·
Business Wire reports that about 300 US companies
generate close to $5 billion in revenue
·
Gun sales are sky-rocketing. In 2000, approximately
9 million National Instant Criminal Background Check System gun checks were performed.
In 2009 there were 14 Million. NRA claims that Obama is coming to get Americans
guns have meant a boon for American gun manufacturers. As with most other
debates what appears on the surface to be grass roots debate is really funded
on one side primarily by BIG business interests.
·
According to OpenSecrets. Org, the NRA spent $7.2
in the 2010 election cycle, and spends an additional $2.0 Million a year in
lobbying efforts at the federal level
·
In addition top gun makers such as Remington and
Smith and Wesson spend hundreds of thousands per year in both lobbying and
direct campaign contributions
·
In 2012 NRA’s top donation of $600,000 game from
Crossroads GPA, Karl Rove’s unregulated SuperPac
·
Beyond the regulated trade in guns it is estimated
that up to 40% of the total availability of guns is made possible through the
unregulated secondary market of gun shows where no background checks are
performed
·
The US DOJ reports that up to 40% of all guns
used in crimes are purchased illegally in the streets, though nearly all guns
are sold “legally” the first time
·
Straw purchases and gun trafficking are a
critical part of the problem. The ATF reports that in 2011 of almost 9,000 guns
seized in NY in 2011, only about 1,600 were purchased in NY. S1973, The Gun
Trafficking Prevention Act of 2012, Sponsored by Sen Gillibrand of NY would
make that Federal crime. Currently there is little hope that this legislation
will pass.
·
In 2008, 31,593 people died from gun violence (National
Center for Injury Prevention and Control- NCIPC)
·
Of that number 12,179 people were murdered, and
over 18,000 took their own life with a gun
·
In 2009 more than 70,000 people were shot but survived (NCIPC)
·
Of that number about 3,000 survived a suicide
attempt with a gun and 18,610 were shot unintentionally but survived (NCIPC)
·
Suggesting other causal effects beyond accessibility
to guns World Health Organization statistics indicate wide variances in suicide
rates from country to country
o
US 17.7
Per 100,000
o
Brazil 7.7
Per 100,000
o
El Salvador 12.9
Per 100,000
o
France 24.7 Per 100,000
o
Mexico 7.0 Per 100,000
o
South Africa 1.4
Per 100,000
o
Sweeden 17.7
Per 100,000
o
Switzerland 24.8
Per 100,000
o
UK 10.98 Per 100,000
·
In 2008 592 people who were killed
unintentionally (NCIPC)
·
In 2009 66,769 people survived gun injuries, 44,466
people shot in an attack (NCIPC)
·
In 2011 there were 326 self- defense gun deaths
(Wall Street Journal)
·
There are no Government supported and unbiased surveys
of the number of times per year that guns are used in self-defense. Gun control
proponents suggest anywhere between 100,000and 2.5 million.
·
Over a million people have been killed with guns
in the United States since 1968, when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F.
Kennedy were assassinated (Childrens’ Defense Fund)
·
U.S. homicide rates are 6.9 times higher than
rates in 22 other populous high-income countries combined, despite similar
non-lethal crime and violence rates. The firearm homicide rate in the U.S. is
19.5 times higher (Journal of Trauma, Injury, Infection, and Critical Care)
·
Among 23 populous, high-income countries, 80% of
all firearm deaths occurred in the United States (Journal of Trauma, Injury,
Infection, and Critical Care)
·
Keeping a firearm in the home increases the risk
of suicide by a factor of 3 to 5 and increases the risk of suicide with a
firearm by a factor of 17 (New England Journal of Medicine)
·
Keeping a firearm in the home increases the risk
of homicide by a factor of 3 (New England Journal of Medicine)
·
In a 2010 survey only about 1/3 of all American
households reported owning guns (UPI), a continuation of dramatic drops since
the 1970’s, but gun ownership per family is raising with the average owner now
possessing on approximately four weapons
·
A gun in the home is 22 times more likely to be
used in a completed or attempted suicide (11x), criminal assault or homicide
(7x), or unintentional shooting death or injury (4x) than to be used in a self-defense
shooting. (New England Journal of Medicine)
·
Guns are used to intimidate and threaten 4 to 6
times more often than they are used to thwart crime (Journal of Trauma, Injury,
Infection, and Critical Care)
·
Every year there are only about 200 legally
justified self-defense homicides by private citizens (FBI) compared with over
30,000 gun deaths
·
A 2009 study found that people in possession of
a gun are 4.5 times more likely to be shot in an assault (American Journal of
Public Health)
·
It is estimated that over forty percent of gun
acquisitions occur in the secondary market. That means that they happen without
a Brady background check at a federally licensed dealer (Phillip J Cook Oxford
University Press)
·
Sales from federal firearm licensees (FFLs)
require a background check. Sales between individuals, under federal law, do
not require a background check. This means that felons can “lie and buy” at gun
shows and other places where guns are readily available
Here is a ranking of states based on the gun deaths per
100,000 figure provided by the Center For Disease Control. The leniency of gun
laws is somewhat subjective, but this analysis is by Legal Community Against
Violence's state-by-state comparison of firearm laws (http://smartgunlaws.org).
#1,
Mississippi, Gun deaths per 100,000: 18.3, Permissive gun laws: 4th out of 50
#2, Arizona,
Gun deaths per 100,000: 15, Permissive gun laws: 1st out of 50
#3, Alaska, Gun
deaths per 100,000: 17.6, Permissive gun laws: 11th out of 50
#4, Arkansas,
Gun deaths per 100,000: 15.1, Permissive gun laws: 7th out of 50
#5,
Louisiana, Gun deaths per 100,000: 19.9, Permissive gun laws: 23rd out of 50
#6, New
Mexico, Gun deaths per 100,000: 15, Permissive gun laws: 6th out of 50
#7, Alabama,
Gun deaths per 100,000: 17.6, Permissive gun laws: 27th out of 50
#8, Nevada, Gun
deaths per 100,000: 16.2, Permissive gun laws: 22nd out of 50
#9, Montana,
Gun deaths per 100,000: 14.5, Permissive gun laws: 10th out of 50
#10, Wyoming,
Gun deaths per 100,000: 14.5, Permissive gun laws: 8th out of 50
#11,
Kentucky, Gun deaths per 100,000: 14.4, Permissive gun laws: 5th out of 50
#12, West
Virginia, Gun deaths per 100,000: 14.8, Permissive gun laws: 25th out of 50
#13,
Tennessee, Gun deaths per 100,000: 15, Permissive gun laws: 31st out of 50
#14, Oklahoma,
Gun deaths per 100,000: 13.4, Permissive gun laws: 17th out of 50
#15, Idaho, Gun
deaths per 100,000: 12.5, Permissive gun laws: 2nd out of 50
#16, Georgia,
Gun deaths per 100,000: 13.1, Permissive gun laws: 13th out of 50
#17,
Missouri, Gun deaths per 100,000: 12.9, Permissive gun laws: 12th out of 50
#18, South
Carolina, Gun deaths per 100,000: 13.4, Permissive gun laws: 20th out of 50
19, North
Carolina, Gun deaths per 100,000: 12.3, Permissive gun laws: 28th out of 50
#20, Florida,
Gun deaths per 100,000: 12.5, Permissive gun laws: 41st out of 50
#43, Illinois, Plagued by an
orgy of gun violence in Chicago, actually ranks near the bottom in gun deaths
per 100,000: 8; largely as a result of its gun safety regulations. Permissive
gun laws: 45th out of 50
#45, New
York, where FBI statistics indicate roughly 1 in 2 gun crimes is perpetrated
with an out of state purchased gun, also ranks near the bottom. Gun deaths per
100,000: 5.1, Permissive gun laws: 43rd out of 50
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