Proponents of gun control say that it makes our streets and cities safer.

That we need to pass more laws to ban guns because that will keep guns out of the hands of criminals.

That we need to ban gun shows because that’s where gangs and cartels get their weaponry (not from the ATF, natch).

Hogwash.

Show me data to support this.

I can show you data that refutes it.

Here’s some summary text of a 5-year FBI study into violent criminal attacks on police officers titled, “Violent Encounters: A Study of Felonious Assaults on Our Nation’s Law Enforcement Officers.” From a pool of more than 800 incidents, the researchers selected 40, involving 43 offenders (13 of them admitted gangbangers-drug traffickers) and 50 officers, for in-depth exploration. They visited crime scenes and extensively interviewed surviving officers and attackers alike, most of the latter in prison.

Predominately handguns were used in the assaults on officers and all but one were obtained illegally, usually in street transactions or in thefts. In contrast to media myth, none of the firearms in the study was obtained from gun shows. What was available “was the overriding factor in weapon choice,” the report says. Only 1 offender hand-picked a particular gun “because he felt it would do the most damage to a human being.”

Researcher Davis, in a presentation and discussion for the International Assn. of Chiefs of Police, noted that none of the attackers interviewed was “hindered by any law–federal, state or local–that has ever been established to prevent gun ownership. They just laughed at gun laws.”

Emphasis added.

It’s funny… you know… they’re called criminals, and by definition that means they don’t obey the law. What in the world makes you think that passing laws to ban X is going to stop X? That criminals are going to care one iota about laws getting in their way?

All you’re doing is hurting good, law-abiding people.

Either you’re ignorant, or you’ve got ulterior motives.

If you’re ignorant (hey, I was too at one time), be willing to shed your ignorance and gain enlightenment. It’s not a bad thing.

If you’ve got ulterior motives, well….