Explore The NRA Universe Of Websites

APPEARS IN News

Labels Matter

Friday, October 28, 2016

Labels Matter

Proponents of gun control are fond of fiddling with terminology in an effort to make their “product” a better sell. “Gun control” has been rebranded as “gun safety,” new gun restrictions automatically are tagged with the prefix “common sense,” skeptical gun owners are “the gun lobby,” and “I support the Second Amendment” comes with the invisible caveat, “except when I don’t.”

In a similar vein, President Obama has often pointed to the prevalence of guns as driving America’s homicide rate: “our homicide rates are so much higher than other industrialized countries. I mean by like a mile. And most of that is attributable to the easy, ready availability of firearms.” In other words, more guns more gun owners more criminals.

These overblown statements have been debunked before as being factually incorrect, and the U.K.’s Telegraph newspaper recently published rankings of countries based on rates of gun ownership and “gun-related deaths” which further confirm the absence of a parallel relationship between the rate of private gun ownership and gun deaths. Not too surprisingly, the United States sits at the number one spot for private gun ownership, at an estimated 112.6 guns per 100 residents. Also not surprisingly, this list and the list of country rankings for firearm deaths fail to correspond: the only country that appears on both top ten lists is Uruguay, and even so, its ranking for death falls below its rank for ownership. The United States doesn’t figure in the top ten of countries ranked for firearm-related death rates, or even those where firearms were used in at least 50 per cent of violent deaths

One of the top slot holders is Venezuela, ranked second for gun-related deaths. That country banned gun and ammunition sales to civilians in 2012, and subsequently embarked on gun confiscation as a means of further disarming the population. The result, it seems, has been an escalation in the overall homicide rate. Conversely, in America, the homicide rate as of 2014 was at a 51-year low, while the estimated number of civilian firearms in the country grew from 192 million to 294 million between 1994 and 2007, with firearm-related transactions and sales continuing to climb to unprecedented levels.  

Causal relationships between guns, crime and homicide are rarely linear and resist being reduced to simplistic formulations based solely on the prevalence of firearms. Despite this, proponents of gun control – including presidential candidate Hillary Clinton – continue to advocate for “assault weapon” bans and ramped-up restrictions on firearms as effective means of reducing gun violence. America’s gun owners – who have seen how these “solutions to the crime problem” have worked elsewhere – disregard the linguistic legerdemain and view this for what it really is: demonizing honest and decent people simply for exercising their constitutional right to own a gun to continually undermine the Second Amendment and further restrict private ownership in the U.S.

TRENDING NOW
Kamala for Gun Confiscation: In Her Own Words

News  

Monday, September 16, 2024

Kamala for Gun Confiscation: In Her Own Words

During the September 10 presidential debate, President Donald Trump correctly highlighted Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris’s support for gun confiscation. A visibly defensive Harris claimed, “We're not taking anybody's guns away. So stop with the ...

Kamala Harris is an Existential Threat to the Second Amendment and Supports Gun Confiscation

News  

Monday, July 29, 2024

Kamala Harris is an Existential Threat to the Second Amendment and Supports Gun Confiscation

Since President Joe Biden unceremoniously dropped out, or was forced out, of the 2024 presidential race on July 21, Vice President Kamala Harris has been effectively coronated as the Democratic presidential nominee.

Florida: Vote "YES" on Amendment 2 - Protect the Right to Fish & Hunt

Monday, October 21, 2024

Florida: Vote "YES" on Amendment 2 - Protect the Right to Fish & Hunt

The upcoming 2024 General Election puts forth a proposal to Florida voters on the ballot to amend the State Constitution to affirm and protect Floridians' Right to Fish and Hunt. Amendment 2 states:

Kamala Harris’s 2020 Running Mate Calls Trump Supporters “Garbage”

News  

Monday, November 4, 2024

Kamala Harris’s 2020 Running Mate Calls Trump Supporters “Garbage”

America hasn’t heard much from Joe Biden recently. You remember … Joe Biden?

NRA Files Official Protest to Bears Ears Shooting Closure

News  

Monday, November 4, 2024

NRA Files Official Protest to Bears Ears Shooting Closure

On Friday, NRA-ILA and other sportsmen’s groups filed a formal protest against the Biden-Harris administration’s plan to close recreational shooting access to 1.3 million acres in the Bears Ears National Monument in Utah.

The Choice is Clear: OPPOSE Kamala Harris and Her Extreme Anti-Gun Record

News  

Monday, November 4, 2024

The Choice is Clear: OPPOSE Kamala Harris and Her Extreme Anti-Gun Record

Kamala Harris has made it an easy choice for gun owners on November 5.

Kamala Harris is an Existential Threat to the Second Amendment and Supports Gun Confiscation

News  

Monday, July 29, 2024

Kamala Harris is an Existential Threat to the Second Amendment and Supports Gun Confiscation

Since President Joe Biden unceremoniously dropped out, or was forced out, of the 2024 presidential race on July 21, Vice President Kamala Harris has been effectively coronated as the Democratic presidential nominee.

Kamala’s Big Problem: She’s Already Shown Us Who She Is

News  

Monday, October 28, 2024

Kamala’s Big Problem: She’s Already Shown Us Who She Is

At a town hall event on October 21 in Royal Oak, Michigan, Democrat presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris was asked how she would make “impactful and immediate progress around gun violence” if she was ...

Kamala Harris’ Record on Gun Control and Second Amendment

News  

Thursday, October 3, 2024

Kamala Harris’ Record on Gun Control and Second Amendment

Vice President Kamala Harris has consistently campaigned for draconian gun control laws, which severely limit the rights of lawful gun owners.

NRA’s Political Victory Fund Endorses President Donald J. Trump

News  

Saturday, May 18, 2024

NRA’s Political Victory Fund Endorses President Donald J. Trump

Today, the National Rifle Association's Political Victory Fund (NRA-PVF) is honored to announce its full endorsement of President Donald J. Trump for re-election to a second term as President of the United States of America. ...

MORE TRENDING +
LESS TRENDING -

More Like This From Around The NRA

NRA ILA

Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the "lobbying" arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.