"Democrats are coming for my shit-load, uh, I mean, your guns!"

[wvit1001]

[lakitss]

What fucking bullshit! What guns do in the hands of good people is assist the overwhelmed police often times during any number of crimes.

They give gun owners a sense of security in the home where cops are minutes away, or longer.

They give small business owners the same security to protect their life savings and investment in the community.

They level the playing field when dealing with street punks or gang bangers who act like pack animals and seek out old men, women or easy targets like someone in a wheel chair like we saw in shit hole NYC last wekk.


Shall I continue you fucking pussy?

[D2D]

Myth: Private ownership of guns is not effective in preventing crime

Fact: Every year, people in the United States use guns to defend themselves against criminals an estimated 2,500,000 times – more than 6,500 people a day, or once every 13 seconds. ¹  Of these instances, 15.7% of the people using firearms defensively stated that they “almost certainly” saved their lives by doing so.
Fact: Even the government’s estimate, which has a major methodology problem, ² estimates people defend themselves 235,700 times each year with guns. ³
Fact: The number of times per year an American uses a firearm to deter a home invasion alone is 498,000. ⁴
Fact: In 83.5% (2,087,500) of these successful gun defenses, the attacker either threatened or used force first, proving that guns are very well suited for self-defense. ⁵
Fact: The rate of defensive gun use (DGU) is six times that of criminal gun use. ⁶
Fact:  Of the 2,500,000 times citizens use guns to defend themselves, 92% merely brandish their gun or fire a warning shot to scare off their attackers. ⁷
Fact:  In most of the remaining 8% of defensive gun uses, a citizen never wounds his or her attacker (they fire warning shots), and in less than one in a thousand instances is the attacker killed. ⁸
Fact: 41% of justifiable homicides using a gun were by private citizens, the others by law enforcement. ⁹
Fact: In one local review of firearm homicide, more than 12% were civilian legal defensive homicides. ¹⁰
Fact: For every accidental death (802), suicide (16,869) or homicide (11,348) ¹¹ with a firearm (29,019), 13 lives (390,000) ¹² are preserved through defensive use.
Fact: When using guns in self-defense, 91.1% of the time, not a single shot is fired. ¹³
Fact: After the implementation of Canada’s 1977 gun controls prohibiting handgun possession for protection, the “breaking and entering” crime rate rose 25%, surpassing the American rate. ¹⁴

[URL]http://www.gunfacts.info/gun-policy-info/guns-and-crime-prevention/

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Myth: Gun ownership is linked to higher homicide rates

Fact: This "study"₂₄₉ has multiple defects which, when corrected, reverse the results. Some of the defects of this study include:
• Exclusion of the District of Columbia, a high crime city
• Use of other crime rates to indirectly explain homicide rates
• Use of purely cross-sectional data that never allowed control variable analysis
• Data from different years is used without any explanation (unemployment rate from 2000 to explain the homicide rate from 2001 to 2003, etc.).

Myth: Handguns are 43 times more likely to kill a family member than a criminal

Fact: Of the 43 deaths reported in this flawed study, 37 (86%) were suicides. Other deaths involved criminal activity between the family members (botched drug deals).₂₅₀

Fact: Of the remaining deaths, the deceased family members include felons, drug dealers, violent spouses committing assault, and other criminals.₂₅₁

Fact: Only 0.1% of the defensive uses of guns results in the death of the predator.₂₅₂ This means you are much more likely to prevent a crime without bloodshed
   than hurt a family member.


249 State-level homicide victimization rates in the US in relation to survey measures of household firearm ownership, 2001–2003, Matthew Miller, David Hemenway, Deborah Azrael,
    Harvard School of Public Health, October 27, 2006
250 Protection or Peril? An Analysis of Firearm-Related Deaths in the Home, Arthur L. Kellerman, D.T. Reay, 314 New Eng. J. Med. 1557-60, June 12, 1986. (Kellerman admits that his study did "not include
    cases in which burglars or intruders
    are wounded or frightened away by the use or display of a firearm." He also admitted his study did not look at situations in which intruders "purposely avoided a home known to be armed."
    This is a classic case of a "study" conducted to achieve
    a desired result. In his critique of this "study", Gary Kleck notes that the estimation of gun ownership rates was "inaccurate", and that the total population came from a non-random selection of only two cities.)
251 Protection or Peril? An Analysis of Firearm-Related Deaths in the Home, Arthur L. Kellerman, D.T. Reay, 314 New Eng. J. Med. 1557-60, June 12, 1986
252 Point Blank: Guns and Violence in America, Gary Kleck, New York: Aldine de Gruyter, 1991

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MISCELLANEOUS STATISTICS

Number of firearms in America: Between 223,000,000 ₅₂₇ and 290,000,000 ₅₂₈

Number of firearm owning households: At least 50,600,000 ₅₂₉

Projected firearm owning households in America: 60-85 million

Number of guns used in crimes: 450,000 ₅₃₀

Percentage of guns used in crimes: 0.09%

_{527Guns Used in Crime, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Marianne W. Zawitz, 1995.
528Small Arms Survey, Graduate Institute of International Studies, 2008
529 Surveys show a “reported” ownership rate of 46%, but it is universally believed that these surveys under-reported
    (i.e., people that own firearms don’t want to admit so to a pollster). This is validated by surveys performed by the
    National Opinion Research Center. They perform their surveys face-to-face at the respondent’s home, and routinely
    have reported gun ownership rates 3-6% lower than telephone based surveys.
530 Ibid.}

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Myth: Prison isn't the answer to crime control

Fact: From 1960-1980, per capita imprisonment for violent crimes fell from 738 to 227. In the same period, violent crime rates nationwide tripled.
Fact: Why does crime rise when criminals are released from prison early? Because they are likely to commit more crimes. 67.5% were re-arrested for
   new felonies or serious misdemeanors within three years. Extrapolating, those released felons killed another 2,282 people.₁₈₇
Fact: 45% of state prisoners were, at the time they committed their offense, under conditional supervision in the community – either on probation
   or on parole.₁₈₈ Keeping violent convicts in prison would reduce violent crimes.
Fact: Homicide convicts serve a little more than ½ of their original sentences.₁₈₉ Given that men tend to be less prone to violent behavior as they
   age ₁₉₀, holding them for their full sentences would probably reduce violence significantly.
Fact: Los Angeles County saw repeat offender and re-arrest rates soar after authorities closed jails and released prisoners early. In less than three
   years, early release of prisoners in LA resulted in:
     • 15,775 rearrested convicts ₁₉₁
     • 1,443 assault charges ₁₉₂
     • 518 robbery charges ₄₂
     • 215 sex offense charges ₄₂
     • 16 murder charges ₄₂

42   Weapons sell for just £50 as suspects and victims grow ever younger, The Times, August 24, 2007  http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/uk/crime/article1873117.ece
187 Reentry Trends in the U.S., Recidivism, Department of Justice, 1999  http://www.bjs.gov/content/reentry/recidivism.cfm
188 US Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1991  http://www.bjs.gov/
189 Firearm Use by Offenders, Bureau of Justice Statistics, November , 2001  http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=940
190 Homicide rates peak in the 18-24 year old group, Bureau of Justice Statistics, online database  http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/htus8008.pdf
191 Releasing Inmates Early Has a Costly Human Toll, Los Angeles Times, May 14, 2006  http://articles.latimes.com/2006/may/14/local/me-jail14
192 Keep in mind these are just charges. Each arrested convict may have committed multiple crimes., Los Angeles Times, May 14, 2006
192 Keep in mind these are just charges. Each arrested convict may have committed multiple crimes.

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A website has been collecting crime data statistics for several years, and put together a list of the most crime-ridden cities. Guess which political party presides over the most violent?
You guessed it: Democrats.
Neighborhood Scout explains their methodology behind their research:

“Our research reveals the 100 most dangerous cities in America with 25,000 or more people, based on the number of violent crimes per 1,000 residents. Violent crimes include murder, rape,
armed robbery, and aggravated assault. Data used for this research are 1) the number of violent crimes reported to the FBI to have occurred in each city, and 2) the population of each city.”


16 out of the 20 cities with the highest violent crime rates have Democratic mayors. Two are Republican, and the other two are Independents. It is notable that one of the Republican controlled cities,
Atlantic City, had previously been managed by wave after wave of Democratic mayors.

https://thelibertarianrepublic.com/guess-which-political-party-presides-over-the-most-crime-ridden-cities/

http://www.neighborhoodscout.com/neighborhoods/crime-rates/top100dangerous/

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                        Crime and Guns                             
Basic to the debates on gun control is the fact that most violent crime is committed by repeat offenders.  Dealing with recidivism is key to solving violence.

• 71% of gunshot victims had previous arrest records.
• 64% had been convicted of a crime.
• Victims had an average of 11 prior arrests. ^{1, 2}
  
• 63% of victims had criminal histories and 73% of that group knew their assailant (twice as often as victims without criminal histories). ³
  
• 74% of homicides during the commission of a felony involve guns. ⁴

Most gun violence is between criminals. This should be the public policy focus.
Myth: Gun violence is widespread in AmericaFact: Misuse of guns is highly centralized in major metro areas, within poor neighborhoods (typically street gang infested) and thus highly among young black males.
Myth: Criminals buy guns at gun stores and gun shows
Fact: Less than 1% of crime guns are acquired at gun shows, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. ⁵
Fact: In total, about 10-11% of crime guns come from retail sources ⁶, where background checks are conducted. About 2.3% of guns used in violent crime come from retail sources. ⁷
Fact: Only 7.3% of traced guns were recovered from the individual who first bought the gun. ⁸
Fact: One study ⁹of adult offenders living in Chicago or nearby determined that criminals obtain most of their guns through their social network and personal connections. Rarely is the proximate source either direct purchase from a gun store, or even theft. This agrees with other, broader studies of incarcerated felons.
Fact: Another city-wide study, ¹⁰ this one in Pittsburgh, showed that 80% of people illegally carrying guns were prohibited from possessing guns, and that a minimum of 30% of the guns were stolen.
Fact: Other common arrangements include sharing guns and holding guns for others. ¹¹
Myth: Guns are not a good deterrent to crime
Fact: Guns prevent an estimated 2.5 million crimes a year or 6,849 every day. ¹² Most often, the gun is never fired and no blood (including the criminal’s) is shed.
Fact: Property crime rates are dropping (especially burglaries). The chart shows the legal handgun supply in America (mainly in civilian hands) relative to the property crime rate. ¹³
Fact: Every year 400,000  life-threatening violent crimes are prevented using firearms.
Fact: 60% of convicted felons admitted that they avoided committing crimes when they knew the victim was armed. 40% of convicted felons admitted that they avoided committing crimes when they thought the victim might be armed. ¹⁴
Fact: Felons report that they avoid entering houses where people are at home because they fear being shot. ¹⁵
Fact: 59% of the burglaries in Britain, which has tough gun control laws, are “hot burglaries” ¹⁶ which are burglaries committed while the home is occupied by the owner/renter. By contrast, the U.S., with more lenient gun control laws, has a “hot burglary” rate of only 13%. ¹⁷
Fact: Washington DC has essentially banned gun ownership since 1976 ¹⁸ and has a murder rate of 56.9 per 100,000. Across the river in Arlington, Virginia, gun ownership is less restricted. There, the murder rate is just 1.6 per 100,000, less than three percent of the Washington, DC rate. ¹⁹
Fact: 26% of all retail businesses report keeping a gun on the premises for crime control. ²⁰
Fact: In 1982, Kennesaw, GA passed a law requiring heads of households to keep at least one firearm in the house. The residential burglary rate dropped 89% the following year. ²¹
Fact: A survey of felons revealed the following: ²²

• 74% of felons agreed that, “One reason burglars avoid houses when people are at home is that they fear being shot during the crime.”
• 57% of felons polled agreed, “Criminals are more worried about meeting an armed victim than they are about running into the police.”

http://www.gunfacts.info/gun-policy-info/crime-and-guns/

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1.City of Charlotte Gunshot Study, Department of Criminal Justice, Lumb, Friday,1994
2. Homicides and Non-Fatal Shootings: A Report on the First 6 Months Of 2009, Milwaukee Homicide Review Commission, July 13, 2009
3. Firearm-related Injury Incidents in 1999 – Annual Report, San Francisco Department of Public Health and San Francisco Injury Center, February 2002
4. Homicide Trends in the United States, 1980-2008, Bureau of Justice Statistics, November 2011
5. Firearm Violence, 1993-2011, BJS
6. Ongoing Bureau of Justice Statistics incarcerated felon interview process, with variability in the years the interviews were conducted.
7. Source and Use of Firearms Involved in Crimes: Survey of Prison Inmates, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2016
8. The Last Link: from Gun Acquisition to Criminal Use, Cook, Pollack, White, 2019
9. Sources of guns to dangerous people: What we learn by asking them, Cook, Parker, Pollack, Preventive Medicine, Volume 79, October 2015
10. Gaps continue in firearm Surveillance: Evidence from a large U.S. city Bureau of Police, Fabio, Duell, Creppage, O’Donnell and Laporte, Social Medicine, Vol 1, 2016
11. Sources of guns to dangerous people: What we learn by asking them, Cook, Parker, Pollack, Preventive Medicine, Volume 79, October 2015
12. Targeting Guns, Dr. Gary Kleck, Criminologist, Florida State University, Aldine, 1997
13. National Crime Victimization Survey, 2000, Bureau of Justice Statistics, BATF estimates on handgun supply
14. Armed and Considered Dangerous: A Survey of Felons and Their Firearms, James Wright and Peter Rossi, Aldine, 1986
15. Armed and Considered Dangerous: A Survey of Felons and Their Firearms, James Wright and Peter Rossi, Aldine, 1986
16. A “hot burglary” is when the burglar enters a home while the residents are there
17. Dr. Gary Kleck, Criminologist, Florida State University (1997) and Kopel (1992 and 1999)
18. The Supreme Court invalidated the D.C. handgun ban in the Heller case (2008), but the city has made obtaining a handgun very difficult via local legislation
19. Crime in the United States, FBI, 1998
20. Crime Against Small Business, U.S. Small Business Administration, Senate Document No. 91-14, 1969
21. Crime Control Through the Private Use of Armed Force, Dr. Gary Kleck, Social Problems, February 1988
22. The Armed Criminal in America: A Survey of Incarcerated Felons, U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics Federal Firearms Offenders study, 1997: National Institute of Justice, Research Report, July 1985, Department of Justice

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Myth: “Ghost guns” are widely used by criminals
Fact: A survey of the top 100 police agencies for calendar year 2019 showed that at most 1.3% of crime guns were DIY guns (when outlier agencies were removed) and maybe 2% with outlier agencies included.

Myth: Private guns are used to commit violent crimes
Fact: 90% of all violent crimes in the U.S. do not involve firearms of any type. ²³

Fact: Even in crimes where the offender possessed a gun during the commission of the crime, 83% did not use or threaten to use the gun. ²⁴
Fact: Fewer than 1% of firearms will ever be used in the commission of a crime. ²⁵
Fact: Two-thirds of the people who die each year from gunfire are criminals being shot by other criminals. ²⁶

Fact: Cincinnati’s review of their gang problem revealed that 74% of homicides were committed by less than 1% of the population. ²⁷
Fact: 92% of gang murders are committed with guns. ²⁸ Gangs are responsible for between 48% and 90% of all violent crimes. ²⁹
Fact: Most gun crimes are gang related, and as such are big-city issues. In fact, if mayors in larger cities were more diligent about controlling gang warfare, state and nationwide gun violence rates would fall dramatically.

Myth: 40% of Americans have been or personally know a gun violence victim
Fact: This data was from an unpublished survey conducted by a political research organization. Their own footnote reads “Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research for the New Venture Fund (Aug. 2011). Note, this is not publicly available data.” ³⁰

Myth: Interstate transportation of guns defeats local gun control
Fact: The BATF reports that the average age of a traced gun is 11 years ³¹, meaning that most guns moving from state to state were transported when legal owners moved.
Fact: Fewer than 5% of traced guns in California, many of which were not crime guns, came from neighboring Nevada and Arizona. ³²

Myth: High-capacity, semi-automatics are preferred by criminals
Fact: The use of semi-automatic handguns in crimes is slightly lower than the ratio of semi-automatic handguns owned by private citizens. Any increase in style and capacity simply reflects the overall supply of the various types of firearms. ³³

Myth: Banning “Saturday Night Specials” reduces crime
Fact: This was the conclusion of the Johns Hopkins University Center for Gun Policy and Research – and it is wrong. They studied firearm homicide rates from Maryland after passage of a “Saturday Night Special” ban in 1998. It seems the firearm homicide rate has not subsided and remained between 68-94% higher than the national average through 2008. ³⁴
Fact: Even banning guns does not slow down criminals. In the U.K., where private ownership of firearms is practically forbidden, criminals have and use guns regularly, and even build their own. One enterprising fellow converted 170 starter pistols to functioning firearms and sold them to gangs. Hundreds of such underground gun factories have been established, contributing to a 35% jump in gun violence. ³⁵

Myth: Criminals prefer “Saturday Night Specials” ³⁶
Fact: “Saturday Night Specials” were used in fewer than 3% of crimes involving guns. ³⁷
Fact: Fewer than 2% of all “Saturday Night Specials” made are used in crimes.
Fact: “What was available was the overriding factor in weapon choice [by criminals].” ³⁸

23. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, 1998
24. National Crime Victimization Survey, 1994, Bureau of Justice Statistics
25. FBI Uniform Crime Statistics, 1994
26. FBI Uniform Crime Statistics, 1994
27. Implementation of the Cincinnati Initiative to Reduce Violence (CIRV), University of Cincinnati Policing Institute, 2008
28. Homicide trends in the United States, Bureau of Justice Statistics, November 2011
29. 2011 National Gang Threat Assessment, FBI, September 2011
30. Preventing Gun Violence Through Effective Messaging, OMP, KNP Communications, 2012
31. BATF report #133664, California Tracing Reports for 2012
32. BATF report #133664, California Tracing Reports for 2012
33. Targeting Guns, Dr. Gary Kleck, Criminologist, Florida State University, Aldine, 1997
34. Injury Mortality Reports 1999-2008, Center for Disease Control, online database
35. Gun crime spreads ‘like a cancer’ across Britain, The Guardian, Oct 5, 2003
36. “Saturday Night Special” is a term, with racist origin, describing an inexpensive firearm.  Part of the origin of the term came from “suicide special”, describing an inexpensive handgun purchased specifically for committing suicide.  The racist origins are too detestable to repeat here.
37. FBI Uniform Crime Statistics, 1994
38. Violent Encounters: A Study of Felonious Assaults on Our Nation’s Law Enforcement Officers, U.S. Department of Justice, August 2006

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Myth: Gun shows are supermarkets for criminals
Fact: Only 0.8% of convicts bought their firearms at gun shows. 39.2% obtained them from illegal street dealers. ³⁹
Fact: Fewer than 1% of “crime guns” were obtained at gun shows. ⁴⁰ This is a reduction from a 1997 study that found 2% of guns used in criminal offenses were purchased at gun shows. ⁴¹
Fact: The FBI concluded in one study that no firearms acquired at gun shows were used to kill police. “In contrast to media myth, none of the firearms in the study were obtained from gun shows.” ⁴²
Fact: Only 5% of metropolitan police departments believe gun shows are a problem. ⁴³
Fact: Only 3.5% of youthful offenders reported that they obtained their last handgun at a gun show. ⁴⁴
Fact: 93% of guns used in crimes are obtained illegally (i.e., not at gun stores or gun shows). ⁴⁵
Fact: At most, 14% of all firearms traced in investigations were purchased at gun shows. ⁴⁶ But this includes all firearms that the police traced, whether or not they were used in crimes, which overstates the acquisition rate.
Fact: Gun dealers are federally licensed. They are bound to stringent rules for sales that apply equally whether they are selling  firearms from a storefront or a gun show. ⁴⁷
Fact: Most crime guns are either bought off the street from illegal sources (39.2%) or through straw-man purchases by family members or friends (39.6%). ⁴⁸


Myth: All four guns used at Columbine were bought at gun shows
Fact: Each of the guns was either bought through an intermediary or someone who knew they were going to underage buyers. In all cases there was a purposeful criminal activity occurring and the actors knew they were breaking the law.


Myth: 25-50% of the vendors at most gun shows are “unlicensed dealers”
Fact: There is no such thing as an “unlicensed dealer,” except for people who buy and sell antique — curio — firearms as a hobby (not a business).
Fact: This 25-50% figure can only be achieved if you include those dealers not selling guns at these shows. These non-gun dealers include knife makers, ammunition dealers, accessories dealers, military artifact traders, clothing vendors, bumper-sticker sellers, and hobbyists. In short, 50% of the vendors at shows are not selling firearms at all!


Myth: Regulation of gun shows would reduce “straw sales”


Fact: The main study that makes this claim had no scientific means for determining what sales at the show were “straw sales.” Behaviors that Dr. Wintemute cited as “clear evidence” of a straw purchase were observational only and were more likely instances of more experienced acquaintances helping in a purchase decision. No attempts were made to verify that the sales in question were straw sales. <sup>49

http://www.gunfacts.info/gun-policy-info/crime-and-guns/</sup>
39. Firearm Violence, 1993-2011, BJS
40. Violent Encounters: A Study of Felonious Assaults on Our Nation’s Law Enforcement Officers, U.S. Department of Justice, August 2006
41. Homicide in Eight U.S. Cities, National Institute of Justice, December 1997
42. Violent Encounters: A Study of Felonious Assaults on Our Nation’s Law Enforcement Officers, U.S. Department of Justice, August 2006
43. On the Front Line: Making Gun Interdiction Work, Center to Prevent Handgun Violence, February 1998, survey of 37 police departments in large cities
44. Patterns in Gun Acquisition and Use by Youthful Offenders in Michigan, Timothy S. Bynum, Todd G. Beitzel, Tracy A. O’Connell & Sean P. Varano, 1999
45. BATF, 1999
46. BATF, June 2000, covers only July 1996 through December 1998
47. BATF, 2000
48. Firearm use by Offenders, Bureau of Justice Statistics, November 2001
49. Gun shows across a multistate American gun market, Dr. GJ Wintemute, British Medical Journal, 2007

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Myth: Prison isn’t the answer to crime control
Fact: Why does crime rise when criminals are released from prison early? Because they are likely to commit more crimes. 67.5% were re-arrested for new felonies or serious misdemeanors within three years. Extrapolating, those released felons killed another 2,282 people. ⁵⁰
Fact: 45% of state prisoners were, at the time they committed their offense, under conditional supervision in the community – either on probation or on parole. ⁵¹ Keeping violent convicts in prison would reduce violent crimes.
Fact: Homicide convicts serve a little more than half of their original sentences. ⁵² Given that men tend to be less prone to violent behavior as they age, ⁵³ holding them for their full sentences would probably reduce violence significantly.
Fact: Los Angeles County saw repeat offender and re-arrest rates soar after authorities closed jails and released prisoners early. In less than three years, early release of prisoners in LA resulted in: ⁵⁴

• 15,775 rearrested convicts
• 1,443 assault charges ⁵⁵
  
• 518 robbery charges
• 215 sex-offense charges
• 16 murder charges

Fact: In 1991, 13,200 homicides were committed by felons on parole or probation. For comparison sake, this is about half of the 1999 annual gun death totals (keep in mind that gun deaths fell from 1991 to 1999).

Myth: Waiting periods prevent rash crimes and reduce violent crime rates
Fact: The “time-to-crime” of a firearm is about 11 years, making it rare that a newly purchased firearm is used in a crime. ⁵⁶
Fact: The national five-day waiting period under the Brady Bill had no impact on murder or robbery. In fact, there was a slight increase in rape and aggravated assault, indicating no effective suppression of certain violent crimes. Thus, for two crime categories, a possible effect was to delay law-abiding citizens from getting a gun for protection. The risks were greatest for crimes against women. ⁵⁷
Fact: Comparing homicide rates in 18 states that had waiting periods and background checks before the Brady Bill with rates in the 32 states that had no comparable laws, the difference in change of homicide rates was “insignificant”. ⁵⁸

Myth: 86% of Americans, 82% of gun owners favor universal background checks
Fact: Those statistics came from a pair of surveys reported by gun control group Mayors Against Illegal Guns, who has been caught stacking survey responses by polling left-of-center mailing lists.

Myth: Gun makers are selling plastic guns that slip through metal detectors
Fact: There is no such thing as a ‘plastic gun’. This myth started in 1980 ⁵⁹ when Glock began marketing a handgun with a polymer frame, not the entire firearm. Most of a Glock is metal (83% by weight) and detectable in common metal and x-ray detectors. “Despite a relatively common impression to the contrary, there is no current non-metal firearm not reasonably detectable by present technology and methods in use at our airports today, nor to my knowledge, is anyone on the threshold of developing such a firearm.” ⁶⁰
Incidentally, Glocks are one of the favorite handguns of police departments because it is lightweight, thanks to the polymer frame.

Myth: Machine guns ⁶¹ are favored by criminals
Fact: In the drug-ridden Miami of 1980, fewer than 1% of all gun homicides were with machine guns. ⁶²
Fact: None of over 2,220 firearms recovered from crime scenes by the Minneapolis police in 1987-89 were machine guns. ⁶³
Fact: 0.7% of seized guns in Detroit in 1991-92 were machine guns. ⁶⁴

Myth: Corrupt dealers sell almost 60 percent of crime guns
Fact: Only 0.5% of the reported traces were for an original purchase of three years or less before the trace was conducted. ⁶⁵ Thus, 99.5% of retailer sales had left their control long before the gun was traced (and many traces are not for crime guns).

Fact: The average “time to crime”, the time between the retail sale of a firearm and its use in a crime is eleven years. A firearm can change hands and travel far in six years.

50. Reentry Trends in the U.S., Recidivism, Department of Justice, 1999
51. US Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1991
52. Firearm Use by Offenders, Bureau of Justice Statistics, November, 2001
53. Homicide rates peak in the 18-24-year-old group, Bureau of Justice Statistics, online database
54. Releasing Inmates Early Has a Costly Human Toll, Los Angeles Times, May 14, 2006
55. Keep in mind these are just charges. Each arrested convict may have committed multiple crimes.
56. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms as reported by Time Magazine, July 12, 2002
57. Dr. John Lott Jr., University of Chicago School of Law, 1997
58. Dr. Jens Ludwig, Dr. Philip J. Cook, Journal of the American Medical Association, August 2000
59. Heckler and Koch made a polymer framed firearm earlier, in 1968, but the myth seems to have erupted after Glock began promoting theirs to police departments.
60. Billie Vincent, FAA Director of Civil Aviation Security, House Subcommittee on Crime, May 15, 1986
61. In this myth, “machine gun” represents “fully automatic” firearms, ones that fire bullets as long as the trigger is pulled
62. Miami Herald, August 23, 1984, based on figures from Dr. Joseph Davis, Dade County medical examiner
63. 1994, Minnesota Medical Association Firearm Injury Prevention Task Force
64. J. Gayle Mericle, 1989, Unpublished report of the Metropolitan Area Narcotics Squad, Will and Grundy Counties
65. Following the Gun: Enforcing Federal Law Against Firearms Traffickers, BATF, 2000