The L.A. Times is no friend of the Constitution, especially the 2nd Amendment.
They published this article about the "10 trigger-happiests states in the country".
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinion-la/la-ol-gun-violence-highest-homicide-rates-20121220,0,4396277.photogalleryIt was a side piece to the article depicting pro 2nd Amendment folks as
http://articles.latimes.com/2013/mar/08/opinion/la-ed-patriot-groups-splc-report-20130308There are, in increasingly frightening numbers, cells of angry men in the United States preparing for combat with the U.S. government. They are usually heavily armed, blinded by an intractable hatred, often motivated by religious zeal.
They're not jihadists. They are white, right-wing Americans, nearly all with an obsessive attachment to guns, who may represent a greater danger to the lives of American civilians than international terrorists.
which is merely a reprint of a report by the Southern Poverty Law Center, a Leftist organization hiding behind the "Social Justice" mantra that is so popular among Leftists. Like Al Capone, who organized food kitchens and handed out money to people standing in food lines, they conceal their agenda behind good works with lots of propaganda strings attached.
Their 10"trigger-happiest" states are, in their order: Louisiana, South Carolina, Maryland, Missouri, Michigan, Mississippi, Tennessee, Georgia, Arkansas and Pennsylvania.
By contrast, the FBI, in 2011, listed the top ten states in their "Table 20":
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2011/crime-in-the-u.s.-2011/tables/table-20which I've sorted by total firearm murders:
State Total Murders by Firearms
California 1,790 1,220
Texas 1,089 699
Pennsylvania 636 470
Michigan 613 450
New York 774 445
Louisiana 485 402
Illinois 452 377
Georgia 522 370
Ohio 488 344
North Carolina 489 335
The lists are entirely different. That created by the Southern Poverty Law Center focuses on what they derisively refer to as "patriot" and "militia" groups. According to them being a patriot must be a symptom of blind hate. They never address the threat Marxist groups pose to our Republic, because if their rhetoric is any indicator they really hate the Constitution or any citizen's ability to defend themselves from criminals or tyrants.
One fact that stands out is that the firearm murder rate of Illinois is almost entirely due to gang shootings in Chicago. Another is that one of the most liberal states in America, and home of the Hollywood Hypocrites has the highest firearm murder rate in the country, but apparently there are no hate-blinded, heavily armed, religious patriots in California.
The FBI has another interesting table,
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2011/crime-in-the-u.s.-2011/tables/expanded-homicide-data-table-8It shows that murders by firearms has been steadily DECREASING, on average, during the four years reported. Feinstein and the Leftists in the Senate are pushing to outlaw semi-automatic rifles. Scary looking features aren't the "distinguishing marks" of lethality, and they know that. But that mischaracterization is more easily sold to an ill or misinformed public as a prelude to banning ALL of your semi-auto weapons; pistols, rifles and shotguns. Feinstein has repeatedly said that was her goal - total confiscation, just like in the U.K. and Australia. HOWEVER, an interesting fact obtained from the FBI's "Table 8" is the fact that in 2011, for example, the total number of murders in which a rifle was used was 323. That was NO typo. 323. Why all the rush to ban "assault" rifles, which are merely semi-automatic rifles that have been around for a century and are rarely used to kill people? That same table shows that 5X as many people die from injuries administered by knives!. If the concern is reducing the number of lives lost by violent acts then more could be saved by banning knives. As a bonus, they are not protected by the 2nd Amendment, and can be more easily infringed.
Shotguns account for as few as rifles do. People kill other people twice as often with hands, fists and feet than with rifles or shotguns.
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