I spent part of this past weekend arguing with my aunt over Facebook. On Friday, she praised Justin Trudeau for finally taking a stand on assault weapons. I pointed out that it was nothing more than political opportunism in the wake of the recent tragedy in Nova Scotia.
Every time there’s a mass shooting, you can bet there will be a call for tougher gun laws. Alongside these the outrage, are a bunch of mistruths about guns. And the truth is, the real debate surrounding guns is not pro-gun vs. anti-gun… it’s pro-gun vs. the uninformed.
Here’s just a small sampling of the anti-gun talking points that are typically thrown out by gun control advocates… and I heard all of these this weekend:
Myth: Gun Control Laws Work in Other Countries Like Australia And The UK
Fact: In Australia, yes it’s true that gun violence has decreased since measures were enacted in the mid 1990’s. However, looking back further, the gun violence rate had ALREADY been going down since 1981. So politicians were jumping on an already existing trend.
And comparing gun deaths between countries is always risky as crime is measured differently in different countries. In the UK for instance, a murder is only official once the accuser has been found guilty in court. Because of this, violent crime rates in the UK are artificially low. It’s also worth noting that here in Canada, our violent crime rate (per capita) is double that of the United States.
Myth: You Are More Likely To Be Injured Or Killed If There’s A Gun Owned In The Home
Fact: These occurrences are extremely rare and the study purporting to show high rates of this is based on the very flawed assumption that if a gun is fired in the home of a gun owner, that it was the homeowner’s gun that was fired. Upon examination of the 444 cases cited in the study, only 8 were attributed to the gun existing in the home. The other 436 were due to weapons brought in from outside.
Myth: A Gun Has Only One Purpose… To Kill
Fact: Guns can be used for self-defense and in many cases, the gun doesn’t even need to be fired. Simply showing a gun is often enough to make a would-be attacker or thief back off. Even the FBI has now admitted that guns in the hands of responsible citizens save up to 3 million lives every year. It’s also worth noting that the rape rate is 0.09% in cases where the woman is able to defend herself with a gun… almost non-existent.
Myth: Gun Laws Will Prevent Them From Getting Into The Hands Of Criminals
Fact: An overwhelming amount of criminals obtain their weapons illegally. A 2019 survey conducted by the Department of Justice found that some 43% of criminals had bought their firearms on the black market, 6% acquired them via theft, 11% of criminals had someone else buy a gun for them, while an additional 15% got guns from a friend or relative. And 12% of weapons found at a crime scene had been brought there by someone else.
Myth: No One Is Trying To Take Away All The Guns… We Just Want “Common Sense” Gun Reform
Fact: Yes, their ultimate goal is to ban ALL guns. When you look at the wording of many of these bills, they refer to banning ‘semi-automatic’ weapons. Semi-automatic is a very broad term. In fact, virtually every gun manufactured in the last 150 years, including handguns, would fall into the semi-automatic category.