Michael Flitcraft -Five out of six gun-possessing felons obtained
handguns from the secondary market and by theft, and "[the] criminal
handgun market is overwhelmingly dominated by informal transactions and theft as mechanisms of supply." -James D. Wright, U.S. Dept of Justice,
The Armed Criminal in America: A Survey of Incarcerated Felons 2 (1986).

-The majority of handguns in possession of criminals are stolen, although not necessarilyby the criminal in question. -Gary Kleck, Targeting Guns: Firearms and Their Control 97 (1997).

-Most violent crime is caused by a small minority of repeat offenders. One California study found that 3.8% of a group of males born in 1956 were responsible for 55.5% of all serious felonies. -Robert Tillman, "Prevalence and Incidence of Arrest among Adult Males in California", 1987

-75-80% of murder arrestees have prior arrests for a violent (including non-fatal) felony or burglary. On average they have about four felony arrests and one felony conviction.Half of all murders are committed by people on "conditional release" (i.e., parole or probation). -Robyn Cohen, "Probation and Parole Violators in State Prison, 1991: Survey of State Prison Inmates", Bureau
of Justice Statistics

-81% of all homicide defendants had an arrest record; 67% had a felony arrest record; 70% had a conviction record; and 54% had a felony conviction. -Brian Reaves, "Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1998", Bureau of Justice Statistics, November 2001

-The handgun supply has more than doubled since 1970, yet the murder and crime rates have gone up and down with no correlation to increase in handguns. -Prof. Gary Kleck, "Targeting Guns: Firearms and their control", w/ supporting data from the FBI Uniform Crime Statistics, 1972 to 1995

-Most guns used in crimes are stolen. In fact, more than 27,000 lost or stolen firearms were reported by federal firearm licensees between 1998 and 1999. -James Johnson, Treasury Undersecretary for enforcement, August 29, 2000, AP Wire Services

-Over 66% of murderers have long histories of violence against not only their enemies and other "acquaintances," but also against their relatives. -US Bureau of Justice Statistics, "Murder in families", 1994

-15 men, women, and children per day are murdered by a convicted felon in a supposedly government supervised parole/probation program. -1998 US Bureau of Justice Statistics

-The juvenile non-firearm violent crime rate in the U.S. is twice as high as in 25 other industrialized western nations. The non-firearm infant homicide rate in the U.S. is 3.5 times higher. This shows we have a violence problem in the U.S.-not a "gun" problem. -"Kids and Guns" bulletin, from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics, 2000. Covers years 1990-1995.

-Privately owned firearms are used 2.5 million times each year to prevent crime, or 6,849 times a day, often to prevent a murder, rape, aggravated assault, or kidnapping. -Gary Kleck, Criminologist at FSU, 1997.

-0% of kids that get guns from their parents commit gun-related crimes while 21% of those that get them illegally do. Almost twice as many kids (24%) commit any type of street crime if they get guns illegally, as opposed to kids given guns by their parents and taught the proper way to use them (14%). Almost three times as many kids (41%) take drugs if they also obtain guns illegally, as compared to kids given guns by their parents (13%). This study also showed that kids who were given legally owned guns by their parents were less likely to be criminals than kids who had no access to guns at all. -U.S. Justice Department, "Urban Delinquency and Substance Abuse", 2000

-On Australia´s gun registration: "It seems just to be an elaborate system of arithmetic with no tangible aim. Probably, and with the best of intentions, it may have been thought, that if it were known what firearms each individual in Victoria owned, some form of control may be exercised, and those who were guilty of criminal misuse could be readily identified. This is a fallacy, and has been proven not to be the case." -Chief Inspector Newgreen. Registrar of Firearms for the State of Victoria, Registration Firearms System CRB File 39-1-1385/84).

-On Canada´s gun registry: Rank and file police officers in Calgary and Edmonton have withdrawn their backing of Ottawa's gun control registry and Alberta is ready to follow suit. "The gun registry as it sits right now is causing law abiding citizens to register their guns but it does nothing to take one illegal gun off the street or to increase any type of penalty for anybody that violates any part of the legislation," according to Al Koenig, President, Calgary Police Association. -Calgary Herald, September 1, 2000

-On gun registration in Boston, Cleveland or California. These cities and states require registration of "assault weapons" . The compliance rate in Boston and Cleveland is about 1%. In California, it is about 10%. -David B. Kopel, The Samurai, the Mountie, and the Cowboy: Should America Adopt the Gun Controls of OtherDemocracies 231, n.210 (1992).

-According to the Supreme Court, criminals do not have to obtain licenses or register their weapons, as that would be an act of self-incrimination. -Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, Northwestern University School of Law, 1998

-In 1977, Washington, D.C. enacted one of the most restrictive gun control laws in the nation (A BAN ON HANDGUNS!!). Since then, the city's murder rate has risen 134 percent while the national murder rate has dropped 2 percent. -Dr. Gary Kleck, University of Florida using FBI Uniform Crime Statistics, 1997

-20% of U.S. homicides occur in four cities with just six percent of the population - New York, Chicago, Detroit, and Washington, D.C. - and each has a virtual prohibition on private handguns. -FBI Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) for 2000, p. 79, Table 5, "Index of Crime by State"

-The landmark federal Gun Control Act of 1968, banning most interstate gun sales, had no discernible impact on the criminal acquisition of guns from other states. -"Under the Gun", Wright, Rossi, Daly, University of Massachusetts, 1981

-Maryland claims to have the toughest gun control laws in the nation and ranks #1 in robberies and #3 in both violent crime and murder. -FBI Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) for 2000, p. 79, Table 5, "Index of Crime by State"

-Most gun control laws in the United States have been written since 1968, yet the murder rate has risen during that time. -National Center for Health Statistics, Vital Statistics, Revised July, 1999

-Washington, D.C.'s 1977 ban on the ownership of ***handguns*** (except those already registered in the District) was not linked to any reduction in gun crime in the nation's capital. -"Under the Gun", Wright, Rossi, Daly, University of Massachusetts, 1981

-The Brady law has so far failed to appreciably save lives. -Dr. Jens Ludwig , Dr. Philip J. Cook, Journal of the American Medical Association, August 2000

-During the anti-gun Clinton administration, federal prosecutions of gun-related crimes dropped more than 44 percent. Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University covering 1992 through 1998

-Of the 3,353 prohibited individuals that obtained firearms, the Clinton administration only investigated 110 - or 3.3% of these individuals. -General Accounting Office (GAO) 2000 audit of the National Instant Check System between 11/30/98 and 11/30/99.

-1/2 of the background check referrals of violent criminals were closed without investigation or prosecution. -General Accounting Office report on the Implementation of NICS, February, 2000

-The average sentence for a federal firearms violation dropped from 57 months to 46months from 1996 to 1998. -General Accounting Office report on the Implementation of NICS, February, 2000

-18-20 year olds commit over 23% of all gun murders. None of these criminals areallowed by law to purchase a handgun, and the Federal government under Clinton rarely enforced this law. -United States Treasury and Justice Department Report, 1999

-71% of gunshot victims have previous arrest records, 64% had been convicted of a crime, Each had an average of 11 prior arrests. -Richard Lumb, Paul Friday, City of Charlotte Gunshot Study, Department of Criminal Justice, 1994

Every day, 550 rapes, 1,100 murders, and 5,200 other violent crimes are prevented just by showing a gun. In less than 0.9% of the time is the gun ever actually fired. -National Crime Victimization Survey, 2000, Bureau of Justice Statistics

-60% of convicted felons admitted that they avoided committing crimes when they knew the victim was armed. 40% of convicted felons admitted that they avoided committing crimes when they thought the victim might be armed. -James Wright and Peter Rossi, "Armed and Considered Dangerous: A Survey of Felons and Their Firearms", New York: Aldine, 1986

-26% of all retail businesses report keeping a gun on the premises for crime control. -U.S. Small Business Administration, "Crime Against Small Business", 1969, Senate Document No. 91-14

-In 1982, Kennesaw, GA passed a law requiring heads of households to keep at least one firearm in the house. The residential burglary rate dropped 89% the following year. -Dr. Gary Kleck, "Crime Control Through the Private Use of Armed Force", Social Problems, February 1988

-90% of all violent crimes in the U.S. do not involve firearms of any type. -Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, 1998

-Even in crimes where the offender possessed a gun during the commission of the crime, 83% did not use or even threaten to use the gun. -National Crime Victimization Survey, 1994, Bureau of Justice Statistics

-Less than 1% of firearms will ever be used in the commission of a crime.
-FBI Uniform Crime Statistics, 1994

-Two-thirds of the people who die each year from gunfire are criminals being shot by other criminals. FBI Uniform Crime Statistics, 1994

-Why does crime rise when criminals are released from prison early? Because they are very likely to commit more crimes very quickly. 62.5% were re-arrested for new felonies or serious misdemeanors within three years. Those early released felons killed another 2,282 people. -Department of Justice Recidivism, 1999

-45% of state prisoners were, at the time they committed their offense, under conditional supervision in the community--either on probation or on parole. -US Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1991

-The average annual social damage prevented by incarcerating a newly admitted New Jersey violent criminal is $1.6 million. This is a far higher cost that the annual $25,000 expense of imprisoning a violent criminal. -I´m having problems finding this study.

-Every year, people in the United States use a gun to defend themselves against criminals an estimated 2,500,000 times - more than 6,500 people a day, or once every 13 seconds. Of these instances, 15.6% of the people using a firearm defensively stated that they "almost certainly" saved their lives by doing so. In 83.5% (2,087,500) of these successful gun defenses, the attacker either threatened or used force first, proving that guns are very well suited for self-defense. Of the 2,500,000 times citizens use their guns to defend themselves every year, 92% merely brandish their gun or fire a warning shot to scare off their attackers. -Fall 1995, Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

-After the implementation of Canada's 1977 gun controls prohibiting handgun possession for protection, the "breaking and entering" crime rate rose 25%, surpassing the American rate. -Pat Mayhew, Residential Burglary: A Comparison of the United States, Canada and England and Wales (Nat'l Inst. of Just., Wash., D.C., 1987)

-". . .most criminals are more worried about meeting an armed victim than they are about running into the police." -Wright and Rossi, ""Armed and Considered Dangerous: A Survey of Felons and Their Firearms", 1986

-Hundreds of firearms are missing from the FBI and 449 of them have been involved in crimes. -ABC News, July 17, 2001

-You are far more likely to survive a violent assault if you defend yourself with a gun. In episodes where there was an injury to a robbery victim, the injury/defense rates were:
Resisting with a gun 6%
Did nothing at all 25%
Resisted with a knife 40%
Non-violent resistance 45%
-British Home Office - not a "pro-gun" organization by any means

-The crime rate involving a gun owner with a carry permit have consistently been about0.02% of carry permit holders since Florida´s right-to-carry law started in 1989. -Florida Department of Justice, 1998

-After passing their concealed carry law, Florida's homicide rate fell from 36% above the national average to 4% below the national average and remains below the national average to this day. -Cramer C and Kopel D. Shall issue: the new wave of concealed handgun permit laws. Golden CO: Independence Institute Issue Paper. October 17, 1994.

-"Violent crime rates are highest overall in states with laws severely limiting or prohibiting the carrying of concealed firearms for self-defense". -FBI Uniform Crime Reports, 1992

-In Texas, citizens with concealed carry permits are 14 times less likely to commit a crime. They are also five times less likely to commit a violent crime. -Texas Department of Public Safety and the U.S. Census Bureau, reported in San Antonio Express-News, September, 2000

-Even gun control organizations agree it is a non-problem, as in Texas - "because there haven't been Wild West shootouts in the streets". -Nina Butts, Texans Against Gun Violence, Dallas Morning News, August 10, 2000

-In Florida, a state that has allowed concealed carry since 1989, you are twice as likely to be attacked by an alligator than a person with a concealed carry permit. -Florida Department of State, "Concealed Weapons/Firearms License Statistical Report", 1998 - Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission, December 1998

-92.7% of law enforcement officials believe that citizens should be able to purchase firearms for self-defense and sporting purposes. -National Association of Chiefs of Police, 1999 Police Survey

-There are not enough police to protect everyone. Currently, there are about 150,000 police officers on duty at any one time. This is on-duty police. This includes desk clerks, command sergeants, etc. - far fewer than 150,000 cops are cruising your neighborhood. Combined with about 300 million US citizens, that means there is only 1 cop (including paper pushers) per 2,000 citizens! US Justice Department, 1998

-The United States Department of Justice found that, in 1989, there were 168,881 crimes of violence for which police had not responded within 1 hour.

-95% of the time police arrive too late to prevent a crime or arrest the suspect. -Witkin, Gordon, Guttman, Monika and Lenzy, Tracy. "This is 911 ... please hold." U.S. News & World Report, June 17, 1998

-Of 300 decisions of the federal and state courts that have taken a position on the meaning of the Second Amendment or the state analogs to it, only 10 have claimed that the right to keep and bear arms is not an individual right. Many of the other decisions struck down gun control laws because they conflicted with the Second Amendment, such as State v. Nunn (Ga. 1846). -"In Defense of Themselves and the States", Clayton Cramer, Praeger Press, 1994

-The Federal government estimated that there were over 65 million gun owners in the U.S., and more than 50% were handgun owners. This number is generally considered low due to the reluctance of many to admit to a government agency that they own a gun. Other estimates indicate that 41% of U.S. households are gun-owning households. -Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, 1997

-A survey in April, 2000 by ABC News/Washington Post asked whether
"passing stricter gun control laws" or "stricter enforcement of existing
laws" is the best way to curb gun violence. Enforcement was preferred by 53 percent to 33 percent.

-A recent and well-constructed survey by Time Magazine showed some interesting results.From 33,202 adult Americans surveyed in 1998: 
Should the U.S. have stricter gun control laws? 
Yes 6.73%   No 92.25%

Do you believe that allowing people to carry concealed weapons reduce crime?
Yes 92.22%  No 7.76%

Do you believe that U.S. cities should sue gun manufacturers to recoup money spent dealing with gun-related crime?
Yes 1.96%    No 98.01%

-A 1999 survey by CBS (hardly a pro gun organization) found these
responses: Only 14% of Americans believe that gun control can prevent violence with guns.  56% of people said enforcement of existing laws is the better way to reduce violent crime than new gun control laws.  Only 4% said gun control should be a top issue for the government.

-Adolf Hitler: "The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to allow the subject races to possess arms. History shows that all conquerors who have allowed their subject races to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by so doing." -Hitler's Secret Conversations, trans. Norman Cameron and R. H. Stevens (New York: Signet Books, 1961), 403

-In 1966, Orlando, Florida suffered from a rape epidemic. Rather than enforcing stricter gun control laws, they went off the deep end and actually PROMOTED women to obtain concealed carry laws. The result? Rape fell by a whopping 88% the next year and burglary fell by 25%, the ONLY major city to see a decrease. Five years later Orlando's rape rate was still 13 percent below the pre-program level, whereas the surrounding standard metropolitan area had suffered a 308 percent increase. Maybe the conclusion here is that armed citizens succeed where gun control has failed.