U.S.A. –-(AmmoLand.com)- The Maryland Attorney General filed a recent amicus brief with the US Supreme Court. Attorney General Brian Frosh said that the state is justified in banning modern rifles because those weapons have been used to commit mass murder. AG Frosh mentions violent attacks that happened outside of Maryland. For some reason, the Attorney General failed to mention the far larger number of cases where honest citizens used a rifle for justified self-defense. If this is an omission then it is an oversight the size of the Grand Canyon.
The AG’s report goes back a decade to find 150 deaths that were attributed to a mass murderer who used a modern rifle at some time during his attack. What we don’t know is why the Attorney General stopped there.
Why didn’t the AG also mention that rifles like these are in common use and were routinely used for armed defense? I am not saying that those firearms could be used for armed defense. I’m saying that they were used, are used, and will be used for armed defense every day.
You’d think a Supreme Court judge would like to know that. I suspect the judges would also like to know why the Maryland Attorney General chose to hide those facts. Let me show you how big a fabrication the AG presented.
We know that about 25 million people report owning a modern rifle in the US. We know that ordinary US citizens used firearms for armed defense about 1.7 million times each year.[a][5] We know they use a rifle in those defensive encounters about 13.1 percent of the time.
Honest citizens used a rifle in armed defense over 210 thousand times a year, or almost 600 times a day.
I don’t know how many of those rifles we used in armed defense were the particular make and model that the Attorney General wants to ban. I don’t know if each one of those self-defensive encounters would have resulted in death since the bad guy almost always runs away when he sees that grandma is armed. Those subtleties are interesting but they are overwhelmed by other facts. Firearms in the United States are almost always used in armed defense rather than being used for mass murder.
It is hard to know precisely which type of firearm is likely to be used in a crime because the firearm is not recovered in every case. In this case, the evidence is overwhelming. Rifles are a fraction of the guns owned by honest citizens, but rifles are still used ten times more often in armed defense than any firearm is used in any murder.
Let’s put what we know into perspective. Each day, honest citizens in the US use a rifle to prevent death or great bodily injury.
Armed citizens save many more lives with a rifle each day than are lost to mass murderers each year.
Should we do what we can to reduce mass murder? Of course, we should. So why haven’t we? In particular, why hasn’t the Maryland legislature fully funded state-sponsored treatment of the mentally ill?
The Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh used to be a Maryland State Senator. Perhaps the voters will ask him.
[a] * Even anti-gun Clinton researchers concede that guns are used 1.5 million times annually for self-defense. According to the Clinton Justice Department, there are as many as 1.5 million cases of self-defense every year. The National Institute of Justice published this figure in 1997 as part of “Guns in America” — a study which was authored by noted anti-gun criminologists Philip Cook and Jens Ludwig.[5]
[5]Philip J. Cook and Jens Ludwig, “Guns in America: National Survey on Private Ownership and Use of Firearms,” NIJ Research in Brief (May 1997); available at https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles/165476.pdf on the internet. The finding of 1.5 million yearly self-defense cases did not sit well with the anti-gun bias of the study’s authors, who attempted to explain why there could not possibly be one and a half million cases of self-defense every year. Nevertheless, the 1.5 million figure is consistent with a mountain of independent surveys showing similar figures. The sponsors of these studies — nearly a dozen — are quite varied, and include anti-gun organizations, news media organizations, governments and commercial polling firms. See also Kleck and Gertz, supra note 1, pp. 182-183.
About Rob Morse
The original article, with sources, is posted here. Rob Morse writes about gun rights at Ammoland, at Clash Daily, at Second Call Defense, and on his SlowFacts blog. He hosts the Self Defense Gun Stories Podcast and co-hosts the Polite Society Podcast. Rob was an NRA pistol instructor and combat handgun competitor.
Banning murder might be just as effective.
Ignorant and dishonest are not mutually exclusive.
The Second Amendment has many reasons and applications. Few understand and known the reasons for the adoption of the Bill of Rights and that the right of the PEOPLE was was a major reason the Congress acted to correct errors and ommissions in the Constitution.
Thank Patrick Henry for driving the Congress to align the Constitution with the DECLARATION of INDEPENDENCE which clearly states the PEOPLE HAVE A RIGHT and DUTY TO OPPOSE TYRANTS.
Tyrants always want to ban weapons whether 2000 years ago or now.
those are character traits to be a demoncrat
“Is Maryland’s Attorney General Ignorant or Dishonest?”
YES!
A dishonest communist.
Is there any other kind ?
One quick look at Frosh’s resume tells you your answer to both questions: Yes. As a dedicated Progressive New Left democrat he is naturally opposed to the concept of Natural Rights at all turns. So please tell me you are not surprised by his actions to clearly violate the strict scrutiny logic test in this case. He is an advocate of the ‘by any means necessary’ logic test when it comes to suspending or infringing upon the natural rights of citizens. That much is a given.
Brian Frosh is assuredly dishonest. Prior to his terms as AG, he served in the Maryland State Senate and was President of that senate. His political career is characterized by his Leftist positions on every issue. He will do and say anything to foster the Leftist agenda, particularly where it comes to firearms and the Second Amendment.
He also is a big part of the problem on the East Coast, MASS, RI, CONN, NY, NJ, DEL, MD, DC, and close to by BLUE RULE in PA if they don’t wise up soon!!!
Brian Frosh! I thought that his proper name is Brain Frost. Silly me.
most states closed down their mental hospitals due to abuses , and the land they were on was worth too much
Why does a demonrat always leave pertinent facts out of a discussion? Because the facts omitted don’t fit their narrative. Period.
iT’S Moronland don’t be surprised.
massinsanitychucts is just north od capitol of us ( or are they just self medicating)
It’s Maryland, you have to ask ?
You’re looking at it the wrong way. Give them more guns. The problem will take care of itself.
Give them more guns? Not when they go out, find a group of INNOCENT Americans and take out their ANGER or FRUSTRATIONS ending up with killings.
Well, give them really old, cheap, poorly maintained guns, then!
Is ‘bfrosh’ Ignorant or dishonorable? YES! This DemoKKKrat has RULES for THEE but NOT FOR ME!!!! He belongs in the “HELL YES! I WILL TAKE YOUR GUNS” group!
To answer your question , the answer is yes to both. Three counties and one city in Maryland control the state. These counties are located in between D.C. and Baltimore which basically is the over flow from the Swamp of D.C.. in the last two presidential elections all of Maryland except these counties and city where Red but because of the Swamp spillage around D.C. the entire state went for the Blue candidate. The AG is one of those county resident and does not represent the rest of the state. By the way those counties and one city represent the… Read more »
The bastards want us disarmed and their “Valued Constituents” armed.
Say, if we hand in our guns to the government either piecemeal or all at once what will protect us from the government?
Having lived there (MD) in the past, I can say with first-hand knowledge that Frosh is BOTH – Ignorant and Dishonest. Frosh is, and was, one of the most rabidly ant-gun nutjobs ever unleashed on society. He never lets the truth get in his way when he is trampling civil rights. Don’t bother trying to educate him on the things he is wrong about – he knows more than anyone – about everything. He is a complete and total fraud and it always amazed me that he got elected and reelected. His star-filled eyes are set on him being Supreme… Read more »