| Myth #1:
If one has a gun in
the home, one is three times more likely to be killed than if there is no
gun present.
Reality : Such
incidents are rare. Claims ignore citizen firearms used 2.5 million times
a year in self-defense. '1, '2.
Myth #2:
Most homicides are committed by otherwise law-abiding people who end up
killing a friend or relative.
Reality : Most
murders occur between criminals who have a demonstrated pattern of
violence. '3. '4.
Myth #3: Gun
Control has reduced the crime rates in other countries.
Reality : Crime
soaring in Britain. Canada & Japan murder rates soar. Crime rates in
England surpass U.S. rates '6, '5.
Myth #4: Recent
gun control laws have reduced the U.S. murder rate.
Reality :
Murder rate was already decreasing. Armed citizens stop far more crime
then law enforcement '7.
Myth #5:
Courts have never overturned a gun control law, there is no individual
right guaranteed by the 2nd Amendment.
Reality : Courts
use the Second Amendment to strike down gun control, established the
Second Amendment as an individual right: Nunn v. State and in re Brickey,
U.S. v. Verdugo-Urquidez (1990), U.S. v. Lopez (1995), Printz v. U.S.
(1997) . '8,'9.
Myth #6:
The 2nd Amendment Militia is the National Guard.
Reality :
Founding Fathers are clear the Militia is the people. Congress & The
Supreme Court agree. '11, '12, '13, '14, '15, '16.
End
Notes:
'1. Dr. Edgar A. Suter, 'Guns in
the Medical Literature -- A Failure of Peer Review,' The Journal of the
Medical Association of Georgia, vol. 83, (March 1994):136 '2. Kleck and
Gertz, 'Armed Resistance to Crime,' at 173, 185. '3. Criminal histories of
murder victims from the city of Chicago: Matt L. Rodriguez, Superintendent
of Police City of Chicago, 1997 Murder Analysis, at 21; 1996 Murder
Analysis, at 21; and 1995 Murder Analysis, at 21. In Chicago, 76% of
murderers have prior criminal records. Murderers nationwide, Bureau
of Justice Statistics, National Update, (October 1991): 4. '4. Bureau of
Justice Statistics, National Update, at 4. '5. Kevin Helliker, 'As Gun
Crimes Rise, Britain... Cutting Legal Arsenal,' The Wall Street Journal,
19 April 1994; Clyde H. Farnsworth, 'Tough Gun Control Near Approval in
Canada,' The New York Times, 17 October 1991; John E. Woodruff, 'A crime
wave alarms Japan, once gun-free,' The Philadelphia Inquirer, 11 July
1992. '6. January 16, 2000 edition Sunday Times of London. '7. FBI,
'Crime in the United States,' (1996): 58. '8. U.S. Senate, 'The Right to
Keep and Bear Arms,' Report of the Subcommittee on the Constitution of the
Committee on the Judiciary, (1982): 8-17. '9. Id., at 12.U.S. Senate, 'The
Right to Keep and Bear Arms,' at 9. Also Stephen P. Halbrook, That Every
Man be Armed: The Evolution of a Constitutional Right (1984): 107-153 '
Cong. Globe, 39th Cong., 1st Sess., pt. 3, 2765 (23 May 1866), cited in
Halbrook, at 112. ' Cong. Globe, 42d Cong., 1st Sess., pt. 2, Appendix, 84
(31 Mr. 1871), cited in Halbrook, at 146. ' Cong. Globe, 39th Cong., 1st
Sess., pt. 3, 2939 (4 June 1866)cited in Halbrook, at 113. '10. Public Law
99-308, Sect. 1(b). '11. Elliot, 3:425. '12. [Richard Henry Lee],
Letters from the Federal Farmer to the Republican, ed. Walter Hartwell
Bennett (Alabama: The University of Alabama Press, 1978): 124. '13.
Militia Act of 1792, John F. Callan, The Military Laws of the United
States (Baltimore: John Murphy & Co., 1858): 65. '14. U.S. Senate,
'The Right to Keep and Bear Arms,' Report of the Subcommittee on the
Constitution of the Committee on the Judiciary, (1982):7. '15. Title 10 of
the U.S. Code (Sec. 311) '16. U.S. v. Miller, 307 U.S. 174 (1939). For
more in depth detail visit: http://www.gunowners.org/fs9504.htm,
http://www.jpfo.org & http://www.jpfo.org/L-laws.htm
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