Propaganda from NRA doesn’t reflect deadly reality

Matthew Burk’s letter “Tired Anti-Gun Arguments Fail on Many Facts” (June 7) must have come right out of the National Rifle Association playbook. The claims he makes in regard to gun deaths are propaganda the NRA has been spouting for years with no credible facts to back them up. Here are the facts backed up by governmental agencies that track these statistics:

• Data gathered by the National Gang Center, the government agency responsible for cataloging gang violence, reports that in 2008 there were slightly more than 1,000 gang-related homicides but 11,000 non-gang-related homicides and almost 20,000 suicides.

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in a study of homicides from 20032008 in five large cities with the largest gang problems, says gangs accounted for only 29 percent of homicides for that five-year period. Data though 2012 (outlining the same trend line) is available at nationalgangcenter.gov.

• The Violence Policy Center study of federal crime data analysis (2012) shows that the number of times potential victims turned the tables on a would-be killer were 259 (less than 1 percent).

Then there is the tired old argument that guns don’t kill people. Could you image the carnage if the suicide attackers on London Bridge had jumped out with semi-automatic firearms firing into the crowd instead of chasing people with machetes? The death toll would have been staggering. There isn’t a single legitimate statistic anywhere that can demonstrate that guns make us safer. The death toll in the U.S. versus countries with gun control is overwhelming. The gun lobby argument is just smoke and mirrors. BOB MORRIS Moon