Shooting Down Gun Lobby Myths

Important NYT editorial up tonight takes on the embrace by lazy lawmakers of the myths promoted by gun nuts, particularly about how the ban on assault weapons "did not help."  Of course, the ban was allowed to lapse partly due to such propaganda.  The Times provides ample evidence to the contrary.  "The false statistics comfort members of Congress who fear the gun lobby or their more conservative constituents, or both, and are blocking a new and stronger ban on assault weapons proposed by Senator Dianne Feinstein." Just a sample of the facts: 

The information is there if Congress is interested. After the ban expired, 37 percent of police departments reported noticeable increases in criminals’ use of assault weapons, according to a 2010 report by the Police Executive Research Forum.

In Virginia, the number of guns with high capacity magazines seized by police dropped after they were included in the 1994 weapons ban, but then rebounded sharply after the ban expired, according to a 2011 study by The Washington Post. Maryland enacted its own more stringent ban on assault weapons ban in 1994, and a 55 percent drop in assault pistols from crime scenes was reported by the Baltimore police.