"10 Pro-Gun Myths, Shot Down" By Dave Gilson at Mother Jones

[applegrove]

10 Pro-Gun Myths, Shot Down

By Dave Gilson at Mother Jones

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/01/pro-gun-myths-fact-check

"SNIP......................................


Myth #3: An armed society is a polite society.
Fact-check: Drivers who carry guns are 44% more likely than unarmed drivers to make obscene gestures at other motorists, and 77% more likely to follow them aggressively.
• Among Texans convicted of serious crimes, those with concealed-handgun licenses were sentenced for threatening someone with a firearm 4.8 times more than those without.
• In states with Stand Your Ground and other laws making it easier to shoot in self-defense, those policies have been linked to a 7 to 10% increase in homicides.


Myth #4: More good guys with guns can stop rampaging bad guys.
Fact-check: Mass shootings stopped by armed civilians in the past 30 years: 0
• Chances that a shooting at an ER involves guns taken from guards: 1 in 5

Myth #5: Keeping a gun at home makes you safer.
Fact-check: Owning a gun has been linked to higher risks of homicide, suicide, and accidental death by gun.

.....................................SNIP"

[billh58]

1. Inconvenient truths

that the NRA and its apologists don't want to hear. Thanks for finding this.

Edit: For those too busy to click on the link, here are some more myths exposed:

Myth #5: Keeping a gun at home makes you safer. Fact-check: Owning a gun has been linked to higher risks of homicide, suicide, and accidental death by gun.
• For every time a gun is used in self-defense in the home, there are 7 assaults or murders, 11 suicide attempts, and 4 accidents involving guns in or around a home.
• 43% of homes with guns and kids have at least one unlocked firearm.
• In one experiment, one third of 8-to-12-year-old boys who found a handgun pulled the trigger.

Myth #6: Carrying a gun for self-defense makes you safer. Fact-check: In 2011, nearly 10 times more people were shot and killed in arguments than by civilians trying to stop a crime.
• In one survey, nearly 1% of Americans reported using guns to defend themselves or their property. However, a closer look at their claims found that more than 50% involved using guns in an aggressive manner, such as escalating an argument.
• A Philadelphia study found that the odds of an assault victim being shot were 4.5 times greater if he carried a gun. His odds of being killed were 4.2 times greater.

...SNIP...

Myth #10: We don't need more gun laws—we just need to enforce the ones we have. Fact-check: Weak laws and loopholes backed by the gun lobby make it easier to get guns illegally.
• Around 40% of all legal gun sales involve private sellers and don't require background checks. 40% of prison inmates who used guns in their crimes got them this way.
• An investigation found 62% of online gun sellers were willing to sell to buyers who said they couldn't pass a background check.
• 20% of licensed California gun dealers agreed to sell handguns to researchers posing as illegal "straw" buyers.
• The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives has not had a permanent director for 6 years, due to an NRA-backed requirement that the Senate approve nominees.

Sources for these facts are posted on the web site.

[upaloopa]

2. These facts don't mean squat to gunners.

The sides in this debate see the gun issue through different paradigms.
What are facts to one side is just an opposition talking point to the other.

[Loup Garou]

3. Re: Myth #3 - NRA President’s Son Convicted For Road Rage Shooting

When National Rifle Association President David Keene bragged this week that his pro-gun agenda would win because “guns are cool,” he may have rattled the bones of that skeleton lying around in his family closet. As ABC 7 would have it, Keene’s 31-year-old son David Michael Keene was accused in December, 2002 for shooting his handgun at another driver while taking his BMW for a jaunt along the Potomac on the George Washington Memorial Parkway in Virginia. Police officers reported that Keene Jr.’s shot came within inches of the other driver’s head. In January, 2003, the judge sentenced the then-21-year-old to 10 years in prison, which means … Oh my! … He should be getting out right about … Now.

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/02/21/nra-presidents-son-jailed-for-road-rage-shootin/