10 Pro-Gun Myths

1.) They're Coming for Your Guns
Ferguson, Missouri-area gun shops had a booming business in the aftermath of the killing of Michael Brown by a Ferguson police officer. Mass shootings and highly publicized killings of individual civilians by law enforcement officers almost invariably lead to a run on gun shops due to the cry of "They're coming for your guns!"

History, experience and the vast disparity in guns owned by the military and  law enforcement -- an estimated 4 million for the military and law enforcement, as contrasted with the estimated 310 million owned by civilians -- tell us that constituted authority grabbing the guns of civilians is a very irrational fear.

2.) Guns Don't Kill People -- People Kill People
One study shows that the states with the highest gun ownership rates have a murder rate 114% higher than those states with the lowest gun ownership rates. Gun death rates are generally lower in states with restrictions such as assault weapons bans and safe-storage requirements.

A study done in 2012 looked at 30 years of homicide rates in the 50 U.S. states and found that for every 1% increase in a state's gun ownership rate, there was  nearly a 1% increase in the firearms homicide rate. A Mother Jones chart of homicides caused by guns per 100,000 people, puts states with relatively strict gun controls, such as Rhode Island, New Jersey, Connecticut, New York and Massachusetts at the bottom of the chart, and puts states with generally lax gun controls, such as Wyoming, Alabama and Montana at the top.

3.) An Armed Society Is a Polite Society
Among Texans convicted of serious crimes, those with concealed-handgun licenses were sentenced for threatening someone with a firearm 4.8 times more than those without. In states with Stand Your Ground laws, making it easier to shoot in self-defense, those policies have been linked to a 7% to 10% increase in homicides.

4.) Good Guys With  Guns Can Stop Rampaging Bad Guys
Of 185 mass shootings over a 13-year period studied by the FBI, only one was stopped by an ordinary citizen with a gun. Having access to a firearm almost doubles one's chances of  being the victim of a homicide and triples the likelihood of suicide. During a four-year period in which 37 states loosened gun restrictions, mass shootings tripled. This doesn't prove a scientifically valid cause and effect relationship, yet it raises a troubling question for those who believe more guns means greater citizen safety.

5.) Keeping a Gun at Home Makes One Safer
For many years, gun control proponents have cited the Cleveland and Detroit studies, which found that for every intruder shot with a home-defense gun, four to six family members or visitors were shot. The big flaw in those studies is that they did not take suicides into account  A much more recent study has found that for every time a home-defense gun is used in self-defense in a home, there are 7 assaults or murders, 11 suicide attempts and 4 accidents.involving guns in or around the home -- 43% of homes with guns and kids have at least one unlocked firearm. In one experiment, one/third of 8-to-12-year-old boys who found a handgun pulled the trigger.

6.) Carrying a Gun Makes You Safer
In 2011, nearly 10 times more people were shot and killed in arguments than by civilians trying to stop a crime. A Philadelphia study found that the odds of being killed were 4.2 times greater when a gun was present.

7.) Guns Make Women Safer
In 2010, nearly 6 times more women were killed by husbands, boyfriends and ex-partners than were murdered by strangers. A woman's chances of being killed by an abuser increases 5 times if he has access to a gun. One study found that women in states with higher gun ownership rates were 4.9 times more likely to be murdered by a gun than in states with lower gun ownership rates.

8.) "Vicious, violent video games deserve more blame than guns"
The quote is attributed to Wayne LaPierre, executive director of the National Rifle Association.
Per capita spending on video games: U.S. - $44 --- Japan - $55. Civilian firearms per 100 people: U.S. - 88 --- Japan - 0.6. Gun homicides in 2008: U.S. - 11,030 --- Japan - 11. (Source: Price Waterhouse Coopers, Small Arms Survey (PDF)

9.) More and More Americans Are Becoming Gun Owners
More guns are being sold but they're owned by a shrinking portion of the population. bout 50% of Americans said they had a gun in their homes in a 1977 survey. The most recent survey found 45% saying they have a gun in the home. Around 80% of gun owners are men. On average, they own 7.9 guns each.

10.) We Don't need More Gun Laws -- We Just Need to Enforce the Ones We Have
Around 40% of legal gun sales involve private sellers and they don't require background checks. 40% of prison inmates who used guns in their crimes got their guns that way. An investigator found that 62% of online gun sellers were willing to sell to buyers who said they couldn't pass a background test. 20% of licensed California gun dealers agreed to sell handguns to researchers posing as illegal "straw" buyers. A "straw" buyer is one who buys a gun or guns for someone else. Thus, even where gun restrictions exist, they are designed mostly to restrict to whom guns are sold and the safe storage of them, rather than to try to reduce the overall inventory of guns in the nation.

Much of the material presented above comes from: Dave Gilson, "10 Pro-Gun Myths, Shot Down," Mother Jones, January 31, 2013 and since updated. The statistics in 4.) are taken from: Joshua Holland, "America Is Fine With Mass Shootings -- as Long as They're Not Perpetuated by Muslims," The Nation online, December 3, 2015.

ADDENDUM:
* There is an interesting addition to the information presented above and it involves the work done by researchers from three universities.These researchers found that: 1. Almost one in 10 U.S. citizens who have access to guns are prone to irregular outbursts of rage; and 2. Those with many guns are more likely to exhibit signs of uncontrollable rage than those with only one gun. Their conclusion is that we should start restricting access to guns by those with a history of violence, along with those with diagnosed mental illness.