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VPC Exposes The Failures Of "Gun Control"
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"...the vast majority of homicide
victims covered under the VPC 'study' fall outside the age bracket most
legitimate researchers and statisticians classify as children..." |
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The Violence Policy Center (VPC) - a radical, obscure organization that
advocates banning all handguns - released a "study" on Wednesday that it
clearly hoped would further its gun-ban agenda. But it turns out the
group's work actually reinforces the fact that violent crime is not
diminished by imposing draconian restrictions on law-abiding citizens
who wish to purchase or possess firearms.
The VPC report looked, on a
state-by-state basis, at the number of murders of children and
adolescents from 1995 to 1999, although it intentionally misclassified
everyone under age 18 as "children," in an attempt to use emotionalism,
rather than fact, to push its agenda. This intentional
misclassification is significant because the vast majority of homicide
victims covered under the VPC "study" fall outside the age bracket most
legitimate researchers and statisticians classify as children. The
uppermost age for classifying children is generally 14 years of age,
while VPC also includes as "children" in its report 15- 17-year-olds.
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"...[VPC] intentionally misclassified
everyone under age 18 as 'children' in an attempt to use emotionalism,
rather than fact, to push its agenda..." |
VPC then ranked each state based on its rate of homicides of children
and adolescents involving handguns. Three of the four states with the
highest rates turned out to be states with the most restrictive laws
governing firearms. In fact, the state VPC identified as having the
highest rate,
Maryland, received the top grade in 2000 from HCI in that
group's rating of states' "laws protecting children from gun violence."
Maryland was the only state to receive an "A" grade, while the third and
fourth states on the VPC list,
Illinois and
California, each received
"B+" grades from HCI.
The VPC report also excluded 11 states because
they had fewer than five "child victims" during the five-year period
studied (even using their expanded definition of "children"), claiming
any rates would be "unreliable." Of the 11 states excluded, nine do not
impose onerous restrictions on law-abiding gun owners, thus earning a
grade of "D+" or lower in HCI's 2000 rating.
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