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University of Cincinnati
Clermont

Truth behind the Myth

John Wilson
Mrs. Mansfield
ENG 1000
Sunday, October 22, 2015

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All myths related to firearms can be countered by researched and facts that will be
presented in this paper.
Resource one is the latest crime statistics from the Federal Buru of Investigation, listing
all Homicides from the year 2008 to the year 2012, it shows a rise and decline in certain types of
crimes both firearm related and non-firearm related. The second resource is an article by the
National Rifle Association debunking the myth that the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban was the
reason behind the fall in crime, when really the ban had little to no effect on crime at all, they
referenced columbine as an example, by listing the number of magazines they had and the
capacity each magazine had. My third and final resource is s research paper called Gun Facts
Version 6.0 by Guy Smith. It has in it one hundred and twelve pages of known firearm myths
and their factual counters with cited sources on the same page as the facts used for easy
reference. The myths that are debunked range from so called assault weapons to .50 caliber
rifles. The facts used are no some out of left field statistics, but facts and information from the
FBI, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, and the Department of Justice.
The FBI statists is meant for people who use statistics from a reliable source to back up
their arguments, using a chart to clearly lay out the facts used to clearly inform, and is easily
readable. The NRA article can be used in an argument with clear facts with cited resources for
arguments, as well as the real reason crime fell during the 1994 Assault Weapons ban. Gun
Facts is a list of firearm myths with factual counters explained in detail in bullet point format
with reliable sources such as the FBI, to back up the facts and truth presented in the paper.

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For my researched source I chose the FBIs 2013 Homicide statistics, which shows a
slow, but general downward trend in violent crime in the United States. The same can be true for
firearm deaths, in 2008 there was a total of 9,528 murders using firearms and in 2013 there were
8,855 murders using fire arms.
For my pop culture source I chose an article from the National Rifle Associations Gun
Ban Facts website, the article I choose was from their Myth vs Fact section called Myth: A new
ban on assault weapons and magazines would reduce crime. It is backed by information from
the FBI The nations violent crime rate peaked in 1991, began declining before the old assault
weapon and large magazine bans were imposed, and kept on declining after the bans expired
for reasons(FBI, Crime in the United States, 2011, About Crime in the U.S. (CIUS),
Resources, Variables Affecting Crime) that have nothing to do with gun control. It also states
that information that crime has been falling since the 1990s and in 2011 was at an all-time low in
all violent crimes, including firearm related crimes. While the amount of so called assault
weapons and magazines have been increasing ever since the ban expired, thus proving that
another ban would be pointless, ineffective and only affect law abiding citizens, not criminals,
who by definition both do not follow and break the law.
For my wild card resource I choose was a research paper called Gun Facts Version 6.0
by Guy Smith. Inside it has twenty two categories of gun control myths including but not limited
to Assault Weapons, Crime and Guns, Microstamping, Concealed Carry Laws and Weapons,
Police and Guns, Children and Guns, .50 Caliber Rifles, and Gun Owners and Public Opinion.

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Under each of these categories are no less than four myths with multiple facts that debunk the
myth. For example on page 16, under the category Crime and Guns, the myth Machine Guns
(Meaning fully automatic firearms) are favored by criminals there are facts stating that even in
the drug ridden streets of Miami in the 1980s, fewer than 1% of ALL firearm homicides were
with machine guns. It also pulls facts from other cities during times of high violence. There are
not just a list of facts being presented but bar, pie and line charts/ graphs, percentiles,
spreadsheets, pictures, maps, and questioners with answers. All of the facts that are presented are
not just listed there with the blind hope that people will believe them, on each page each fact as
at least one numbered marker that directs the reader to the bottom of the page to the biography of
the resources used for that page so you can go and look up the facts for yourself.