Gun-Banners Cherry-Pick ‘Developed Nations’ Data to Manipulate Public Opinion

U.S.A. –(Ammoland.com)- “The Florence, South Carolina, shooting shows America’s gun problem hurts police too,” a Thursday hit piece on the right to keep and bear arms in “liberal-leaning” Vox declares. “If you’re worried about police getting killed in the line of duty, look at America’s easy access to guns.”

Really?

“[P]olice officers in America may be uniquely susceptible to shootings, relative to other developed nations, due to the US’s abundance of guns,” the “explanation” goes. “But in America, they may be more likely to run into a person who is armed and could open fire — so these kinds of deadly incidents may happen more often.”

OK, so evidently the Founders were wrong about what was “necessary to the security of a free State,” and the Bill of Rights needs to defer to making sure government enforcers are the ones protected. It’s curious though because “progressives” then turn around and decry “police racism” and shootings of “people of color.” If you really believe that, taking the position they should be the “Only Ones” armed seems like major cognitive dissonance bordering on a complete breakdown of reality.

As far as “running into a person who is armed and could open fire,” if they’re “law-abiding,” statistically you’re in more danger if that person has a badge. If they’re criminals, which the ones that would open fire are, then what, short of total citizen disarmament, does Vox have in mind?

Based on what they advocate, that’s pretty much it. Never mind that it wouldn’t work and would result in many more deaths and open the door to nightmare dystopian scenarios. But Vox sure sounds like its basing its opinions on ‘science” when it refers to “developed nations” as the ultimate benchmark for demonstrating how barbaric America’s gun laws are when compared to the rest of the world—which also no doubt explains why so many from there want to come here badly enough to break our laws to do it.

Note the charts they use to “prove” their point – a “breakthrough analysis” by “researchers at U.C. Berkeley (and there’s an objective broker for you) illustrated by rates of “crime” and “homicides” in “15 industrialized countries.” By adding that arbitrary qualifier to the comparison of international homicide rates, gun-hating “statisticians” can omit or include countries as they see fit to support whatever conclusions they aim to reach. And this is not the first time Vox has pulled this stunt.

Anybody see Russia or Mexico listed, both with more restrictive gun laws and higher violent crime than the U.S.? Whether one consults the UN, the IMF, the World Bank or the CIA Factbook, they both have a larger GDP than some of the nations that qualify as “developed” when it suits gun-grabber purposes. Also rated above many countries in term of “economic complexity,” Mexico includes cars, computers, video displays and delivery trucks among its top exports. It boasts a literacy rate of 93.4 percent.

And somebody had better tell Vladimir Putin that Third World jerkwater he rules over has no business exporting rocket engines to the U.S., or as we’ve recently seen, threatening us more “developed” people with an “‘invincible’ intercontinental cruise missile and a nuclear torpedo that could outsmart all American defenses.” How were these primitives able to cheat Hillary out of the presidency and throw the election to Trump, unless the “progressives” are lying about that, too?

What Vox and gun-grabbers are counting on is most DSM “reporters” are too biased and lazy to dig into the numbers or, heaven forbid, challenge them. That way, most readers and viewers will absorb enough of the narrative talking points to repeat that view as if it’s “settled science” only an uncivilized extremist would doubt.

Don’t let them get away with that around you.

About David Codrea:

David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating / defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament.

In addition to being a field editor/columnist at GUNS Magazine and associate editor for Oath Keepers, he blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.