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== The Fallacy and Motivation for Gun Control ==

== The Fallacy and Motivation for Gun Control ==

Gun control potentially causes an increase in crime by restricting its main deterrent: self-defense.  In the United States, law-abiding uses of guns outnumber criminal uses by at least a factor of 100 to 1, and the removal of guns from everyone eliminates the lawful use of self-defense and its deterrent effect.  Some [[liberals]] nevertheless favor [[gun control]] as a way of increasing control by government, and disarming the citizenry has the effect of causing voters to rely more on government and [[liberal]] policies.

Gun control potentially causes an increase in crime by restricting its main deterrent: self-defense.  In the United States, law-abiding uses of guns outnumber criminal uses by at least a factor of 100 to 1,<ref>(Fill in cite here about percentage of guns used for unlawful purposes.)</ref> and the removal of guns from everyone eliminates the lawful use of self-defense and its deterrent effect.  "[[Americans]] use firearms to defend themselves from criminals at least 764,000 times a year."<ref>"This figure is the lowest among a group of 9 nationwide surveys done by organizations including Gallup and the Los Angeles Times." [http://www.justfacts.com/guncontrol.asp]</ref>  "In 1982, a survey of imprisoned criminals found that 34% of them had been "scared off, shot at, wounded or captured by an armed victim."<ref>''Ibid.''</ref>  When [[Florida]] began allowing its citizens to carry a concealed weapon, [[Florida]]'s firearm homicide rate fell by 37% when the national average ''increased'' by 15%.<ref>''Ibid.''</ref>

Some [[liberals]] nevertheless favor [[gun control]] as a way of increasing control by government, and disarming the citizenry has the effect of causing voters to rely more on government and [[liberal]] policies.

Studies by [[John Lott]] and others indicate that gun control causes higher crime rates.<ref>http://www.johnrlott.com/</ref>  [[Washington, D.C.]] has one of the highest crime rates in [[America]] even though it completely bans private handguns.<ref>http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/dccrime.htm</ref>  Lott demonstrates that in [[Britain]], [[Australia]] and [[Canada]], increased gun control in the late 1990s led to increased crime, the exact opposite of what the proponents of the gun control promised.<ref>http://johnrlott.tripod.com/op-eds/IBDGunConFailure.html</ref>  [[Switzerland]] and [[Israel]] allow widespread gun ownership and have low crime rates; similarly, states in the [[U.S.]] having concealed-carry laws enjoy low crime rates.<ref>[http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=4706 Cato report]</ref>

Studies by [[John Lott]] and others indicate that gun control causes higher crime rates.<ref>http://www.johnrlott.com/</ref>  [[Washington, D.C.]] has one of the highest crime rates in [[America]] even though it completely bans private handguns.<ref>http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/dccrime.htm</ref>  "Switzerland, Israel, Denmark and Finland, all of whom have a higher gun

are among the lowest in the Western World."<ref>http://www.slashdoc.com/documents/71244</ref>  Lott demonstrates that in [[Britain]], [[Australia]] and [[Canada]], increased gun control in the late 1990s led to increased crime, the exact opposite of what the proponents of the gun control promised.<ref>http://johnrlott.tripod.com/op-eds/IBDGunConFailure.html</ref>  [[Switzerland]] and [[Israel]] allow widespread gun ownership and have low crime rates; similarly, states in the [[U.S.]] having concealed-carry laws enjoy low crime rates.<ref>[http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=4706 Cato report]</ref>

[[image:Australia crime.gif|300px|thumb|<br /><small>The vertical line represents the timing of the gun control http://www.gunsandcrime.org/auresult.html</small>]]

[[image:Australia crime.gif|300px|thumb|<br /><small>The vertical line represents the timing of the gun control http://www.gunsandcrime.org/auresult.html</small>]]