There’s been a lot of positive-trending news on how the gun-rights debate, despite setbacks, may be shifting our way. First, we took note of a recent Gallup poll that showed 58% in the U.S. have a favorable opinion of the NRA.
This comes despite gun prohibitionists blaming NRA for illegal uses of firearms, constant media criticism, and attacks by politicians. I credit the NRA for helping stop many ill-advised and possibly unconstitutional laws across the country. Apparently, many citizens agree. In a Gallup poll from Oct. 7-11, a solid majority of Americans (58%) say they have an overall favorable impression of the NRA. According to the Gallup article on the poll, “This includes the highest recording of ‘very favorable’ opinions (26%) since Gallup began asking this question in 1989.”
That’s because normal people don’t blame the gun-civil-rights group for crimes committed with firearms — most people blame the criminals instead. What a novel idea.
(Full disclosure: I was an NRA annual member for many years while I was competing in NRA shooting events, and I became a life member a couple of years ago. There is no business association between Gun Tests, NRA, and me personally, other than my individual membership.)
Next, legislation that would remove suppressors and silencers from National Firearms Act regs and treat them as regular firearms has been proposed by U.S. Rep. Matt Salmon, R-Ariz (AZ-05). This legislation (H.R. 3799) will remove suppressors from the purview of the National Firearms Act (NFA), replacing the federal transfer process with an instantaneous NICS background check. The act also includes a provision to refund the $200 transfer tax to applicants who purchase a suppressor after October 22, 2015. It is currently legal to hunt with a suppressor in 37 states. Forty-one states allow private ownership of suppressors.
“The American Suppressor Association believes that citizens should not have to pay a tax to protect their hearing while exercising their Second Amendment rights,” said Knox Williams, president and executive Director of the American Suppressor Association (ASA).
Also, according to a recent Pew Research Center study, the annual rate of firearm-related homicides in America declined by nearly 50 percent between 1993 and 2013. According to a Pew Research Center analysis of death certificate data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the gun homicide rate dropped by nearly half, from 7 per 100,000 Americans in 1993 to 3.6 per 100,000 in 2013.
During this same span, gun sales of all types have skyrocketed, as have the number of concealed-carry permit holders, which now number more than 12.8 million permit holders in 2015, according to the Crime Prevention Research Center. Clearly, the Pew data show that during a doubling (or more) in the ownership of privately held guns, firearms-related homicides plunged. More guns don’t equal more crime, it seems.
