Some of the outright lies and misinformation coming from those who are supposed to be looking out for the American people is disturbing. Time and time and time again, the current administration (and anti-gunners outside of government) have been caught saying things that are plainly not true in order to prop up their push for gun control.
It’s disgusting to see.
One of the biggest lies used to push for gun control is saying that “safe storage” laws save lives.
Now, in case you’re unfamiliar with the term, “safe storage” laws require gun owners to keep firearms at home locked up pretty much all of the time… regardless of who is in the house. The reasoning is that it will keep kids from getting their hands on firearms. The reality about how many lives those laws save, though, is quite different (hat tip to here for the lead). Dr. John Lott writes,
Safe storage laws may also sound like a reasonable proposal, but making people lock up their guns actually costs lives. According to my research, published in the Journal of Law and Economics and elsewhere, these laws make it more difficult for people to respond quickly and successfully defend themselves and their families. As a result, criminals became more emboldened to invade people’s homes.
There have been 300 more total murders and 4,000 more rapes each year in states with safe storage laws. Burglaries are also significantly higher.
If you want to see the importance of deterrence, consider “hot” burglaries, where residents are at home when criminals strike. The United Kingdom not only has twice the burglary rate of the United States, but 59% of break-ins there are hot burglaries. By contrast, the U.S. has a hot burglary rate of 13%. Consistent with this, surveys of convicted burglars in the two countries indicate that American criminals spend about twice as much time casing a home and making sure no one is home. American burglars frequently comment that they avoid late-night break-ins because ‘‘that’s the way to get shot.” These are concerns that British burglars don’t share, given the UK’s strict gun laws.
Interesting, don’t you think? Burglars are more likely to try to avoid a person being home in the U.S. because they are scared of getting shot.
But not in the U.K. where firearms are almost impossible to get legally. Burglars there don’t care because they know that’s it’s pretty unlikely that they’ll get shot when try to rob you, steal from you, or kill you.
The fact of the matter is that, when you look at gun violence statistics in context so that you can see what is really going on, it’s absolutely clear that legal gun ownership decrease violence and death.
And that’s the truth about gun control that people need to know.
