Gun Control Facts: 13 Facts You Never Considered

Impact

Nothing incites debate in America like guns. There is more debate on the “right to bear arms” than free speech. Americans tend to recognize the limits on free speech, e.g., defamation, but any attempt to infringe on the right to own weapons is perceived as the ultimate assault on freedom. Nothing says freedom like the right to own and use a weapon.

Gun ownership is a metaphor for every debate in political ideology from the role of government to civil liberties. The other thing that gun debate generates is a slew of “facts.” Here’s a list of 13 facts you may have never considered. Starting with…

1) Gun control and gun rights advocates cite the same statistics to validate their positions.

For example, did you know that the United States is 28th in the world for gun murders? Did you know that there are 27 countries that have a worse rate?

2) Federal law provides no minimum age for the possession of long guns or long gun ammunition.

3) Since 1982, there have been at least 62 mass murders carried out with firearms across the country.

"Twenty-five of these mass shootings have occurred since 2006, and 7 of them have taken place in 2012," writes Mother Jones.

4) 15 of the 25 worst mass shootings in the last 50 years took place in the United States.

5) Only nine states have trigger-lock laws, where gun sellers are required to sell integrated or internal trigger locks with handguns.

6) Of the 11 deadliest shootings in the U.S., five have happened from 2007 onward.

7) In 2010, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence graded Obama an "F" on gun control, citing "extraordinary silence and passivity."

8) The Federal Gun Free School Zone Act of 1995 states that people with guns cannot walk within 1,000 feet of any school (kindergarten to 12th grade).

9) Ownership of firearms is at or near all-time lows.

10) Statistics show that over the last decade, gun homicide rates are the only category of violence that has not decreased, including murder by all weapons.

11) In 2011, the firearms industry had a $31.8 billion impact on the U.S. economy, up from $27.8 billion in 2009.

Any ban on the manufacture, distribution, and sale of firearms will dramatically impact the economy. The gun industry creates jobs and generates tax revenue.

12) There are two events that spike gun sales, a mass shooting and an Obama victory.

Advocates for the restriction of guns should consider asking Obama to resign.

13) 66% of police chiefs believe that citizens carrying concealed firearms reduce rates of violent crime.

(Source: National Association of Chiefs of Police, 17th Annual National Survey of Police Chiefs & Sheriffs, 2005).