The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) is the research, development and evaluation agency of the U.S. Department of Justice. On January 4, 2013, 20 days after the Newtown School shooting, the NIJ published this report as an attachment to a larger study:
Summary of Selected Firearm Violence Prevention Strategies
The Justice Department under the current Administration has not been a friend to gun owners. But this report is a very honest discussion of most Liberal agenda solutions to gun violence. This nine page document is worth reading in its entirety (several of the pages are only half or quarter pages). But for those with less free time on their hands, the points relevant to gun rights have been high-lighted.
Summary:
- With an average of 11,000 homicides a year, the average number attributed to mass shootings is 35 (0.32% of total homicides).
- Gun buyback programs are ineffective unless massive and coupled with a ban. (i.e. you have to sell to a buyback program because you gun is now banned like the Australian gun ban program).
- After the 1997 Australian gun ban was enacted, mass shootings were reduced. (But other violent crimes increased: Rape 30%, Assault 49%, Robbery 6%. Overall violent crime rate increased 42%. During the same period, the violent crime rate in the U.S. decreased 32%. Link to Info )
- Limiting firearm magazine capacity to ten rounds will have no effect on crime unless all large capacity magazines are confiscated.
- The effectiveness of Universal Background Checks depends on the ability to reduce Straw Purchases which will require Gun Registration!
- According to an ATF study done in 2000, 73% of crime guns come from activities that are already illegal: straw purchase, stolen.
- Even a perfect universal background check system WILL NOT address the largest source of crime guns: straw purchases and stolen guns.
- Contrary to the theory that crime guns are trafficked across State lines from States with less stringent regulations, it was found that a majority of the guns used in crimes were purchased within the State.
- California has required all firearm transfers to go through a licensed dealer since 1923, yet straw purchasing continues unabated.
- Assault weapons are not a major contributor to gun crime.
- The complete elimination of assault weapons would not have a large impact on gun homicides.
- Assault weapon bans will have little effect unless coupled with mandatory gun buyback programs with no exemption or grandfathering clause.
- Smart gun technology is unlikely to affect gun crime.
My Thoughts on the above:
It’s amazing that most of the gun violence cures that Obama supports have been shown as ineffective in a report from his own Justice Department.
Liberals are quick to use the 1997 Australian gun ban as an example of how gun bans prevent mass shootings, but ignore the overall 42% increase in violent crime in Australia while violent crime in the U.S. dropped 38% in the same period.
Liberals that are pushing for Universal background Checks conceal the fact that it will not work without 100% gun registration. And registration historically is the first step in confiscation.
And as I so often remind everyone, Canada has recently repealed its gun registration law because after 14 years and a cost of $2.7 billion, it has never been credited with solving or preventing a single crime. So let’s follow Australia’s example but not Canada’s?
Per this report, the average number killed per year in mass shootings is 35. This is Obama’s focus. How does this compare to just one weekend in Chicago where 14 were killed and 82 wounded! Deadly Chicago Weekend This happens most every weekend and Obama rarely mentions it.
Compare that Chicago weekend to the 75 mass shootings that have occurred since 1982. Only six mass shootings had more casualties than that Chicago weekend (Virginia Tech, Newtown, Luby’s, Columbine, San Ysidro McDonald’s and Edmond Post Office). The total killed in these 75 mass shootings over the past 33 years is 598. The total killed in Chicago in 2015 is 486. The total killed in Chicago in 2014 is 427 for a two year total of 913. In the last 15 months, more people were killed in Chicago than in the last 33 years of mass shootings ( 2014 2015 ). Yet the Obama’s emphasis is on mass shootings.
This study was evidently commissioned immediately after the Newtown School mass shooting on December 14, 2012. So it is ironic that in the very first paragraph of the report, we find the following statement:
“Fatalities from mass shootings (those with 4 or more victims in a particular place and time) account on the average for 35 fatalities per year. Policies that address the larger firearm homicide issue will have a far greater impact even if they do not address the particular issue of mass shootings.”
Obama’s own Justice Department report says addressing the larger firearm homicide issue will have a greater impact that the particular issue of mass shootings.
So ignoring all of the facts from his own Justice Department, Obama makes his number 2 priority (Global Warming is number 1) reducing mass shootings by increasing background checks even though of the past 75 mass shootings, 62 obtained their guns legally.
And I disagree with the NIJ’s average number of mass shooting victims per year as 35. They did not list their definition of mass shooting nor the period used to come up with 35. The most detailed collection of mass shooting data is located Here . This site list 75 mass shootings resulting in 598 deaths since 1982 or the past 33 years. The 598 deaths divided by the 33 years gives an average of 18 deaths per year (0.16% of the 11,000), or just a little bit above the average Chicago weekend death toll.
This report was generated just over three years ago and it’s just now coming to light. Turns out it was a part of a Justice Department internal memo, not meant for the public. The memo was leaked later that year to the NRA who chose not to release it until it could be confirmed as legitimate. Now the the authenticity has been verified, it has been released.