Gun Solutions: Just The Facts Please

The terrorist killing spree in San Bernardino provided ammunition for President Obama's echo chamber in the media to renew their evangelism for stricter gun control laws.  The media reaction was equal parts hysteria and factual fraud, rendering it counterproductive to finding solutions.

News outlets, in an effort to politicize the shootings, deliberately distorted gun violence statistics in the aftermath of the mass killings. The media relies on the shock-value of numbers to bolster their propaganda push for gun control without addressing if tighter laws would actually reduce violence.

That makes it difficult for the average American to determine the best solution for preventing mass shootings.  Politicians, the media, gun advocates and gun opponents jigger statistics to suit their own positions.  None of this helps the country to reach a consensus on what should be done.

There must be agreement on the facts for any serious discussion to yield effective solutions.  Just doing something may convince the uninitiated that knee-jerk politicians care about gun violence, but it is irresponsible to enact laws without a scrupulous analysis of the incidents and the causes.

For starters, below are facts about shootings involving guns in the United States.  The statistics are mostly derived from FBI reports, a non-partisan source for the facts on the ground.  No figures from the major gun rights organization, the National Rifle Association, are used in this analysis.

Violent Crime In the U.S. is Decreasing Not Increasing

FBI statistics on violent crime show a steady decline nationally.  Violent crime in 2014 was 6.9 percent below the 2010 level and the number represented a 16.2 reduction from 2005.  This downward trend has existed for more than a decade.

Gun Violence In the U.S. is Declining Not Rising

Murder rates are continuing to decrease nationally, the FBI reports.  The murder rate has dipped 6.1 percent since 2010 and nearly 21 percent (20.8%) from the 2005 level.  Murder accounted for just 1.2 percent of all the violent crime in the United States last year.

Of all the violent deaths, a firearm of some kind was used in 68 percent of the homicides.  In 12.1 percent of the murders, the perpetrator wielded a knife.  Violent deaths caused by firearms have declined in nearly every year since 2009.  The lone exception was 2012.

Some gun control supporters often quote total firearms deaths, eschewing the homicide data.  The numbers are very misleading, since the data includes suicides.  According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 63 percent of all firearm deaths are attributed to suicides.

The president has cited comparisons of gun homicides in other countries.  However, the data is collected inconsistently and homicide is defined differently in each country.  For example, the United Kingdom excludes gun homicides that do not result in a conviction from its statistics.

Even using the flawed data, Mexico's firearms homicide rate is three times higher than the United States, based on the latest figures compiled by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Gun ownership laws are much stricter in Mexico than in the U.S.  

Ten American Cities Account For 20 Percent Of All Gun Violence

Murderous shooting rampages have been a chronic problem in a handful of American cities.  Chicago has consistently ranked among the top three cities with the most murders since 1985.  Yet the city has some of the toughest gun laws in the country.

The ten most dangerous cities in order are Chicago, New York, Detroit, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Houston, New Orleans, Memphis and Dallas.  The cities are ranked by the total number of murders reported in 2013, the latest year for which statistics are available.

Subtract the gun deaths from those ten cities and national firearm violence figures have decreased significantly over the last decade.

Gun Ownership Has Risen as Gun Violence Has Fallen

There is no correlation between gun ownership and violent crimes. While gun murders have fallen, the number of people in the United States with firearms has skyrocketed.  A 2012 Congressional Research Service report estimated there were 242 million firearms in the hands of civilians.

A recent Washington Post report estimated today's figure at roughly 357 million guns.  The news organization's conclusion was based on data from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). ATF figures show U.S. gun production has almost doubled since 2009.

Mass Shooting Data Lacks Credibility 

Democrats have used data purporting to show that the U.S. has suffered 353 mass shootings this year, killing 462 people and injuring 1,312.  The figures are not credible.  The numbers come from a crowd-sourced website shootingtracker.com, which admits its contributors are non-professionals.

There are conflicting statistics from a variety of legitimate sources, including the FBI, because for years the agency had no official definition of a "mass shooting" on its books.  However, in 2014 the agency defined a "mass killing" as an incident with three or more fatalities.  That makes it impossible to compare today's numbers with past years.

Depending on your source, the number of mass shootings in the United States this year ranges from 353 to four.  The lack of authentic data leads many to jump to conclusions about gun laws that are not supported by the facts.

For example, The Washington Post fact checker crew posted data this month analyzing the four worst mass shootings since 2012, concluding gun laws would not have prevented the carnage.  In fact, in most of the slayings, current laws were either ignored or guns were illegally obtained.

Whatever your views on gun laws, the preponderance of data suggests there is no link between the number of individuals with firearms and gun crime.  Yet the public perception created by the news media is exactly the opposite.  This is a disservice to an honest debate about reducing mass shootings.

Americans need to be armed with the facts about gun violence to keep politicians from manipulating data to advance their agenda on firearm laws.  This much is clear from the facts.  The enemy is not law-abiding American gun owners.