Mark Twain is often credited with the statement: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.” Twain attributed the quote to British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, but it remains unclear whether he ever used this phrase.
Since Twain died in 1910, it’s clear that he wasn’t directly referring to such anti-gun organizations as the Violence Policy Center (VPC) or Everytown for Gun Safety. But he certainly could have been.
These groups have consistently manipulated facts and statistics in an effort to persuade Americans that guns, as well as gun owners, are dangerous and simply bad. During my time in Congress, whenever Chuck Schumer or others introduced anti-gun legislation, we always had to be prepared for them to trot out their lies, half-truths and misleading statistics.
This fact came to mind recently when the VPC released a “staggering” new report on the prevalence of unlawful concealed-carry licensees.
Before we get into that report, it’s worth noting that anti-gun organizations have been warning of “blood running in the streets” since the NRA helped pass the first “shall-issue” carry law in Florida in 1987. Now, 29 states have constitutional carry laws in place, yet that overly dramatic prediction hasn’t materialized anywhere.
Back to the report. “More Than 2,500 Non-Self Defense Deaths Involving Concealed Carry Killers Since 2007, Latest Violence Policy Center Research Shows,” its headline proclaimed.
“Concealed handgun permit holders are responsible for at least 2,541 deaths not involving self-defense since 2007, according to the Violence Policy Center’s (VPC) ongoing “Concealed Carry Killers” project, an online resource that provides examples of non-self-defense killings involving private citizens with permits to carry concealed handguns in public,” the press release announcing the “research” began.
The number struck me as odd, as research I had previously encountered indicated that concealed-carry permit holders are among the most law-abiding groups of citizens in the nation. And, upon closer examination of the statistics, it appeared to be just another instance of anti-gun rhetoric aimed at undermining national carry reciprocity.
It turns out that VPC was referring to a 17-year period which, when divided into the total number, yields 149 such incidents each year—non-ideal, certainly, but still a fairly small number compared to what that headline seemed to indicate. Further investigation revealed that the vast majority of what VPC refers to as “Non-Self-Defense Deaths caused by Concealed Carry Killers” were actually suicides. In fact, according to the figures in the report, this accounted for 1,505 of the non-self-defense deaths—nearly 60%!
The study categorized deaths into several groups: cases where the carrier was convicted (561), instances of murder/suicide committed by him or her (64), cases where he or she was a victim in a murder/suicide (24), pending cases (83), firearm accidents (40), and those still under investigation (11). When excluding all categories that don’t correspond with VPC’s alarmist headline—suicide, murder/suicide victim, pending cases, accidents, and ongoing investigations—the final total is 625 over a 17-year period. This averages to 36 per year, roughly equivalent to two holiday weekends in Chicago.
Were the VPC numbers accurate? It’s hard to say, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they were manipulated. What was certainly misleading, however, was discussing “Concealed Carry Killers” in a story that primarily focused on suicides—tragic, indeed, but not in line with what the headline would have us believe.
I bring this up to remind our members that whenever we are given “facts” from any of these groups, we should take them with a healthy grain of salt. They lie, connive and misrepresent the truth on other issues concerning guns and gun owners, including waiting periods, gun shows, firearms preemption laws and gun registration and licensing.
Oh yes, and one of their favorites to misrepresent: “Stand Your Ground” laws. NRA members understand that Stand Your Ground is simply a law that does not require a lawful person to flee from an attacker before defending themselves. Everytown refers to them as: “Shoot First laws … that give people a license to kill, allowing them to shoot first and ask questions later, then claim self-defense.” They’ve pushed this ridiculous rhetoric so far that a measure currently under consideration in the California legislature would impose a “duty to retreat” on Californians before they could use a firearm to protect themselves or others.
The NRA Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) has compiled a series of informative fact sheets on over 20 significant issues that anti-gun advocates attempt to turn into controversies. To access these, simply visit nraila.org and choose “Get The Facts” from the menu. Once you’ve finished there, you can also explore other essential information related to firearms and the NRA in the same location.
Knowledge is power. And the more we all know (and can share with others), the better chance we have at protecting the Second Amendment against encroachments.
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