Dakota Beacon

 So many scandals; so little time. NSA spying on US citizens, IRS  voter suppression, Fast & Furious, Black Panther voter intimidation,  Benghazi with a dead ambassador and three other Americans, immigration
 debacle, Arizona sued for enforcing federal law, drone killing of US  citizens overseas, massive intrusion into personal health care delivery and  more. The authoritarian march of liberals, progressives and the Obama  administration is breathtaking.
 
 No wonder the average citizen looses confidence in the federal  government. The feds haven't earned it. Politicians and high level  bureaucrats have betrayed the public trust by their corruption.
 
 The public, however, must not allow corruption and scandal to draw attention away from other equally significant issues. Among those issues is gun control. The anti-gunners are ceaselessly assaulting the 2d
 Amendment. Anti-gunners who may read what follows will never be persuaded by  rhetoric. However, pro-2d Amendment folks may use these points as arrows in their quiver to further the debate.
 
 The anti-gun movement is active at many levels. In the first half of 2013 more congressional anti-gun legislation was introduced than in  all of President Obama's first term. State legislatures have experienced  very aggressive assaults against legitimate gun ownership. On June 14 New
 York City Mayor Bloomberg's gun control group, Mayors Against Illegal Guns,  will begin a cross country tour to defeat members of congress who did not  support his failed gun control legislation. This tour is accompanied by  anti-gun advertisements. Finally, phony poll results (push polls) indicate
 skewed popular support for strict new gun laws. Don't believe it.
 
 Here are some blatant falsehood used to promote gun control.
 
 -- Gun control keeps guns out of the hands of criminals.  FALSE. Cities with the strictest gun control laws have the highest murder  rates. Washington, DC, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Detroit lead the
 way. This should not seem odd since the disarmed, law-abiding citizens  becomes prey to the criminal.
 
 -- We need more gun laws. FALSE. We already have enough gun  laws. There is a world of difference between laws and enforcement. As  pointed out, New York, Chicago, Detroit and Los Angeles have the most  restrictive gun laws. Yet, they are last in federal gun law enforcement  including illegal gun sales to felons, drug addicts and children.
 
 -- The more gun owners, the higher the gun murder rate.  FALSE. The opposite is true. Legal gun ownership reduces crime. This is  borne out by the liberal UK Guardian in a worldwide survey of gun ownership.
 
 -- Gun violence is rising out of control. FALSE. According  to Pew Research, the US firearm death rate in 2010 was down 49 percent from  a 1993 high. Interestingly, during the same period the US population grew.
 Assaults, robberies and sex crimes were 75 percent lower in 2011 than in  1993.
 
 -- Republicans are responsible for the death of children  because they won't pass gun control legislation. FALSE. Nearly 67 percent of  gun homicides occurred in the top 50 metropolitan centers in the US -- all
 Democrat controlled. Sixty-two of the cities have a firearms murder rate of  9.7 percent. That is twice the national average. Chicago, Obama's home town  controlled by Democrats for 80 years, has the strictest gun control laws in  the land. According to "Forbes" Chicago saw 513 murders in 2012. That is a
 15 percent jump in a single year.
 
 Gun control is the tip of the iceberg. Political corruption,  massive debt, stagnant economy, high unemployment -- this is liberalism and  progressivism on parade.
 
 Lord Acton knew something too many Americans have forgotten.  "Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely." (Letter to Bishop  Creighton, 1887.) This is endemic to our large, and expanding, government.
 
 Hopefully, voters will see the light in 2014, retain a majority  in the US House and take a majority in the US Senate. This in spite of an  effective news blackout from the mainstream media.
 
 
 
 Dennis M. Patrick can be contacted at P. O. Box 337, Stanley, ND 58784 or
 bnt@midstatetel.com.