Community Magazine May 2013

federal politicians have become deaf to the call of “suffering of thousands of families.” In2008,morethan350,000peoplewerevictimsofgunviolence across the United States and 9,484 people were murdered, they quote. Also in their arsenal of statistics is that guns kept in the home for self-protection are “twenty-two times more likely to be used to kill someone you know than in self-defense against intruders,” according to a 1998 study by the New England Journal of Medicine. They write, “Guns drastically increase the likelihood of accidental death and injury to children and other family members.” PRO-GUN On the flip side, various studies show or imply that increased gun ownership – or gun permissiveness – is correlated to drops in crime. In a comprehensive study on firearm ownership, professors and legal scholars John R. Lott Jr. and David B. Mustard of the University of Chicago analyzed FBI crime data for each of the nation’s 3,045 counties from 1977-1994. Their report, The Right-to-Carry Concealed Guns and the Importance of Deterrence, concluded, “Non-discretionary concealed handgun laws are the most effective means of reducing crime.” When state concealed handgun laws went into effect, murder went down nearly nine percent, and all other violent crimes were markedly reduced. And on December 31, 1995, the New York Times reported that the lowering crime rate at that time was being credited not to tougher gun laws, but rather to creative policing strategies. The number of states with Right-To-Carry laws has more than doubled – from 17 to 37 states in the past two decades. And it is perhaps no coincidence that, according to Denver-based author, lecturer and researcher Gregg Jackson, total violent crime has decreased by 35 percent, dropping each year. Nationwide murder, assault, and armed robbery have all seen double-digit percentage drops in recent decades. Thebiggestproblem,accordingtomanypro-gunadvocates, isn’t the 99.9 percent of law-abiding gun owners, but rather the lawlessness of those who acquire weapons through illicit means. In his book Guns in America: A Reader By Robert M. Muth (1999), J. Neil Schulman, a graduate of police training, says nearly three quarters of guns are obtained via the black market, based on a Bureau of Alcohol, Firearm and Tobacco study called “Protecting America, yes.” There are already 20,000 existing federal gun laws, and Schulman reckons that passing additional gun laws will not curtail lawlessness. Instead, it will make it tougher for lawful people to stop gun violence. Andrew Lawton adds, “There’s no way possible you can reduce the number of shootings to zero, whether you have restrictive gun laws or not. You can’t eliminate that drive to inflict harm on other people. Guards are there because shootings exist, because there are evil people. The law cannot stop a criminal – someone who has already shown disdain for the law – but an armed guard can.” iyaR - SiVan 5773 may 2013 39