I’m not Rambo. I don’t think there’s a justifiable reason for a private American to own a fully-automatic machine gun or a grenade launcher. But I do own a hand gun. Now, with that said, let’s discuss the fire-arm-phobic media and some of the stupid things they say.

In the next week or so, a gun ban passed by President Clinton (under the shadiest of political circumstances) will expire, due to a congressional repeal of that ban. And the media is FREAKING OUT

The hype (this, from Reuters):
“The ban on such weapons as Uzis and AK-47s will expire at midnight next Monday unless Congress votes to renew it. …high-powered guns and large-capacity ammunition clips could flood America’s streets…”

The fact:
AK-47s and UZIs along with all other fully automatic weapons are covered by several other fire arm and crime laws. When the Clinton ban expires, AK-47s and UZIs will still be illegal. If fact, the Clinton ban is so poorly conceived that it does not cover many true assault rifles.

The hype (from Carolyn McCarthy, D-NY):
“The NRA is an extremely powerful group, there’s no two ways about it… [politicians] don’t want to tick them off two months before elections.”

The facts:
After the gun ban was passed in 1994, virtually every one of the legislators that voted for the ban was defeated in the biggest congressional land-slide election in history. If you think the NRA had the power to orchestrate the ’94 landslide, then you give them far too much credit. If that were true, McCarthy would surely not be in office to begin with. Sorry, Carolyn. It’s called democracy.

The hype (from Amy Sisley of Physicians for Social Responsibility):
“It is a health-care crisis… 90 percent of spinal cord injuries in the United States are caused by gunshot wounds.”

The facts:
Amy Sisley is either a complete idiot or she does not know how to read. What crack-smoking maroon would honestly believe that 90% of spinal injuries are caused by assault rifles?! Lady, have you been on a highway lately? Have you ever in your precious, sheltered life heard of a car accident?

The established facts are that a quarter of once percent of violent crimes in the US (that’s 1 in 400) involve weapons covered by the Clinton ban (and all of those weapons are already banned by other laws). Only 5% violent crimes (1 in 20) involve fire arms legal or otherwise. The vast majority of violent crimes are perpetrated with knives, blunt instruments, or bare hands.

Now, let’s consider that 95% of crimes that are committed without guns. What do you think would happen if victims of those violent crimes carried legal, licensed hand guns? Ever heard the phrase bringing a knife to a gun fight? Face it. Violent criminals are just not the smartest people. But even they are smart enough not to face down a gun when they’re holding a golf club.

How many crimes do you think are prevented every year by law abiding citizens who are willing and able to protect themselves from criminals by owning and being willing to use legal fire arms in their own defense? Unfortunately, that statistic is impossible to calculate, but pick up any gun magazine in any given month and you will read two or three letters to the editor by licensed gun owners telling of a crime that didn’t happen thanks to a legal, private fire arm. Seriously, try it!