By Bruce A.
Clark baclark@med.pitt.edu
(Written 5/19/96)
Where are the Illegal Guns?
... BATF is hated by the NRA
Actually, this is not true. The NRA
has historically had good relations with the BATF, and, except for the recent excesses of the enforcement arm
of the BATF, it still does. The NRA realizes that the Bureau has a
legitimate roll to play. As long as it sticks to its specialty and does
not trample people's rights, the NRA can continue to live with the BATF.
However, it does oppose what the "jack-booted thugs" have been doing in
recent times and questions the need for yet another enforcement organization.
... Here is a modest proposal: let's try the
experiment. We'll ask Scotty, on the Enterprise, to lock onto and
beam all handguns and semiautomatic rifles up (we'll keep track of
where they came from, so we can return them later), and we'll ban
any further manufacture of or commerce in these weapons for five
years. At the end of five years we'll examine the track record. If
gun violence in this country has not decreased by at least 80%,
we'll return all the guns, repeal the laws and, in addition, give
the NRA a twenty million dollar donation as a nice way of saying
that we're sorry.
How will you say you're sorry to the people who were killed or injured
because they had no means of protecting themselves when attacked? Even if
criminals don't then use illegally shortened long guns, and stick to
knives, who but the most robust and well-trained martial artists could
defend themselves against crooks armed with knives? Could an elderly
person? Could a handicapped person? Could your average woman? Man?
Could you? Possessing a gun for self defense tends to be an equalizer.
It is no guarantee, but it gives you a better chance, especially with
training and practice, than you would have without it. That's why between
2.1 and 2.5 million people annually use guns to ward off assaults of
one kind or another.
Here are some stats (also cited by Larsen) that tend to prove the
foregoing point: In 1987, more than 3,000 men aged 15 to 24 were
murdered with firearms in the U.S. (annual homicide rate in this age
group was 21.9 per 100,000 people, three quarters of these gun
murders).
Canada, with about one-fifth U.S. population, had 17 gun
murders in this category (overall rate, 2.9 per 100,000.) And Japan
lost eight young men (overall rate 0.5 per 100,000).
From the
NRA Firearms Fact card - 1995:
- Japan's low homicide rate is accompanied by a suicide rate much higher
than that of the United States, despite Japan's virtual gun ban. And
Japan's low crime rate is attributable to police-state type law
enforcement which would be opposed by Americans.
- All criminologists studying the firearms issue reject simple comparisons
of violent crime among foreign countries. (James D. Wright, et. al .,
Under the Gun, 1983) "Gun control does not deserve credit for the low
crime rates in Britain, Japan, or other nations. ... Foreign style gun
control is doomed to failure in America; not only does it depend on search
and seizure too intrusive for American standards, it postulates an
authoritarian philosophy of government fundamentally at odds with the
individual, egalitarian ... American ethos." (David Kopel, "Foreign Gun
Control in American Eyes," 1987)
- Gun laws and firearms availability are unrelated to homicide or suicide
rates. Most states bordering Canada have homicide rates similar to their
northern neighbors, despite much higher rates of firearms availability.
While the American homicide rate is higher than most European nations, and
firearms are frequently involved in American homicides, America's violent
crime rates are even higher for crimes where guns are less often (robbery)
or infrequently (rape) involved. The difference is violence, not firearms,
and America's system of revolving door justice.
- England now has twice as many homicides with firearms as it did before
adopting its repressive laws, yet its politicians have responded to rising
crime by further restricting rifles and shotguns. During the past dozen
years, handgun-related robbery has risen 200% in Britain, five times as
fast as the rise in the U.S.