As promised, my AWB column..

[3inSlugger]

Given the word limit, I think this turned out pretty well...I took most of the suggestions offered...Thanks guys...
the only glaring error I failed to catch was "infer" where "imply" should have been...ugh

http://www.ocolly.com/opinion/columns/article_ea33a83a-68f8-11e2-8840-0019bb30f31a.html

"I've been paying very close attention to the Second Amendment debate raging in the public forum across this nation recently. There seems to be a commonality in all the discussion and debates emanating from the control side. That commonality is the lack of actual facts, statistics, and meaningful thought in the arguments.

English pundit Piers Morgan likes to bring up that AR-15s were used in Clackamas (Oregon), Aurora (Colorado) and Sandy Hook (Connecticut). Although he is correct, he infers that AR-15s are the weapon of choice for mass murderers. Not so.

Thomas Hamilton, the perpetrator of the infamous 1996 Dunblane massacre in England, (which prompted the UK’s very restrictive rifle and pistol ban) used only pistols, half of which were 6-shot revolvers. Seung-Hui Cho, the perpetrator of the Virginia Tech massacre, never used any long arm either.

Charles Whitman, a former Marine, killed 14 people from a bell tower at the University of Texas in 1966 with a Remington 700 deer rifle. I have that same hunting rifle at home. Timothy McVeigh, using common products easily found, blew up the Murrah Building and killed 168 people in Oklahoma City. In Apeldoorn, Netherlands, a Dutchman killed five people by plowing his car into a parade at high speed. None of these cowards used AR-15s, AK-47s, rifle magazines holding 10 or more rounds or any sort of scary tactical features currently included in Feinstein’s ban.

Furthermore, according to FBI crime statistics, rifles account for only 2.7 percent of total murders in the US from 2007 to 2011. Because the FBI doesn’t further breakdown the type of rifle used, it cannot be known how many of the rifles used were semi-automatic or similar to an AR-15, but it can be safely assumed that not all of them were.

More striking is the fact that more people were killed with blunt objects, knives or personal weapons alone (defined as feet, hands, etc) than rifles between 2007 and 2011. These statistics do not come from the NRA, but from the FBI. It cannot be claimed that the statistics are biased.

It is ridiculous, as Morgan and many others suggest, to severely regulate or ban millions of pieces of property owned by millions of law-abiding Americans just because two or three psychopathic cowards used them in recent events.

As the number of firearms has increased and the number of firearm laws decreased in the past years, FBI stats show that the total number of murders has declined (by 15 percent from 2007 to 2011). What has increased, however, has been the perception of the frequency of crimes committed with firearms as portrayed by media and political figures.

There has been an appearance of an increase in crimes committed with firearms while in reality those crimes have been declining. More and more attention has been paid to AR-15s and mass murderers. This attention further encourages the psychopathic killers to become dark celebrities and informs and encourages them to use the “popular” weapon.

Not every knife, blunt object, or handgun murder is reported in the national news, but now the rare AR-15 crimes will be politicized at every opportunity. Public perception is easily manipulated. Fortunately, the truth can be hidden but not changed."

 

[THE JOKER]

Keep up the the good work Slugger!

 

[30BulletHoles]

Hell yea, keep fightin the good fight!!

 

[reddog1]

Good Job Kiddo. Nice work!!

 

[CASTRATE]

Very nice!

 

[Dalejbrass]

Very nice read and well stated! Congrats.

 

[bulbboy]

Moved

 

[3inSlugger]

Moved

I guess because it is political?

For future reference, I suppose I should I post these in here?

 

[bulbboy]

Yes
Since this is 2A Legal and Political

 

[dugby]

Good Job! Well stated.