Refuting Firearms Misinformation

Originally printed in Denver Post's "Guest Commentary"

By

Bill Dietrick

So much misinformation, so little space to correct. But I must try.

“Guns in schools” — Sorry to bust your bubble, folks, but guns in schools have been illegal for a long time (other than to concealed-carry permitees — CCPs). That didn’t stop Klebold and Harris, did it? The point is that criminals, by definition, don’t obey laws. If we ban CCPs from schools, we remove the last shred of protection from the kids and cre­ate a killing field. Mass killers don’t go to police stations to shoot people. They go where people can’t defend themselves, and they can kill at their leisure. The Pearl, Miss., school shootings were stop­ped when the assistant principal got his .45 and confronted the shooter.

“Gunshow loopholes” — There is no “Gunshow loophole.” Laws regulating firearm sales are the same anywhere, gunshow, hardware store or newspaper ad. Nor are there “unlicensed dealers.” Anyone who sells sufficient firearms to qualify as needing a dealer license and doesn’t get one becomes a felon. Anyone not falling into this category is a private individual selling his personal firearms.

“Assault weapons” — Again, there is no such animal. Assault rifles are fully automatic and have been barred to the public since 1934. What the media call “assault weapons” are merely magazine-loaded semi-auto rifles, no different from many common hunting rifles. It’s a tempest in a teapot, as the FBI Uniform Crime Report says less than 1 percent of firearm crimes are committed with long guns.

“Safe storage” — As most of the “safe storage” bills are presented, they are anything but safe. Most require trigger locks, which are not safe and give a false sense of security. Most guns can be loaded and fired with a trigger lock in place. There are other, far safer methods of protecting fire­arms, but there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Each person must decide what best fits his or her situation. We call mandatory storage laws “rapist protection” laws, as by the time a woman, in the dark, locates the key, unlocks and loads her gun, and prepares to fire, the rapist is done and gone. Negligent access is best addressed by negligence laws.

The concealed-carry scare — Most people aren’t aware that most counties in the state are already issuing CCPs. There are somewhere in the neighborhood of 10,000 CCPs on the streets of Colorado right now. The predicted “Dodge City” bloodbaths have not occurred, and the crime trend continues down. The fact is, those who are willing to undergo a thorough background check and pay for training to get a CCP are the people least likely to be involved in problems. These are folks who will draw a pistol only as a last resort to save a life. The legal training required in an NRA Personal Protection course hammers that home. As I tell my students, “A righteous shooting will cost you $50,000 to $100,000 in defense. Just think how expensive a bad one will be, to say nothing of having to live with a wrongful death or disability you caused.”

“Militia” — There are those who would have you believe the “well-regulated militia” wording in the Second Amendment. means the National Guard. Nothing of the sort existed when the amendment was written, and Title 10 of the U.S. Code defines the militia as “all able-bodied men between the ages of 18 and 45, and for those who have served in the military, to be 60.” The recent Texas vs. Emerson decision clearly spells out that the Second Amendment is an individual right.

There are a lot of well-intentioned but poorly conceived bills being readied, in the wake of Columbine, to go to the Legislature, under the guise of “We have to do something!” The fact is, gun deaths and accidents have been dropping for years, as people become better trained in their use. I will fight those bills that restrict the rights of citizens in the name of expediency. The police aren’t there to protect you. Any honest cop will tell you he’s there to solve your murder.

In summary, there is an awful lot of misinformation, propaganda and outright lies being bandied about by those who don’t want you to have the right of self-defense. Do some research and find out the facts for yourself. Ask yourself why the people who wish to take away your right to defend yourself must use lies and hysteria to do so. If they have a legitimate case; why can’t they deal with facts?

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