NRA:
The Truth You Never Hear

MYTH #1 -- “Plastic” Guns

The "plastic gun" is a myth. There never has been an all-plastic gun in the marketplace. The entire issue was raised in response to reports in 1988, many wildly inaccurate, concerning a particular firearm, the Glock 17, which is constructed with more than a pound of hardened steel, about 83% of its total weight. It is fully detectable by airport security systems.

But in response to media-induced hysteria, gun-ban politicians proposed a national ban on handguns containing less than 8.5 ounces of steel, plus any others the Treasury Secretary so decreed…tens of millions of fully detectable handguns, owned by millions of Americans. When NRA fought the ban, it was charged with callous disregard for the safety of air travelers.

NRA members ultimately defeated this sweeping handgun ban. NRA helped write and pass legislation to prohibit the manufacture and marketing of any firearm capable of evading airport security systems.

MYTH #2 -- “Cop Killer” Bullets.

In 1966, three law enforcement professionals designed a new bullet specifically for police use, called the KTW bullet (for the men’s initials). Its metal composition allowed it to penetrate car doors in gun battles with criminals. Federal agencies and manufacturers restricted the sale exclusively to law enforcement agencies. Only small quantities were produced.

Then, in 1982, NBC exposed KTW with an hysterical prime-time T.V. segment entitled “ cop-killer bullets” in which they shot KTW ammunition through body armor draped on a mannequin. Law enforcement pleaded with NBC not to air this “how-to” for criminals, fearing they’d seek out the specialized ammunition or target vulnerable unprotected body areas of officers. NBC recklessly defied the request, and the term “cop-killer bullet” was born.

Media-driven politicians promptly introduced a bill so broadly written, it would have banned about 85% of all big-game rifle ammunition. Even the Treasury and Justice Departments, the BATF and the Secret Service called the ban “flawed and unworkable” because it would ban a wide range of hunting and target shooting ammunition.

That’s why NRA fought the legislation and endured a decade-long bashing by the anti-gun media. What you probably never heard was that NRA took the lead in drafting and passing legislation that restricted armor-piercing bullets, and protected your right to own standard ammunition. NRA has continued this fight, repeatedly defeating congressional amendments that would have banned conventional hunting rifle ammunition as “armor-piercing.”

MYTH #3 – Waiting Periods

Perhaps no media-made myth turns more on shallow reason than the issue of waiting periods. And no media-made myth has been so universally discredited by criminological research, historical fact, public opinion and plain old common sense.

The truth is that waiting periods don’t work. Justice Department studies reveal an overwhelming majority of criminals don’t get firearms through dealers. So-called “crimes of passion” are almost always are preceded by long periods of domestic turmoil. In either case, waiting periods requiring no background check are useless as crime-fighting tools.

That’s why NRA fought the Brady Bill waiting period and worked to pass the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), so criminals can be caught the moment they try to buy a gun—or even touch a gun. Today, criminal background checks can be conducted in as little as two minutes depending on the speed of the NICS system, which is managed by the F.B.I.

Myth #4 – Instant Background Checks

The media-made myth that, in the aftermath of the Virginia Tech massacre, NRA suddenly changed its position to support inclusion of private mental health records in the national background check on gun purchasers, is totally preposterous. And yet, that very notion was advanced by Katie Couric and CBS News in coverage of the tragedy.

When Congress passed the National Instant Background Check System (NICS) into law, it was to include those ineligible, under federal law, to own a gun. That list includes those who have been adjudicated mentally ill by a court. In fact, on May 7, 1993, NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre appeared on “Face the Nation” debating then New York Congressman Chuck Schumer in regard to NICS. LaPierre expressed hope that Schumer could at least agree to include mental health records in the check. Schumer shook LaPierre’s hand on that point, though unlike NRA, he has been anything but aggressive in moving to enact the common sense legislative reform.

Yet state officials have testified before Congress about the woefully incomplete records they provide NICS that can result in mistaken denials or in wrongful approvals of gun purchases. For the past five years, NRA has supported a “NICS Improvement Act” to create incentives for states to upgrade their records on criminals and those who have been “adjudicated as a mental defective or… committed to any mental institution.”

On June 13, 2007 with NRA’s solid backing, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed H.R. 2640, the “NICS Improvement Act” to provide financial incentives to states to make records of prohibited individuals available to use in NICS and withhold federal grants from states that do not comply. It also requires federal agencies to provide such records, and requires participating federal and state agencies to provide opportunities for people to clear their mental health records when it’s clear they are no longer dangerous to themselves or others and are competent to manage their own affairs. If gun-ban Members of Congress, however, succeed in attaching any anti-gun amendments to this bill when it is considered in the U.S. Senate, NRA promises to withdraw its support.

MYTH #5 – Background Checks at Gun Shows

The media says NRA opposes background checks at gun shows. That’s a lie. NRA fought against proposals that would have allowed delays as long as 72hours on background checks, because such a system would have put gun shows, most of which are held over weekends, out of business. Under current federal law, engaging in the business of selling guns without a license is a federal felony. A tour of any gun show reveals that the overwhelming majority of guns offered for sale are from federally licensed dealers who submit all prospective buyers to the National Instant Check System (NICS), or a similar state system, for a criminal background check. Private sales of firearms already require a NICS check in states that require secondary sales be handled through a Federal Firearms License dealer.

MYTH #6 – Semi-Auto Bans

For decades the media campaigned for handgun bans, arguing that handguns aren’t constitutionally protected because they aren’t suitable for military use. Now, the media’s new incarnation of an “evil” gun is the semi-automatic rifle, because some have a military appearance.

The truth is, regardless of military-looking cosmetics, semi-automatic rifles are not “assault weapons” by definition. They are functionally identical to semi-automatic rifles of a century ago. They are not machine guns; fully automatic firearms have been restricted since 1934. They cannot spray bullets; they fire one shot with each pull of the trigger. But the Clinton semi-auto ban that expired in 2004, and the latest bill, Representative Carolyn McCarthy’s “Assault Weapons Ban and Law Enforcement Protection Act of 2007,” would open the door to bans on any firearm that embodied the same basic design, function and configuration.

That means our M1 Carbine, your Remington 1100 autoloader, your semi-auto .22 plinker and your Colt 1911, and many more commonly owned firearms would all be banned. That’s why NRA has fought and will continue to fight bans of semi-autos.

MYTH #7 – Prosecuting Violent Criminals

For decades, gun-ban proponents blame NRA’s defense of the Second Amendment for laws that are soft on violent criminals. In reality, NRA believes prosecution is prevention and has fought for laws that keep violent criminals behind bars.

NRA supports strict enforcement of federal gun laws already on the books -- especially laws that ban gun ownership or possession by felons and drug dealers. Working with state and local legislators nationwide, NRA led the effort to pass “Project Exile” laws that prosecute criminals who use a gun in the commission of a crime. NRA was also the principal architect of three-strikes-you’re-out laws, which provide for mandatory sentences for violent criminals convicted of three felonies.

NRA continues to fight for maximum sentencing laws that lock up hardened, violent criminals and throw away the key. Zero tolerance for criminal gun use. No deals. No plea bargains. No exceptions. Thanks to NRA support, prosecution of criminals, not prohibition of guns, is the driving principle for law enforcement and the criminal justice system.

MYTH #8 – Right to Carry

The gun banners in Congress and the state legislatures consistently argue that allowing law-abiding citizens the right to carry will turn our towns into lawless, free-fire zones. The facts tell a different story.

More RTC means less crime. Today, 38 states have adopted RTC, the number of privately owned guns has risen by nearly 70 million, and violent crime is down. In 2005 RTC states had lower violent crime rates, on average, compared to the rest of the country (total violent crime by 22%; murder, 30%; robbery, 46%; and aggravated assault, 12%) and included the seven states with the lowest total violent crime rates, and 11 of the 12 states with the lowest murder rates.

The right to self-defense is a fundamental right. The U.S. Constitution, the constitutions of 44 states, common law, and the laws of all 50 states recognize the right to use arms in self-defense. Right-to-Carry (RTC) laws respect the right to self-defense by allowing individual citizens to carry firearms for protection.

MYTH #9 -- Gun Control Reduces Crime.

Washington, D.C.'s ban on handgun sales took effect in 1977 and by the 1990s the city's murder rate had tripled. Chicago imposed handgun registration in 1968, and murders with handguns continued to rise. Its registration system in place, Chicago imposed a D.C.-style handgun ban in 1982, and over the next decade the annual number of handgun-related murders doubled. California increased its waiting period on sales of handguns from 5 to 15 days in 1975 (reduced to 10 days in 1996), outlawed "assault weapons" in 1989 and subjected rifles and shotguns to the waiting period in 1990. Yet since 1975, the state's annual murder rate has averaged 32% higher than the rate for the rest of the country.

MYTH #10 -- The Second Amendment: Individual or Collective Right?

 In America, rights belong to individuals. In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson wrote that "all men are created equal" and "are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights," while governments derive their "powers" from the consent of the governed. The Constitution and Bill of Rights repeatedly refer to the "rights" of the people and to the "powers" of government.

On December 17, 2004, the U.S. Department of Justice under the leadership of then Attorney General John Ashcroft published an exhaustive Second Amendment memorandum. It concludes without reservation that "the Second Amendment secures a personal right of individuals, not a collective right that may only be invoked by a State or a quasi-collective right restricted to those persons who serve in organized militia units."