Results of Obama’s Edict to Research Gun Violence are In

By Tom Rhodes, 7/8/2013

Earlier this year in response to the tragedy at Sandy Hook, Obama issued an edict (Executive Order) commanding the CDC to do a comprehensive survey of studies regarding guns and gun violence in the United States. The clear goal was to produced the hard evidence that the US was a violent nation of wild-west shootouts, so that he could garner support of the American People, based on fact, fund future research while embracing strict gun control legislation. This preliminary survey is out, you haven’t read about it in the Lame Stream Press because the results aren’t what liberal statists wanted. In fact the results pretty much back up what Pro-Gun Americans have been saying.

The study, which was compiled by the Institute of Medicine and National Research Council under the CDC's direction, was recently completed and released. Read it yourself HERE. The CDC’s research and numbers pretty much justify of pro-gun rights arguments made over the past couple years.

First and most importantly the overwhelming majority of gun deaths are not a result of crime. The CDC numbers report < 39% of firearm deaths are crime related, and those include deaths of the bad guy by cops or private citizens. Most firearm deaths, 61%, are suicides, a tragedy, but there is no epidemic of gun crime. In fact the survey notes that overall gun related deaths have decreased dramatically.

The results note that “there is empirical evidence that gun turn in programs are ineffective,” saying that the guns turned in during gun by backs are not typical of guns used in crimes. So much for the effectiveness of using tax payers money to “get guns off the streets.”

Here is some big news that the Press and Government aren’t shouting about; guns “are effective in preventing injury to the gunwielding crime victim. Studies that directly assessed the effect of actual defensive uses of guns (i.e., incidents in which a gun was “used” by the crime victim in the sense of attacking or threatening an offender) have found consistently lower injury rates among gun-using crime victims compared with victims who used other self-protective strategies.” This conclusion pretty much destroys hoplophobe arguments that there are better ways than a gun for self protection. Based on gun sales over the past few years, it is safe to say that the public is well aware of this fact.

The survey goes on to note “Defensive uses of guns by crime victims is a common occurrence, although the exact number remains disputed. Almost all national survey estimates indicate 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, in the context of about 300,000 violent crimes involving firearms in 2008.”

The data is clear, self defense using firearms by ordinary citizens is both effective and common. Excluding the benefits of self defense in future studies on gun violence would clearly diminish the credibility and acceptance of any such studies results.

Why Obama, Biden, Congress, and the Press aren’t shouting about the results of Obama’s Edict to the CDC to do a comprehensive survey of studies regarding guns and gun violence in the United States, it’s because the results support pro-gun arguments. Our founding Fathers were right when they restricted the government, not the people, in regards to keeping and bearing arms.