A response to those who espouse gun rights
read with great interest your article entitled: “Gun Advocates: Don’t Pull the Trigger on Second Amendment,” March 12 article. In this article two champions of gun rights here in Pa. were interviewed and quoted extensively, John Lott, with his Crime Prevention Research Center, and Kim Stolfer, who represents Firearms Owners Against Crime.
As you would expect, gun rights advocates push more guns in society as the answer to the gun violence problem in America. Their consistent argument is that declaring ‘Gun-Free Zones’ is a major reason for the spike in mass shootings. Conversely, Lott argues that school shootings have been going down in frequency. How to square that circle? Let’s look at the many claims quoted in the article.
1. School Shootings Frequency: A report from John Lott’s CPRC entitled: “Information on K12 and University Shooting Deaths: The number of deaths has been declining over time.” Based on data since 1992-93 school year.
Fact check: a simple research on the internet finds the list of all school shootings in America since the 1800’s listed in Wikipedia increasing, and rather dramatically. Last three decades: 1990’s — 61 school — 88 deaths
2000’s — 63 — 107 deaths
2010’s — 146 — 158 deaths
Link to the page on School shootings: https://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/School_shooting
2. Against Universal Background Checks: Lott claims in the article that “the issue of mass shootings doesn’t touch background checks on transfer of guns. Name one mass shooting that would have been stopped if that law had been in effect.” He is speaking of background checks on all private sales, which 95 percent of Americans agree with. Here is one — Columbine. The two teenagers bought their guns privately from someone who bought the guns at a gun show. Very few Americans would buy the argument that background checks for private sales would not help make us safer.
3. Against Federal Gun Free Schools Act — 1994: According to Lott, “Prior to this law, there had been only one public shooting.” False, since there were 22 school shootings in the 1990’s (Wikipedia chart cited earlier) before this school school shootings shootings shootings law went into effect.
4. Misinformation about School Shootings: Stolfer claimed “11 school shootings from 1966 through 1996, and since enactment of Gun Free School Zones Act, it has gone up 1,200 percent.”
Again, using the Wikipedia chart, there were 125 school shootings from 1966 to 1996, including 1989 at a school in Stockton, Calif., where six were killed and 32 wounded.
5. Defense of AR-15: Stolfer uses ‘The Miller decision’ — U.S. Supreme Court in 1934 to prove that the Supreme Court permits weapons that are suitable for military use. The Miller decision was about the right to own a sawedoff shotgun. Miller won his case in U.S. District Court, but lost in the U.S. Supreme Court in 1939.
To use this as justification for the AR-15 is incorrect and misleading. When he states that “most civilians would recognize there is a benefit for having a semi-automatic gun,” again, a March 2, 2018, Ipso Poll showed 72 percent of Americans favor a renewed Assault Weapons Ban, of which the notorious and lethal AR-15 would be at the top of the list. When he states, “would you want an AR-15 in the middle of the L.A. riots, or would you want to be shot?” Stolfer resorts to the fear mongering tactic that is so common in gun rights advocacy.
Mr. Stolfer and Mr. Lott legitimately make the case that the vast amount of gun owners are law-abiding, and they are frustrated that gun owners are often painted with demeaning insinuations and tarnished as having “blood on their hands.” They also claim that their advocacy for guns in school to protect children is a legitimate one. However, their message debunking any kind of gun regulation when it is so easy to get a gun with the many loopholes in our country, and reflexively pushing the “more guns will make us safer” narrative just does not hold water and needs to be challenged.
Virtually every developed country has far fewer guns per person than the U.S., and 1/10th the amount of gun violence. In addition, the states with stronger gun laws and fewer guns per person (New York, Hawaii, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, etc.) have half the gun deaths as states with more guns per person, and
I hope that in the future, when gun rights activists are interviewed, the paper takes the time to talk to a gun violence prevention expert to get a more complete and accurate perspective on this issue, which is so important, and on the national consciousness today.