This is a short editorial that ran in today's New York Times. Be prepared to be annoyed:
The full report from Bloomberg's pet branchild, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, is available as a PDF here: http://www.mayorsagainstillegalguns.org ... _final.pdf. It's obvious that Mayor Bloomberg hasn't given up on his tirade that "All my gun problems are because of you other states." (Not a direct quote; I'm just papraphrasing.)Price of Lax Gun Laws
Published: December 23, 2008
For years, the gun lobby has defeated new gun control laws partly by arguing that stronger laws do not deter crime. A study prepared by Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a bipartisan group headed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York and Mayor Thomas Menino of Boston, should finally put that myth to rest.
The study analyzed trace data for guns used in connection with crimes during 2007. The data reveal a strong correlation between weak state gun laws and higher rates of in-state murders, police slayings and sales of guns used in crimes in other states.
Many states have enacted strong gun laws to supplement inadequate federal ones, including mandatory background checks on gun show sales. States requiring the same background checks at gun shows as those required for store purchases show an export rate for guns used in crimes that’s nearly half the national average. This argues for Congressional action to end the gun-show loophole nationally. States with weak gun laws produce different outcomes. More than half the guns recovered in out-of-state crimes last year were supplied by Georgia, Florida, Texas, Virginia and six other states where weak laws make it easy for gun traffickers and other criminals to obtain weapons.
Weak gun laws also put a state’s own citizens at risk. There were nearly 60 percent more gun murders in the 10 states where exports were highest than in the states with low export rates — and nearly three times as many fatal shootings of law enforcement officers.
The study by the mayors’ group isn’t the first to document the link between weak gun laws and gun violence or the “iron pipeline” by which guns flow from states with weak gun laws into states with strong ones. Still, the numbers are startling. They explain why the gun lobby resisted their release, and they provide a powerful retort to those who claim tougher gun laws don’t work.
A version of this article appeared in print on December 23, 2008, on page A28 of the New York edition.
The data from the report is stated to have come from the BATF. I will eagerly watch for the NRA's response to this. I gotta admit some of the statistics and claims have me tilting my head, in no small part because some of the inferences seem to conflict with FBI (http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2007/index.html) and Department of Justice (http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/welcome.html) data.
For instance, look at this statement from the NYT editorial:
First, that statement is not normalized by population; it refers to raw numbers only. Consider that three of the 10 "best" states are Hawaii, the District of Columbia, and Rhode Island.There were nearly 60 percent more gun murders in the 10 states where exports were highest than in the states with low export rates...
Second, if you look at the FBI statistics for 2007, the percentage of murders by firearm by state would look like this:
Some Bloomberg GOOD States:
Illinois, 74.1%
New Jersey, 68.4%
Massachusetts, 62.6%
New York, 62.5%
Michigan, 66.1%
Some Bloomberg BAD States:
Georgia, 71.9%
Texas, 66.7%
Virginia, 70.7%
California, 71.4%
Ohio, 61.5%
Yep. Really big differentials there.
But, "Know thy enemy." I suggest you read the Mayors Against Illegal Guns report to stay familiar with what Bloomberg is pushing.
