Your Tax Dollars Pay for Gun
Control Disinformation
by Bartholomew Roberts
[email protected]
January 25, 2002
I recently discovered a pamphlet put out by the National Crime Prevention Council (McGruff the Dog?).�
You may find an online copy of the pamphlets here (Arizona, Missouri, and Florida citizens take note):
This pamphlet not only outright LIES about guns, it lists an anti-gun lobby (Center to Prevent Handgun Violence) as a source for more information. The National Crime Prevention Council receives the majority of its funding from the National Institute of Justice
-- a government organization. In fact, NCPC received $693,000 in government grants just in the last year
-- almost 50% of its funding. The NCPC is also promoting the same lies that got the CDCs funding cut. I'll go over the falsehoods in the pamphlet and list facts to refute those falsehoods below:�
Quote:
"Nine out of ten murders involve a weapon--eight of ten involve a firearm."
Not true -- the number of homicides involving a firearm has NEVER risen above 70% from 1968-1998. It is currently 65%. (Source: FBI UCRs available here:
http://www.albany.edu/sourcebook/1995/pdf/t3138.pdf)
Quote:
"Most robberies involve the use of a weapon, most frequently a handgun."
Also untrue, the most frequent type of robbery involves no weapon at all. If you include all robberies, a firearm of any type is involved in only 18%. If you limit robberies to those where supplemental data is reported, firearms comprised 38% in 1998 (compared to 40% strong-arm).
(Source FBI UCRs available here: http://www.albany.edu/sourcebook/1995/pdf/t3158.pdf)
Quote:
"A gun in the home increases the likelihood of homicide three times and the likelihood of suicide five times."
This statement is based on thoroughly debunked
"research" by Arthur Kellerman and Don Reay. This "research" was so biased that the CDC lost a significant chunk of funding for authorizing it. A thorough criticism of the studies can be found here:�
http://www.guncite.com/gun_control_gcdgaga.html.
Quote:
"Think long and hard about having weapons, especially firearms, in your home. Studies show that a firearm in the home is more than forty times as likely to hurt or kill a family member as to stop a crime."
Not only is this quote based on debunked research by Kellerman and Reay (above) but they misquoted the actual study! Kellerman and Reay's findings were: "for every case of self-protection homicide involving a firearm kept in the home, there were 1.3 accidental deaths, 4.6 criminal homicides, and 37 suicides involving firearms." The quote above is not only tremendously biased, it misreports the conclusions of an already flawed study.
(For more on this "study" see: http://www.guncite.com/gun_control_gcdgaga.html.)
I don't know about you, but I would like to see organizations funded by my tax money behave
responsibly with that money. I don't like seeing them advocate for certain political lobbying groups. I'd also like to straighten out the local governments that are disseminating this propaganda into our schools and communities.�
CDC got its funding chopped for this. Let's see if we can't encourage NCPC to correct the errors or face the same consequences.�
I think the proper tack here would be to contact http://www.ncpc.org
and let them know that their facts are amiss in the particular pamphlet they put out. I'd also ask why they didn't
include a source for further weapons safety besides CPHV. If they gave me anything but "We'll correct that right away", I'd save it and include the reply in my letter to my Congressperson.�
National Crime Prevention Council may be reached at:�
[email protected]��
1000 Conneticut Ave. NW 13th Floor�
Washington DC 20036�
Voice: 202-466-6272�
Fax: 202-295-1356�
You may also wish to contact their sponsors who are listed here:
http://www.ncpc.org/partners.htm��
Executive Board of Directors of NCPC�
http://www.ncpc.org/annrpt/board.htm�
(thanks to DZ for the research):
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE�
Chairman�
Mr. U. J. Brualdi, Jr.�
Ret. President & CEO�
ADT Security Services, Inc.�
Longboat Key, Florida�
Vice Chairman�
Mrs. Mary Whyte�
Civic Leader�
Greenwich, Connecticut�
Secretary�
Mr. Robert F. Diegelman�
Civic Leader�
Springfield, Virginia�
Treasurer/Finance�
Mr. Edward L. Milstein�
Co-Chairman�
Douglas Elliman�
New York, New York�
Ms. Jean Adnopoz�
Associate Professor�
Child Study Center�
Yale University School of Medicine New�
Haven, Connecticut�
Mr. David A. Dean, Esq.�
Chief Executive Officer�
Dean International, Inc.�
David A. Dean and Associates, P.C. Dallas,�
Texas�
Mr. Michael F. Snyder�
President�
ADT Security Services, Inc.�
Boca Raton, Florida�
Mrs. Potter Stewart�
Civic Leader�
Washington, DC�
DIRECTORS�
Mr. Thomas W. Adler�
Managing Partner�
NewGar, Ltd.�
Cleveland, Ohio�
Mr. Charles P. Austin, Sr.�
Chief of Police�
Columbia Police Department�
Columbia, South Carolina�
Mr. Rudy M. Beserra�
Assistant Vice President�
The Coca-Cola Company�
Atlanta, Georgia�
Mr. John P. Box�
President�
Frederick Ross Company�
Denver, Colorado�
Mr. Ordway P. Burden�
President and Director�
Law Enforcement Assistance Foundation�
New York, New York�
Mr. George K. Campbell�
President�
Fidelity Security Services, Inc.�
Boston, Massachusetts�
Ms. Beverly Watts Davis�
Executive Director�
San Antonio Fighting Back of United Way�
San Antonio, Texas�
Mr. Dennis R. Dibos�
Director of Business Development Motorola�
Schaumburg, Illinois�
Mrs. Carole Hillard�
Lieutenant Governor�
State of South Dakota�
Pierre, South Dakota�
Mr. J. Ben Miller�
Principal�
Colliers Turley Martin�
St. Louis, Missouri�
Dr. Charles A. Moose, Ph.D.�
Chief of Police�
Montgomery County Department of Police�
Rockville, Maryland�
Mr. Leonard H. Roberts�
Chairman, President & CEO�
Tandy Corporation/RadioShack Fort Worth,�
Texas�
Nathaniel E. Robinson�
Special Assistant to the Office of the�
Secretary�
Department of Administration�
State of Wisconsin�
Madison, Wisconsin�
Ms. Nell Watson Stewart�
President�
Stewart's Unlimited, Inc.�
Greenville, South Carolina�
Ms. Carla J. Stovall�
Attorney General�
State of Kansas�
Topeka, Kansas�
Advisory Directors�
Mr. Robert P. Keim�
Ret. President�
The Advertising Council, Inc. Madison,�
Connecticut�
Mr. William F. May�
Chairman & CEO�
Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island Foundation�
New York, New York�
Mr. Joseph V. Vittoria�
Ret. Chairman & CEO�
Avis Rent A Car System, Inc. Delray Beach,�
Florida�
President & Chief Executive Officer�
Mr. John A. Calhoun�
National Crime Prevention Council Washington,�
DC
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