Your Tax Dollars Pay for Gun
Control Disinformation
by Bartholomew Roberts
chuangtzu2@hotmail.com
January 25, 2002
I recently discovered a pamphlet put out by the National Crime Prevention Council (McGruff the Dog?).
You may find an online copy of the pamphlets here (Arizona, Missouri, and Florida citizens take note):
This pamphlet not only outright LIES about guns, it lists an anti-gun lobby (Center to Prevent Handgun Violence) as a source for more information. The National Crime Prevention Council receives the majority of its funding from the National Institute of Justice
-- a government organization. In fact, NCPC received $693,000 in government grants just in the last year
-- almost 50% of its funding. The NCPC is also promoting the same lies that got the CDCs funding cut. I'll go over the falsehoods in the pamphlet and list facts to refute those falsehoods below:
Quote:
"Nine out of ten murders involve a weapon--eight of ten involve a firearm."
Not true -- the number of homicides involving a firearm has NEVER risen above 70% from 1968-1998. It is currently 65%. (Source: FBI UCRs available here:
http://www.albany.edu/sourcebook/1995/pdf/t3138.pdf)
Quote:
"Most robberies involve the use of a weapon, most frequently a handgun."
Also untrue, the most frequent type of robbery involves no weapon at all. If you include all robberies, a firearm of any type is involved in only 18%. If you limit robberies to those where supplemental data is reported, firearms comprised 38% in 1998 (compared to 40% strong-arm).
(Source FBI UCRs available here: http://www.albany.edu/sourcebook/1995/pdf/t3158.pdf)
Quote:
"A gun in the home increases the likelihood of homicide three times and the likelihood of suicide five times."
This statement is based on thoroughly debunked
"research" by Arthur Kellerman and Don Reay. This "research" was so biased that the CDC lost a significant chunk of funding for authorizing it. A thorough criticism of the studies can be found here:
http://www.guncite.com/gun_control_gcdgaga.html.
Quote:
"Think long and hard about having weapons, especially firearms, in your home. Studies show that a firearm in the home is more than forty times as likely to hurt or kill a family member as to stop a crime."
Not only is this quote based on debunked research by Kellerman and Reay (above) but they misquoted the actual study! Kellerman and Reay's findings were: "for every case of self-protection homicide involving a firearm kept in the home, there were 1.3 accidental deaths, 4.6 criminal homicides, and 37 suicides involving firearms." The quote above is not only tremendously biased, it misreports the conclusions of an already flawed study.
(For more on this "study" see: http://www.guncite.com/gun_control_gcdgaga.html.)
I don't know about you, but I would like to see organizations funded by my tax money behave
responsibly with that money. I don't like seeing them advocate for certain political lobbying groups. I'd also like to straighten out the local governments that are disseminating this propaganda into our schools and communities.
CDC got its funding chopped for this. Let's see if we can't encourage NCPC to correct the errors or face the same consequences.
I think the proper tack here would be to contact http://www.ncpc.org
and let them know that their facts are amiss in the particular pamphlet they put out. I'd also ask why they didn't
include a source for further weapons safety besides CPHV. If they gave me anything but "We'll correct that right away", I'd save it and include the reply in my letter to my Congressperson.
National Crime Prevention Council may be reached at:
webmaster@ncpc.org
1000 Conneticut Ave. NW 13th Floor
Washington DC 20036
Voice: 202-466-6272
Fax: 202-295-1356
You may also wish to contact their sponsors who are listed here:
http://www.ncpc.org/partners.htm
Executive Board of Directors of NCPC
http://www.ncpc.org/annrpt/board.htm
(thanks to DZ for the research):
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Chairman
Mr. U. J. Brualdi, Jr.
Ret. President & CEO
ADT Security Services, Inc.
Longboat Key, Florida
Vice Chairman
Mrs. Mary Whyte
Civic Leader
Greenwich, Connecticut
Secretary
Mr. Robert F. Diegelman
Civic Leader
Springfield, Virginia
Treasurer/Finance
Mr. Edward L. Milstein
Co-Chairman
Douglas Elliman
New York, New York
Ms. Jean Adnopoz
Associate Professor
Child Study Center
Yale University School of Medicine New
Haven, Connecticut
Mr. David A. Dean, Esq.
Chief Executive Officer
Dean International, Inc.
David A. Dean and Associates, P.C. Dallas,
Texas
Mr. Michael F. Snyder
President
ADT Security Services, Inc.
Boca Raton, Florida
Mrs. Potter Stewart
Civic Leader
Washington, DC
DIRECTORS
Mr. Thomas W. Adler
Managing Partner
NewGar, Ltd.
Cleveland, Ohio
Mr. Charles P. Austin, Sr.
Chief of Police
Columbia Police Department
Columbia, South Carolina
Mr. Rudy M. Beserra
Assistant Vice President
The Coca-Cola Company
Atlanta, Georgia
Mr. John P. Box
President
Frederick Ross Company
Denver, Colorado
Mr. Ordway P. Burden
President and Director
Law Enforcement Assistance Foundation
New York, New York
Mr. George K. Campbell
President
Fidelity Security Services, Inc.
Boston, Massachusetts
Ms. Beverly Watts Davis
Executive Director
San Antonio Fighting Back of United Way
San Antonio, Texas
Mr. Dennis R. Dibos
Director of Business Development Motorola
Schaumburg, Illinois
Mrs. Carole Hillard
Lieutenant Governor
State of South Dakota
Pierre, South Dakota
Mr. J. Ben Miller
Principal
Colliers Turley Martin
St. Louis, Missouri
Dr. Charles A. Moose, Ph.D.
Chief of Police
Montgomery County Department of Police
Rockville, Maryland
Mr. Leonard H. Roberts
Chairman, President & CEO
Tandy Corporation/RadioShack Fort Worth,
Texas
Nathaniel E. Robinson
Special Assistant to the Office of the
Secretary
Department of Administration
State of Wisconsin
Madison, Wisconsin
Ms. Nell Watson Stewart
President
Stewart's Unlimited, Inc.
Greenville, South Carolina
Ms. Carla J. Stovall
Attorney General
State of Kansas
Topeka, Kansas
Advisory Directors
Mr. Robert P. Keim
Ret. President
The Advertising Council, Inc. Madison,
Connecticut
Mr. William F. May
Chairman & CEO
Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island Foundation
New York, New York
Mr. Joseph V. Vittoria
Ret. Chairman & CEO
Avis Rent A Car System, Inc. Delray Beach,
Florida
President & Chief Executive Officer
Mr. John A. Calhoun
National Crime Prevention Council Washington,
DC
