Gail Collins: although weak gun control measures have little chance of passing the Congress, "in Salt Lake City, the State Legislature is considering a bill to honor the Browning M1911 pistol by making it the official state firearm.... A committee in the Utah House of Representatives voted 9 to 2 this week to approve [the] bill.... 'This firearm is Utah,' Representative Carl Wimmer, the Browning bill’s sponsor, told The Salt Lake Tribune." Meanwhile, State Sen. Mark Madsen suggested Browning Day be scheduled to coincide with Day, and Utah's Republican Tea Party U.S. Senator Mike Lee told CNN, “There is abundant research suggesting in cities where more people own guns, the crime rate, especially the murder rate, goes down.”
Here's what I say (also see correction following the comment):
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day should coincide with Browning Day? Doesn't Sen. Madsen know Dr. King was shot to death? With, you know, a gun? Madsen's suggestion is appalling bordering on depraved. Maybe Madsen should ponder this: "... more than a million people have died from gun violence — in murders, accidents and suicides — since Dr. King was shot to death in 1968." -- Bob Herbert
Sen. Mike Lee, who operates in the Republican Fact-Free Zone, is blowing smoke with his claim that "There is abundant research suggesting in cities where more people own guns, the crime rate, especially the murder rate, goes down." According to Dr. Daniel Webster (no, not that Daniel Webster) of Johns Hopkins, "Cities that have gone the furthest to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people have the lowest homicide rates." Prof. Matthew Miller of Harvard says, "Where it’s easier to get guns, you have higher rates of lethal violence. That’s clear." Well, not to Sen. Lee.
And if gun enthusiasts like Mike Lee think guns protect them, there's this, also from Bob Herbert: "researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine estimated that people in possession of a gun at the time of an assault were 4.5 times more likely to be shot during the assault than someone in a comparable situation without a gun."
Where's Joe Wilson to shout "You lie!" at Mike Lee? Oh, right. Not long ago he was in South Carolina, touting the release of the "You Lie" AR-15 lower receiver. What's a "lower receiver"? It's an accessory that converts a semi-automatic assault rifle to an automatic assault rifle. *
* Correction: Times reader Fred G. writes,
Marie Burns wrote in the NYT: "What's a 'lower receiver'? It's an accessory that converts a semi-automatic assault rifle to an automatic assault rifle." From a factual perspective, this is just not correct.
The lower receiver is simply a housing. Whether an AR-15/M-16 is semi-automatic or full automatic is a function of the firing mechanism. The firing mechanism is housed in the lower receiver, but most lower receivers (with a few exceptions) can accommodate semi- or full-auto firing mechanisms. This is not a political or partisan issue, simply one of factual accuracy. I usually like Ms. Burns comments quite a lot. I thought this inaccuracy was worth pointing out.
CW: It's probably safe to assume Fred is right & I'm wrong. Thanks to Fred for the correction & for keeping me honest.
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