Firearm Laws Reduce Firearm Deaths

"if guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns." True by definition, but the amount of outlaws that have them will be significantly reduced. Not to mention no one has even attempted to outlaw guns completely. Newly manufactured machine guns have been illegal for civilians to own since 1986, and the grandfathered weapons are subject to an array of regulations such as a complete FBI background check for any prospective owner, and a $200 tax every time a weapon changes hands. Again in Targeting Guns, Kleck writes, four police officers were killed in the line of duty by machine guns from 1983 to 1992. (713 law enforcement officers were killed during that period, 651 with guns.) The four represents 0.6% of the total killed with guns. In 1980, when Miami's homicide rate was at an all-time high, less than 1% of all homicides involved machine guns. (Miami was supposedly a "machine gun Mecca" and drug trafficking capital of the U.S.) Although there are no national figures to compare to, machine gun deaths were probably lower elsewhere. Kleck cites several examples: " Of 2,200 guns recovered by Minneapolis police (1987-1989), not one was fully automatic. " A total of 420 weapons, including 375 guns, were seized during drug warrant executions and arrests by the Metropolitan Area Narcotics Squad (Will and Grundie counties in the Chicago metropolitan area, 1980-1989). None of the guns was a machine gun. " 16 of 2,359 (0.7%) of the guns seized in the Detroit area (1991-1992) in connection with "the investigation of narcotics trafficking operations" were machine guns. (http://www.guncite.com......) 1. Across states, more guns = more unintentional firearm deaths The mortality rate was 7 times higher in the four states with the most guns compared to the four states with the fewest guns. http://www.hsph.harvard.edu... In 1999, according to the Justice Department, more than 200,000 gun-sale applications were rejected because the buyer was disqualified in some way, overwhelmingly for a felony conviction or indictment. Since the Brady Act went into effect in 1994, such rejections have numbered well over a half-million. The problem is that these criminals were still able to go to a gun show and buy it or a friend to sell it to them or buy it for them. Because all gun sales are not legally required to be tracked, criminals are able to acquire guns with the same ease as a non-criminal citizen who can obtain them legally. I think it Rosen, Gary. "The gun control controversy: looking at both sides." Current 427 (2000): 10+. Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 13 Sept. 2013. "A study of persons arrested for a wide range of crimes showed that a higher percentage of arrestees than regular citizens own firearms. http://www.nij.gov... The current prison recidivism rate is over 40%. Released prisoners with the highest rearrest rates were those in prison for possessing, using, or selling illegal weapons (70.2%). http://www.bjs.gov... The statistics on defensive gun use are dubious and hard to find. However, I also had trouble finding statistics on how many gun deaths are caused by legally acquired guns vs illegally acquired guns. What is clear is that guns are constantly getting into the hands of people that misuse them and likely kill with them. Just because people say that guns are used for protection successfully--without any facts to back it up--doesn't mean that they are. Gun laws do not take guns away from "well intentioned civilians" that's a fallacy.