In the media, especially over the past several years and months, we have heard many different arguments surrounding the concept of gun safety and gun laws.
We have been bombarded with many different opinions on guns, and many different media personalities trying to tell us why guns are bad and why we need more gun control.
It’s true that there have been many very, very sad incidents involving guns.
And the media and some politicians have used that as an opportunity to try to infringe their strict gun control laws on us.
But the truth is, many of the “facts” that are being spread around to instill fear in us just aren’t true.
To help you get a truer picture of what we are actually dealing with, here are the top 5 myths surrounding guns in the U.S:
Myth # 1: “Assault weapons are for…”
There are many rumors going around surrounding the purpose and main use of “assault weapons.
” Those trying to push gun laws have been targeting (no pun intended) guns like AR-15s saying that they are “designed for killing as many people in close quarters combat as possible.
” But the truth is, these AR-15s are actually longer distance shooting guns. On top of that, these people say that AR-15s strongly appeal to mass shooters.
But the facts and numbers show that handguns are actually the most common guns used by mass shooters.
Actually, rifles only account for 3% of all homicides (including mass shootings).
Myth # 2: “High capacity magazines are to blame”
AR-15s aren’t the only thing that some politicians and media are targeting. High capacity magazines are also receiving a lot of the attention.
These politicians are blaming mass shootings and other gun violence on high capacity magazines. But in truth, most homicides average only four shots.
Even in mass shootings these high capacity magazines aren’t very commonly used at all. In fact, most mass shooters have used large amounts of smaller/traditional sized (10-round) magazines.
Myth # 3: “Gun shows have loopholes”
We keep hearing people saying that gun shows have created loopholes for selling guns. But that is not true at all.
First off, no private sales are allowed at gun shows. The “facts” that people are basing these opinions off of are from a study from 1994, which was based off of a very, very small group.
And it’s since come out that most of the information that has been used from this study has actually been fudged.
Many people are trying to blame gun show “loopholes” for illegal gun selling and purchasing.
But according to the Department of Justice, 79% of criminals are getting their guns from friends, family, or off of the street (gangs, etc).
So gun show sales absolutely cannot be blamed for gun violence.
Myth # 4: “Mass shootings are going up”
It’s not just the media pushing this one on us. With the horrible mass shootings that have been occurring over the past few years, it seems to all of us that the occurrence of mass shootings has increased dramatically.
But when you look at the actual numbers that just isn’t the case. Since 1976, the number of mass shootings has continually been around 20 per year.
Yes, there has been an increase of shootings that receive media attention, but the actual number hasn’t actually increased.
Any number of mass shootings is too much. But to say that the number is increasing, and that the increase is due to certain weapon ban expirations, is just not true.
Myth # 5: “More laws will mean less crime”
Many of the lawmakers that are trying to push gun control laws are saying that we need more laws to help us prevent many of the crimes that are being committed.
They are trying to create more laws to limit the amounts/types/etc of guns that people are able to purchase.
What they are seeming to forget is that killing innocent people is already illegal.
No additional laws are going to prevent criminals from obtaining guns, or from using those guns to perform illegal acts.
All these extra laws do is hurt law-abiding citizens who want guns for protecting their families, hunting, etc.
The author of this article is Chase Sagum, a home security editor and expert at BestHomeSecurityCompanys.com.