Biden & Feinstein Lied About Fewer Police Deaths During the AWB

[Raoul Duke]

Biden Wrong On Police Deaths

In an online interview promoted by the White House, Vice President Joe Biden made the false claim that “there were fewer police being murdered … when the assault weapons ban, in fact, was in existence.” But the FBI statistics on killings of law enforcement officers show no such trend.

In fact, the number of officers killed when the ban was still in effect in 2002 — 56 — is the same number as in 2010. The numbers have fluctuated, but there’s no discernible pattern before, after or during the assault weapons ban.

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein made a related claim on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Jan. 27, saying: “Do you realize that 1 out of every 5 law enforcement officers that’s killed is killed with an assault weapon?” That statistic comes from data collected from 1998 through 2001, when the assault weapons ban was in effect. Her comment may have left the wrong impression with some viewers that the 1-in-5 statistic applied to officer killings now and that a weapons ban might lower those numbers.

She was accurately citing a report from the pro-gun control Violence Policy Center. But the report is old, and was based on officer killings when the assault weapons ban was in effect. Feinstein’s comment may well have left the impression with viewers that her statistic applied to officer killings now, and that a weapons ban might lower those numbers.

A 2003 report by the Violence Policy Center, titled “Officer Down,” showed that assault weapons were used in 20 percent of the 211 law enforcement officer killings between Jan. 1, 1998, and Dec. 31, 2001. That’s 1 in 5. Again, the assault weapons ban was in effect from September 1994 through September 2004.

We asked VPC if it had more recent data, or if it had updated its report since 2003. A press officer sent us information on weapons used to kill law enforcement officers in 2009, data VPC obtained after filing a Freedom of Information Act request with the FBI. Of the 48 officers killed, VPC notes that eight were killed with assault weapons. That’s 17 percent, or 1 in 6

 

[WTJ]

Well, I AM surprised!

 

[Dale00]

If we can't trust politicians citing statistics from the pro-gun control Violence Policy Center, then who can we trust??

 

[WessonOil]

Unfotunately, Goofy Joe has a better PR person than whoever produced that article, and it's the Deputy Reich Marshal who the people will remember.

Josef Goebbels - "The bigger the lie, the more people will believe it."

 

[Glocktogo]

They're all lying prolifically at this point. They can't get to the microphone fast enough to spin another one out. It's repugnant. I've been listening to Godsmack every time I hear another one:

Two-faced
I feel you crawlin' under my skin
Sickened by your face
By the way
To think that you're so f***in' kind
You ain't

Hard to find how I feel
Especially when you're smotherin' me
Hard to find how I feel
Please someone help me

I knew when
An angel whispered into my ear
You gotta get him away, yeah
Hey, little b***h
Be glad you finally walked away
Or you may have not lived another day

Hard to find how I feel
Especially when you're smotherin' me
Hard to find how I feel
Please someone help me
Hard to find how I feel
Controllin' me every step of the way
Hard to find how I feel
You greedy little baby

Hard to find how I feel
Especially when you're smotherin' me
Hard to find how I feel
Please someone help me
Hard to find how I feel
Controllin' me every step of the way
Hard to find how I feel
You greedy little baby

 

[IndVet]

A politician lied?

Holy crap, imagine that.

 

[bmwguy25]

When they start telling the truth is when ill be worried!

 

[Raoul Duke]

No, Mr. Vice President. Cops Today Are Not 'Outgunned.'

Biden has also long been a champion of the federal COPS and Byrne grant programs that have contributed to the massive rise in SWAT teams across the country -- and have given rise to drug war debacles like those in Hearne and Tulia, Texas. Obama and Biden campaigned on refunding both programs and indeed, under the Obama administration both programs have been funded at record levels.

The other trend that puts the lie to Biden's comments is that police officers themselves have grown increasingly heavily armed over the last 30 years. Cops aren't outgunned at all. Not only has there been a massive growth in the number and use of SWAT teams since the early 1980s, but patrol cops are also more likely to carry weapons with higher-capacity magazines and higher-caliber ammunition.

In fact, just a few days after Biden's Google+ hangout comments, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution published a report on the Pentagon bounty acquired by Georgia police departments under the federal 1033 program, which has sent millions (yes, millions) of pieces of surplus military equipment to domestic police departments across the country.

Among the paper's findings:

•The Waycross Police Department, which has two armored personnel carriers and 16 M15 rifles.
•The Cartersville Police Department, which has an armored personnel carrier and 17 M14 rifles.

•The Doraville Police Department, which has an armored personnel carrier.

•Newnan PD, which has an armored personnel carrier, 15 M16s and 12 M14s.

•Clayton County PD, which has a helicopter, an armored truck, 11 M16s and five M14s.

•Cobb County PD, which has an armored truck, 106 M16s and eight M14s. Cobb also has a second armored vehicle, which it bought using federal grant funds.

Newspapers across the country have been publishing reports like these for years. Police departments are also getting grenade launchers, tanks, and guns that shoot .50-caliber bullets.

In fact, the 1033 program has set new records under the Obama administration. In FY 2011, the program gave away more than $500 million in military equipment. That's $100 million more than it had given away in any previous year.

And even the 1033 program is dwarfed by the flush of money the Department of Homeland Security has also been spending to arm America's police departments. The Center for Investigative Reporting published a survey in December 2011 which found that DHS has given away more than $31 billion in grants to local police departments since 2001, which the agencies have used to purchase armored personnel carriers, body armor, semiautomatic weapons, and other military-grade gear.

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