Democrats Lie about Mass Shootings to Turn Public against Gun Owners

Democrats love to point to mass shootings as evidence our nation’s gun laws need to be increased. After all, it’s a shame to let a crisis go to waste, especially when it gets people emotionally charged to the point they stop thinking altogether. That makes it much easier to implement otherwise unpopular policies under the guise of “necessity.”

House Democrats just revealed their big plan for ending mass shootings in the United States – require background checks for every firearm transfer. That includes gifts from father to son or mother to daughter, loaning a firearm to a hunting friend during deer season, or any other type of firearms transfer (BTW we detailed why this won’t work last week. Here’s a link to the article in case you missed it.)

Democrats point to outlier events as proof the United States has gone gun crazy and needs new restrictive gun laws. They say their plan will put an end to mass shootings, such as last year’s shooting at Marjory Stoneman-Douglas High School and Las Vegas outdoor music festival shootings.

Democrats in control of many state legislatures also are pushing for restrictive laws that would make it nearly impossible to exercise Second Amendment rights, such as taxing ammunition at extremely high rates to thwart purchase, practice and potential gun use.

Problem with the many proposals by Democrats is that, in pure scientific terms, the United States does not have a problem with firearms or mass shootings. While mass shootings do occur here, they actually happen less frequently than in other nations, including those with highly restrictive gun laws.

The Crime Prevention Research Center recently compiled a list of public mass shootings worldwide and concluded the U.S. is far from the world leader in mass shootings. An example is a school shooting in Crimea, Russia, in which 20 students died and 65 others suffered wounds in a nation where gun ownership is highly limited.

Less than 5 percent of the Russian population owns firearms, and backgrounds checks are required for any firearms transfer. That is exactly what Democrats want in the United States. Yet, it prevents nothing.

The Crime Prevention Center shows the United States ranks 64^th per capita in rate of mass shooting attacks that claimed at least four lives, and ranks 65^th in deaths from such attacks. That is among 97 nations and well behind rates in France, Finland, Norway, Russia and Switzerland, among other prominent nations. Those nations reported at least 25 percent higher per capita murder rates from public mass shootings.

Over an 18-year period, at least 4,880 shooters committed 2,354 public mass shootings outside of U.S. borders. During the same period, the study shows 57 shooters initiated 53 such attacks inside the United States. So, the nation with 4.6 percent of the global population – the United States, accounted for less than 1.5 percent of public mass shooting deaths and about 2.2 percent of all attacks.

The United States also accounts for less than 1.15 percent of mass public shooters worldwide.

While the U.S. fares extremely well when compared to other nations, it is fair to say more work could be done to lessen the potential for public mass shootings. The problem is, Democrats never will accept the simple reality that so-called gun-free zones are what attracts the vast majority of mass shooters in the United States.

The Crime Prevention Center shows 98 percent of public mass shootings in the United States since 1950 occurred in the very places Democrats intend no one to have arms – gun-free zones. Virtually every public mass shooting in recent history in the United States has happened where the victims were not allowed to carry firearms. Worse, in many instances, there was virtually no screening process to ensure criminals did not bring guns to commit the mass shootings.

Clearly, unarmed citizens are a savory target for would-be public mass shooters. The statistics prove gun-free zones are the preferred choice for mass shooters. Yet, Democrats continue pushing for more of the same.

Ample evidence also shows background checks and restrictive gun laws in line with those Democrats propose do not stop public mass shootings. If they did, the United States would not rank so low in global public mass shootings.

Democrats at the state and federal levels continue pushing the false narrative that the U.S. is the only nation where public mass shootings occur. They blame the NRA and those darned gun owners for getting in the way of repressive policy designed to erode and eventually eliminate the Second Amendment. Yet, the numbers show Democrats are pushing for gun laws that do not work.