The gun lobby, led by the National Rifle Association (NRA), pursues a number of different policies in state legislatures across the country and in Congress, including eliminating permit requirements for concealed carry; expanding locations where guns may be carried; weakening regulation of the gun industry; and overriding duly enacted state laws that limit gun carrying. While each of these policies have different elements, all are united by a core set of dangerous and misleading arguments perpetuated by the NRA that more guns in more hands will lead to increased personal and community safety.<\/p>\n
Below are some of the top NRA-promulgated myths and the facts that expose them as false.<\/p>\n
The NRA often argues that the United States is a dangerous place and that owning and carrying a gun is the only way to protect both oneself and one\u2019s family. While gun ownership is certainly one option for home defense, a growing body of data and research shows that owning a gun also increases the risk of a gun-related tragedy occurring in the home.<\/p>\n
Guns are used far more often in criminal homicides than in justifiable acts of self-defense. In 2014, for every self-defense gun homicide in the United States, guns were used in 34 criminal homicides.4<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n While the NRA actively perpetuates this idea that ensuring a fully armed citizenry is the best approach to stopping so-called bad guys before they are able to do too much damage, there is very little evidence suggesting that civilians can effectively serve this role. Armed citizens often lack training for high-stakes situations and can actually make a bad situation worse. A more effective approach to preventing gun deaths is to enact strong laws and policies to help keep guns out of the wrong hands and limit access to highly dangerous weapons of war.<\/p>\n This is a corollary to the myth that so-called good guys need to carry guns to protect against prospective shooters. This myth is often used to try to stop legislative efforts to limit gun carrying in certain locations that are considered particularly sensitive or unsuitable for guns, such as schools, houses of worship, or government buildings. However, most of the incidents in the United States in which a single shooter kills four or more people\u2014the FBI\u2019s definition of a mass shooting\u2014do not occur in locations where guns are banned but rather in private homes or public locations where individuals are free to carry guns. There is absolutely no evidence that mass shooters specifically seek out locations where guns are banned for acts of mass violence.<\/p>\n The fact that some individuals will undoubtedly violate any given law is not a reason to eliminate such laws altogether. Strong gun laws\u2014such as those requiring background checks for all gun sales; prohibiting certain dangerous people from buying or possessing guns; and limiting access to highly dangerous weapons of war\u2014are effective at helping keep guns out of the wrong hands in order to prevent gun violence and save lives.<\/p>\n Two studies by the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health demonstrated the impact of permit-to-purchase laws that include a background check requirement. When Connecticut implemented this law, gun homicides in the state fell 40 percent. When Missouri repealed a similar law, gun homicides in that state rose 25 percent.14<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n The post Myth vs. Fact: Debunking the Gun Lobby\u2019s Favorite Talking Points<\/a> appeared first on Center for American Progress<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This fact sheet explores some of the top myths promulgated by the NRA and exposes them as false.<\/p>\n The post Myth vs. Fact: Debunking the Gun Lobby’s Favorite Talking Points<\/a> appeared first on Center for American Progress<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,10],"tags":[25],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/itstheguns.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7677"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/itstheguns.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/itstheguns.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itstheguns.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itstheguns.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7677"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/itstheguns.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7677\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8061,"href":"https:\/\/itstheguns.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7677\/revisions\/8061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/itstheguns.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itstheguns.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itstheguns.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Myth: The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun<\/h3>\n
Fact: Armed citizens rarely successfully intervene to stop an active shooter<\/h3>\n
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Myth: Mass shooters specifically target gun-free zones<\/h3>\n
Fact: A small percentage of mass shootings occur in locations where guns are prohibited<\/h3>\n
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Myth: Gun laws do not work because criminals do not follow the law<\/h3>\n
Fact: Gun laws are effective at reducing gun violence<\/h3>\n
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Endnotes<\/h3>\n
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