research scholar at the Yale University Law School
> > and author of More Guns, Less Crime, has exposed the blatant lies
> > in the statistics bandied about by the President and the press, such
> > as the oft-repeated lie that 12 children a day die from guns. Most of
> > the "children" in the statistics on kids killed by gunfire are 17-, 18-
> > and 19-year-olds killed in gang or drug wars in high-crime urban
> > areas. It is unrealistic to think that trigger locks or waiting periods
> > would have any effect in stopping those homicides.
> >
> > The Centers for Disease Control could identify only 21 children under
> > age 15 dying from accidental handgun deaths in 1996. But 40
> > children under the age of five drown in water buckets every year and
> > another 80 drown in bathtubs. Are we going to demand that water
> > buckets and bathtubs be locked up and fitted with safety catches?
> > Many more children are killed or injured every year from cars,
> > drowning, fires, and even toys than from guns. The risk of a child
> > drowning in a swimming pool is 100 times greater than the risk of
> > dying from a firearm-related accident.
> >
> > The Columbine killers violated at least 17 state and federal
> > gun-control laws among the 20,000 gun-control laws on the books
> > today. Does anyone think that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold would
> > not have known how to unlock their guns, or that a waiting period
> > would have made a difference in the murders they planned months in
> > advance? None of the proposals for trigger locks, waiting periods or
> > gun-show restrictions would have stopped Harris and Klebold.
> >
> > The only policy that effectively reduces public shootings is
> > right-to-carry laws. Allowing citizens to carry concealed handguns
> > reduces violent crime. In the 31 states that have passed right-to-carry
> > laws since the mid-1980s, the number of multiple-victim public
> > shootings and other violent crimes has dropped dramatically.
> > Murders fell by 7.65%, rapes by 5.2%, aggravated assaults by 7%,
> > and robberies by 3%. On the average, murder rates in states without
> > concealed-carry laws are 127% higher than in states having the
> > broadest carry laws.
> >
> > The United States has a population of 270,000,000, and 600,000 to
> > 750,000 people are in law enforcement. It is not believable that each
> > law enforcement officer can protect 360 to 450 people from violent
> > criminals or answer every 911 call before the criminal fires a gun.
> >
> > The sheer number of guns and gun owners in America makes gun
> > control far more unrealistic than Prohibition. At least 80 million
> > Americans own about 250 million guns, and about 99% of
> > gun-owners obviously handle their guns responsibly or we would have
> > many more accidents.
> >
> > The marching moms say they want handguns registered and
> > handgun owners licensed similarly to what is required for
> > automobiles. But registering cars doesn't make kids any safer, and
> > many other methods are obviously better at improving safety, such
> > as safety instruction itself.
> >
> > Using automobiles as an analogy doesn't help the marching moms'
> > argument, anyway, because it invites us to put gun safety courses in
> > schools like driver's ed.
> >
> > It's time for Americans to separate truth from propaganda in news
> > coverage about guns. Under the principle that "if it bleeds it leads,"
> > television redundantly reports on guns used to kill, but censors out
> > the many incidents of successful defensive use of guns to disarm
> > criminals and protect law-abiding citizens from becoming victims.
> >
> > Guns are used to save lives almost five times as often as to commit
> > crimes. Guns are used 430,000 times a year to commit crimes, but
> > 2,000,000 to 2,500,000 times a year in self-defense to prevent
> > deaths, rapes, assaults and other serious injuries. In 98% of the
> > situations, the victim just brandished a gun, and in only 2% of the
> > cases was the gun actually fired, usually just as a warning. But when
> > was the last time you saw a news story about someone successfully
> > using a gun in self-defense?
> >
> > Gun control advocates refuse to make a risk-benefit analysis,
> > balancing the good guns do against the harm. Instead, they use
> > emotion and lies to plead their cause.
> >
> > All scientific studies show that restrictive gun laws are more
> > dangerous than guns. Crime is reduced by putting guns in the hands
> > of law-abiding citizens. Guns are the safest and most effective means
> > of resisting violent criminal attack. Areas that increase gun ownership
> > have lower crime rates than other areas. Even those who do not own
> > a gun are safer because the criminal fears that his next victim might
> > have the power to defend himself.
> >
> > By definition, laws will be obeyed only by the law abiding. If we
> > disarm those likely to obey the law, gun restrictions will encourage
> > crime rather than prevent it. As Professor Lott warns: "Despite good
> > intentions, gun-control advocates are going to end up risking more
> > lives than they're going to save."
> >
> > The Lies Behind Gun Control
> >
> > "We need more gun regulations." False. There is no academic
> > evidence that gun regulations prevent crime and plenty of evidence
> > that they encourage crime. It stands to reason that, if we disarm
> > those likely to obey the gun laws, we make crime more attractive,
> > profitable and likely for those who do not obey the law. Washington,
> > D.C. has the strictest gun control laws in the country and the highest
> > murder rate, 69 per 100,000, while other major cities with more gun
> > freedom have only a fraction of that rate. 200 scholars from major
> > universities (Harvard, Stanford, Northwestern, UCLA) released an
> > open letter to Congress on June 16, 1999 stating that proposed new
> > gun laws are ill-advised: "With the 20,000 gun laws already on the
> > books, we advise Congress, before enacting yet more new laws, to
> > investigate whether many of the existing laws may have contributed
> > to the problems we currently face."
> >
> > "The United States has a higher murder rate than other countries
> > because Americans own so many guns." False. Switzerland and
> > Israel have more gun ownership than the United States and their
> > murder rate is far less. Switzerland has more guns per person than
> > any country in the world, yet is one of the safest places to be. All
> > males age 20 to 42 are required to keep fully automatic rifles or
> > pistols at home. It's a common sight to see Israelis carrying
> > sidearms. On the other hand, Brazil and Russia have complete gun
> > control, and their murder rate is five times that of the United States.
> >
> > "Guns in the home are so dangerous because most murders are
> > acquaintance murders, that is, someone you know gets angry and
> > picks up an available gun." False. The vast majority of
> > "acquaintances" who kill involve drug dealers, gangs, prostitutes, cab
> > drivers, barroom brawlers, etc., and 90% of murderers have criminal
> > records.
> >
> > "The easy availability of guns in the home contributes to crimes of
> > passion and domestic violence." False. Denying guns denies a
> > woman the ability to defend herself against an abusive man. Guns
> > equalize the means of physical terror between men and women.
> >
> > "Passive resistance is the safest response to an attacker." False. It
> > depends on the means you have to resist. If a woman has only her
> > fists to defend against a rapist, she's not likely to be successful with
> > active resistance. But if the woman has a gun, active resistance can
> > mean the difference between rape and safety.
> >
> > The "increase in rampage killings" shows we need gun control. False
> > again. Professor Lott, who did a couple of thousand hours of research
> > on this issue, found that there has been no upward national trend in
> > such killings since the mid-1970s.
> >
> > "We need safe storage laws." False. States that passed "safe
> > storage" laws have high crime rates, especially higher rates of rape
> > and aggravated assault against women.
> >
> > "We need waiting periods and background checks to reduce crime
> > and youth violence." False. No academic study has shown that crime
> > is reduced by waiting periods or background checks.
> >
> > Clinton brags that we are safer because "the Brady law has kept
> > 500,000 criminals from buying handguns." False. The only academic
> > research done on the Brady law showed that the Brady waiting period
> > has had no significant impact on murder or robbery rates and is
> > associated with a small increase in rape and aggravated-assault
> > rates, perhaps due to removing victims' ability to defend themselves.
> >
> > "Guns create a terrible danger of accidental deaths." False. Rep.
> > James Traficant (D-OH) told the House: "Something does not add up,
> > the number of accidental deaths involving guns average 1,500 per
> > year; and the number of accidental deaths caused by doctors,
> > surgeons, and hospitals average 120,000 a year. That means ... [it
> > is] 80 times more possible of being killed accidentally by a doctor
> > than a gun." (April 4, 2000)
> >
> > "We should register guns and license gun owners just like
> > automobiles, and that won't lead to confiscation because we haven't
> > confiscated cars." That's a false analogy. There are 130 million
> > automobiles in the United States weighing about a ton each and
> > confiscation would be impossible. We've seen gun confiscation and
> > its results in many other countries. The analogy to automobiles also
> > fails because cars are not used in self-defense to protect lives.
> >
> > "The gun show loophole most be closed." False. There is no gun
> > show loophole. Anyone who is engaged in the business of selling
> > firearms, whether at a gun show or a fixed retail store, must fill out a
> > government registration form on every buyer and get FBI permission
> > through the National Instant Check System for every sale. There is
> > no evidence that gun shows are an important source of criminals'
> > guns. A 1997 National Institute of Justice study in December 1997
> > reported that only 2% of felons acquired their guns at gun shows and
> > those included purchases from licensed dealers who conducted
> > background checks.
> >
> > "Assault weapons should be banned." False. Civilian assault
> > weapons are not machine guns. They are just ordinary guns that
> > have a pseudo-military appearance. They do not fire faster, the
> > bullets are not especially powerful, and they are slower than bullets
> > from hunting rifles. Semi-automatic guns do not "spray" bullets and
> > are not machine guns, they require a separate pull of the trigger for
> > each shot to be fired just like a revolver. (Fully-automatic military
> > assault rifles are not part of the current gun debate.)
> >
> > "Handguns must be banned." False. The law abiding, by definition,
> > will abide by the law; law violators will not. Handguns will always be
> > available at some price; demand will create its own supply.
> >
> > "We must get rid of the Saturday Night Special." False. This is a
> > small, low-caliber, short-barreled, not-too-expensive gun. Not only
> > does this type of gun have a legitimate sports and recreational use, it
> > is the best defensive weapon for poor, inner-city residents who are
> > the most likely potential victims of crime. Why deny them protection?
> >
> > "The American Society of Pediatrics says that handguns should be
> > banned." But the pediatricians' statement is based on the usual
> > bogus statistics, not on any scientific study. If the pediatricians did
a
> > scientific study, they might reach the same conclusion that
> > Professor Lott did, namely, that more guns in the hands of
> > law-abiding people result in less crime.
> >
> > We are told that "we need zero tolerance in the schools about guns."
> > But schools were a lot safer prior to the 1970s, when guns in schools
> > were very common. Professor Lott has pointed out that, "until 1969,
> > virtually every public high school in New York City had a shooting
> > club. High school students carried their guns to school on the
> > subways in the morning . . . and regularly competed in city-wide
> > shooting contests." When guns were so easily accessible, even
> > inside schools, why didn't we have the problems that we have today?
> > The reason can't be that kids take guns to school.
> >
> > _____________________________ _________________
