This fake news report keeps on circulating. It is time to debunk the ignorant and misleading story. This "article" appears to have been published by CBS in 2014.
As with much fake news, the most important part is the headline. In this case, it is a question: "How heavily armed is your state?" CBS gives the methodology. It is laughable to the point of being bizarre. To the ignorant, the methodology may seem plausible. To those with knowledge of the subject, it is insane. From cbsnews.com: "How heavily armed is your state?"
Here is a look at per capita weapons data, based on the ATF's National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record, and 2013 data from the U.S. Census.
In the United States there are about 400,000,000 privately owned firearms. The numbers on the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record, (from 2013, as used in the NBC article) show a total of 3,510,980 "firearms". That is less than 1% of the total firearms in the nation.
While the ATF's National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record is the only accessible list of its kind, it is not all-inclusive. NFA firearms only include the categories regulated by The National Firearms Act of 1934: machine guns, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, suppressors, destructive devices like bombs and grenades, concealable devices with the ability to discharge a shot through the energy of an explosive, and any firearm with a bore over half an inch that has not been determined to have a legitimate sporting use.
Of those listed as "firearms" in the NFA, the vast majority are "destructive devices" and silencers, which make up 2.7 million items. That leaves machineguns, short barreled shotguns and short barreled rifles at about 811,000 actual firearms, or less than 1/4 of 1 percent of the firearms in the United States.
A large number of them are owned by police departments and government agencies. Consider the District of Columbia. In the CBS article, it is listed as number two in the nation for per capita "registered firearms". But the guns on the registry are not legal for private people to own in D.C. From the washingtonpost.com:
It is illegal to possess the following firearms in D.C.:The guns on the NFA registry in D.C. are owned by government agencies, which are exempt from the D.C. gun bans.
- Sawed-off shotguns
- Machine guns
- Short-barreled rifles
- An assault weapon
- A .50 BMG rifle
To sum up.
The headline is so misleading as to be bizzare.
The database used is for exotic, highly regulated items that make up less than 1 percent of the firearms in the United States.
Most of the items (75%) are only "firearms" in the convoluted legalese of the National Firearms Act. The are destructive devices and silencers, not firearms. Actual firearms in the data base, in the common usage of the word, only make up 1/4 of 1 percent of the privately owned firearms in the United States,
Large numbers of the items in the database are owned by police or government agencies, not private citizens.
It is hard to image using a set of data more likely to mislead about the relative numbers of firearms in a state than the NFA data set. Simply using the census data would be closer to reality.
©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
So you are saying those people in that group armed the way they are do not exist? It is a simple fact the local police have been being militarized for several years. explain the body armor, the assault weapons, the mechanized armor, battlefield tactics. the fact is the only people police protect is themselves and they have a US supreme court ruling to back that up. to protect and to serve was challenged in court. the duty of the police is to enforce the law, investigate crime and arrest the criminals. absolutely nothing in the ruling about protecting anyone. George bush the punk issued an executive order federalizing all local police. get your facts straight, wake up.
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