Over the course of the last month, NSSF has received hundreds of calls from media wanting comment on everything from increasing gun sales to bullet serialization; however, one media call NSSF did not receive was from the Washington Post regarding a story on an anti-gun "study" by the Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG) coalition. Not surprisingly, the Post piece was chock-full of errors. To set the record straight, we hope the Post runs the Letter to Editor we submitted. Just in case they don't, here's a sneak peek:
To the Editor:
States with more moderate gun laws reflect the will of the people and the considered judgment of their elected officials concerning lawful firearms sales, ownership and use (“Report Links State Gun Laws to Rates of Slayings, Trafficking,” December 5, 2008).
It’s unfortunate, albeit not surprising, that big-city mayors, who only see firearms in their most negative context, are attempting to impose their will upon rural states where lawful gun-ownership is a way of life. More troubling is the misinformation these mayors are spreading in their attempt to control their cities’ crime by curtailing firearms ownership across the nation.
Your readers should know the following:
• Each state is its own top source state for recovered firearms.
• According to the ATF, firearms traces are in no way an indicator of criminal wrong-doing by any licensed firearms dealer or retail purchaser. Under the logic of these mayors, tracing a car brought into a city and later used by a drunk-driver would implicate the rural dealer who lawfully sold the car years ago.
• The Fraternal Order of Police and ATF support the Tiahrt Amendment because, contrary to the claims of some, gun trace data is available to all law enforcement, but public release of such sensitive data endangers the lives of undercover officers, witnesses and others.
• Federal law requires all licensed firearms retailers to run FBI background checks on every gun sold (including sales at gun shows).
If Americans want to continue to see reductions in violent crime, our federal, state and local governments need to spend more time on programs like “Don’t Lie for the Other Guy,” the National Shooting Sports Foundation's anti-straw purchasing campaign developed and run with the ATF, and less time on policies that will at best distract attention and resources (i.e., tax dollars) from real solutions and, at worst, compromise investigations and risk the lives of law enforcement.
This issue is an outgrowth of an ongoing cultural divide in America, and attempts to change rural culture to fit big-city government ideas is needlessly divisive and just plain wrong.
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Posted by: | November 11, 2009 at 08:45 AM