Facts: after 26 parishioners were murdered in Sutherland Springs, Texas, the murderer was confronted, shot, then fled from a neighbor wielding an AR-15. A Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, homeowner shot and killed three masked intruders with an AR-15. Is that good enough for starters?
On a larger scale, President Obama commissioned a $10 million CDC study on gun violence. The Institute of Medicine and National Research Council released their results and noted that “almost all national survey estimates indicated that defensive gun uses by victims are at least as common as offensive uses by criminals, with estimates of annual uses ranging from about 500,000 to more than 3 million per year.” This is supported by a previously unreported CDC study from 1996-1998 that showed approximately 2.46 million DGUs (defensive gun uses) per year.
Fact: in our worst school shooting (Virginia Tech, 32 fatalities), the murderer used two pistols: a .22 caliber Walther and a 9 mm Glock. In the most recent Santa Fe shooting, the murderer used a shotgun and a .38 caliber revolver. Contrary to media reports and Beacon writers, no AR-15s were involved.
Fact: Britain has highly regulated gun laws. So far this year, New York City has 32 homicides by firearms; London has 32 homicides by knife! Knives with blades over 3” have now been banned in London. Here in the US in 2016, there were 374 deaths by rifles (of all sorts) but there were 1,604 deaths by knives/sharp objects!
“Military, rapid fire killing weapons” is deliberate mischaracterization and fear mongering at its finest but that’s what anti-gun zealots do when it comes to the AR-15. This weapon did not create the culture of violence and banning it will not solve the nature of evil in the hearts of those who murder others. They will find a way.
