What Does Science Really Say About Gun Control’s Effect On Violence?

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Anti-gunners are an interesting lot. Taken as a group, they often are people who claim to be rational people (I can hear your laughter already) who just want to make decisions for our country based upon science (I’ll let you consider why that claim on their part is silly).

One would think that being rational people who want to make decisions based on sciences would help them make better decisions. So, what does the science really say about gun control’s effect on violence? Robert B. Young, M.D. gives us the details:

Doctors for Responsible Gun Ownership sees lots of “studies” marketed as gun control justification that we don’t have time to report on in detail, though they all should be. Thankfully, they often are reviewed by other Second Amendment advocates. We thought we’d catch up on a few.

“California’s comprehensive background check and misdemeanor violence prohibition policies and firearm mortality” by Daniel Webster, ScD, MPH, Garen Wintemute, MD, MPH, et al, in February’s Annals of Epidemiology.

We love this one, because it is one of the few from either the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health (Webster) or UC-Davis (Wintemute) that is reasonably well designed, following changes in the same location over time (trend analysis) rather than comparing different locations at the same time (cross-sectional analysis).

They found that neither California’s comprehensive background checks (UBCs) nor it’s prohibition of misdemeanor violence conviction status for firearm purchases made any difference in the incidence of firearm homicides or suicides—i.e., in “gun violence”. They were left advocating for “permit to purchase”, naturally, an escalation of infringement rather than admitting that their “gun violence” solutions are not.

Pair this with January’s publication of DRGO member Dr. Mark Hamill’s group of “State Level Firearm Concealed-Carry Legislation and Rates of Homicide and Other Violence Crime” in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.

Here, in another quality study comparing the trends before and after changing concealed-carry laws in all states, they found no correlation between these laws’ restrictiveness and rates of violent crime, “there was no significant association between shifts from restrictive to nonrestrictive carry legislation on violent crime and public health indicators.” We know that UBCs, tightening prohibiting criteria, and freer concealed carry laws do not cause increased violence.

Stir in confirmation by the CDC of Gary Kleck’s seminal work that there were easily over a million episodes of defensive gun uses (DGUs) each year during the 1990s (“Case Closed: Kleck is Still Correct”). That’s most of what we need to know to prove how valuable our responsibly armed citizenry is in keeping this country safe and more peaceful than not.

Young touches on other sources indicating that gun control doesn’t impact gun violence. The fact of the matter is that gun control never has and never will impact gun violence because guns are only tools which can be used offensively or defensively. The human brain and the intention to hurt someone is the weapon.

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We need to beat this drum over and over until anti-gunners get it through their thick skulls. Because gun control doesn’t solve any problems.

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28 COMMENTS

  1. When gun are finally outlawed, only outlaws will have guns. I will go from an honorable citizen to an outlaw because I will fight to keep my arms.
    I know what happens when citizens are disarmed. Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Kim Dynasty, Idi Amin, Castro, Pol Pot, etc. murdered millions of their citizens who could no longer defend themselves. I WILL NEVER be unable to defend myself or my family. I fully understand the Second Amendment and the main reason our Founders put it in the Constitution. I also understand the “cold soul” of people like Clinton, Schumer, Pelosi, Feinstein Biden, Harris, Warren, etc. “Power” is their god; “Service” is not in their vocabulary.

    • Meathead you forget most people now days have enough skills to build their own weapons. And powder can be home made as well. This is how this country got it’s start and freedom from other country’s. Remember that freedom must be fought for to have and keep. The question is just what will you do to get and keep it? Teach your children well how to protect their own.

  2. They want to disarm all private citizens. This is the main objective of gun control. An unarmed populace is easy to control. Gary

  3. History proves it’s more about raising children to adulthood which the left hasn’t done in 60+ years I know of. Instead they raise whiny bratish punks who have only selfish interests. I believe this also describes the Demonrat party and is proven by the fact that their brats have been doing all of the shootings.

      • A tee shirt message popular at gun shows points out that the crime and homicide rate is caused by:
        hHearts without God,
        homes without discipline
        schools without prayer
        and courts without justice.
        Pretty much spells it out, eh?

  4. Passing laws that violate the Constitution is a violation of federal law.

    These Political leaders took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution.

    Breaking that oath is a Federal crime.

  5. The liberal thinking is partly of fear of the public having a means of defending themselves against Dictators and politicians, and a politicized military. The other part of their thinking is once we disarm the public we can own them and control them, no different than Slavery!

  6. I have read through all the feedback. I agree with all of them. Most Demonrat’s sons never went into Military Service. Also many sons of politicians never went into service. Now most of us who did serve in time of need, well we came back and still suffer for it today. When I was over sea’s and seen how people live in 2nd & 3rd world countries survive it was very bad. Many people don’t understand how well we have it here. I think our father’s of our USA are turning over in there graves and really SAYING, ” WHAT ARE WE DOING TO THIS COUNTRY THAT WE FOUGHT TO MAKE IT GREAT.” I am Proud to be AMERICAN AND WILL FIGHT FOR MY FREEDOMS FOR AS LONG AS I LIVE.

    • You are absolutely right. Any constitution that man writes can be nullified by future generations. If we like what we have then we will have to fight for it; if we show ourselves as willing to fight we may not need to. We are now up against the DemonRat party which is a carbon copy of the Communist Party USA As David Codrea who writes the “Gun Rights” column in GUNS magazine has pointed out, it’s “Hang on; the ride is about to get bumpy.

  7. The Army taught us that “the most effective weapon you have is the one you carry around between your ears”.
    So how do we control that ?

  8. I strongly believe that we need to do the following:
    1. Close the border & build the wall.
    2. Implement E-verify for both private and public enterprises + run all current employees through the check. Deport failures.
    3. Implement TERM LIMITS for all elected officials at all levels. Max. of 2 terms.
    4. Take back our schools. We need to honestly and completely teach both sides of all subjects. No more one-sided biased / prejudiced indoctrination of our youth by the socialists. Stop funding schools that do not comply.
    5. Anyone elected to any position must take their oath to our Constitution. No other book is allowed. If anyone breaks that oath, they should be removed from office immediately and permanently. PERIOD.

    • For the most part, you are right. However, I question the wisdom of term limits. They create “lame ducks” who are immune to the voters. An official – such as the President in his second term (think Obama) – is no longer beholden to the voters, as BHO said to Putin’s representative. Can anyone picture a Senator becoming a “lame duck for six years? To paraphrase Patrick Henry, “Forbid it, Almighty God!”.

  9. The bottom line is they can’t control us completely until or unless we are disarmed.
    All of their talk about “safety”, “for the children”. etc, are pure BS.
    Their ultimate goal is civilian disarmament.

  10. FredK….When will the democrats understand that gun control does not work,Oh, they now call it “gun safety”, When in fact their goal is gun confiscation.

    • PapaLee said it the best until we take our country back from the Demonrat scum and turn it back over to God we are all Doomed

  11. The 2nd amendment is a statement by “we the people.” Not granted to us by the govt.
    That’s why their called “the bill of rights.”
    God gives rights not govts. The constitution
    defines the govt. like any game that’s played. There has to be rules to define the
    Game.

  12. PASS AND SPREAD TO ALL YOU KNOW!!!The DDD(Dumb,Dumber,demonrats) want a socialist USA. Obama was influenced by the writings and philosophies Saul Alinsky,
    author of the book, “Rules for Radicals,” and later by Frank Marshall Davis, with similar philosophies.Barak Obama followed the philosophies of these ‘role models’
    throughout his days as a Community Organizer for ACORN, using tactics that appeared to some as ‘shaking down’ businesses in exchange for not branding them ‘hate groups.’And apparently Obama is still following those radical rules today.
    Recall that Hillary Clinton did her college thesis on his writings and Barack Hussein Obama writes about him in his books. How to create a social state by Saul Alinsky:
    There are 8 levels of control that must be obtained before you are able to create a social state.The first is the most important.1) Healthcare — Control healthcare and you control the people2) Poverty — Increase the Poverty level as high as possible, poor people are easier to control and will not fight back if you are
    providing everything for them to live.3) Debt — Increase the debt to an unsustainable level. That way you are able to increase taxes, and this will produce more poverty.4) Gun Control — Remove the ability to defend themselves from the Government. That way you are able to create a police state.5) Welfare — Take control of every aspect of their lives (Food, Housing, and Income).6) Education — Take control of what people read and listen to — take control of what children learn in school.7) Religion — Remove the belief in the God from the Government and schools.8) Class Warfare — Divide the people into the wealthy and the poor.
    This will cause more discontent and it will be easier to take (Tax) the wealthy with the support of the poor.Now, think …Does any of this sound like what is happening to the United States? Alinsky merely simplified Vladimir Lenin’s original scheme for world conquest by communism, under Russian rule. Stalin described his converts as “Useful Idiots. “The Useful Idiots have destroyed every nation in which they have seized power and control. It is presently happening at an alarming rate in the U.S. “It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere.”

  13. DONT SUPPORT, HELP OR DEFEND ANY PERSON, BUSINESS THAT SUPPORTS GUN CONTROL.
    IN FACT I THINK THEY SHOULD ALL HAVE TO POST IN WINDOWS DOORS POSTERS BULLITEN BOARDS STATING
    WE SUPPORT GUN CONTROL SO ROB KILL RAPE US FIRST AS YOU WILL DIE FROM THE OTHERS!!!!!

  14. There is no such thing as gun violence. Guns are inanimate objects and therefore they cannot do anything. It’s people violence. Lock up the criminals and crazies, problem solved. So called “Gun violence” is nothing more than a slogan. Lock up the criminals and crazies, problem solved. There are some politicians, usually Democrats, that want to scare people who don’t have guns. These Democrat politicians are fakes. Again, lock up the criminals and crazies, PROBLEM SOLVED. Why punish decent, honest citizens?

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