Op-Ed directed to CeaseFirePA :: 07/01/2014

Op-Ed directed to CeaseFirePA.  Unless this is gutted, and cut down to 250 words, the PG (surprise) refuses to post it as an op-ed. If its chopped to 250 words, they "might" run it as a letter to the editor. We like the long version here:
  "We all share a common goal of reducing the violence in our society, well at least most of us anyway.  Recently there was a letter to the editor published by an officer with Cease-Fire PA, Rob Conroy, entitled "real gun-control needed" (June 24, 2014). Where we sharply disagree is the way to go about it. Further, it is curious that Mr. Conroy is so distressed about legislation that is, at heart, simply a symbolic and sentimental gesture revolving around an antique muzzle-loading rifle.

   
  Mr. Conroy is a recent entrant in 'our' (FOAC's) decades long investment in the nearly 50% reduction in firearms related homicide and 70% reduction in firearms related violent crime.  Perhaps his irritation stems from his cognizance that the legislature is not moving the issues he is enamored of, and the reason is our representatives know that the proposed new gun laws won't work, and even may increase crime, and Pennsylvanians don't want them. Recoiling from this reality, Mr. Conroy deflects attention toward a gun control agenda that is doomed to fail.
   
  Mr. Conroy is either misinformed or disingenuous. He says that mass shootings are up. This is simply not so, though you might be inclined to believe as much if your sole source of information is from popular media. It is certainly clear that there is a perception that the incidence of mass shootings is up, an unfortunate result of the "if it bleeds it leads" mentality that infects our news today. Thankfully, it is not reality. No less an entity than the CDC, in a study funded through an executive order by Barack Obama, has stated that gun violence is on the decline over the past decades. To quote James Alan Fox, Criminology Professor at Northeastern University, "It's a horrific event when four, five, twelve people are gunned down. But let's not think that this is an epidemic."
   
  Mr. Conroy rolls out a shocking statistic that "in 2012 more than 6 million guns were sold nationally without a background check."  As Conroy has done in the past, this figure is NOT true.  It is based on an outdated 20 year old survey, with suspect methodology, and has been thoroughly debunked by PolitiFact, as a simple web search will show. Mr. Conroy's claim that PA HB 1010 (expanded background checks) and HB 1515 (mandatory reporting of stolen guns) would make a difference in crime rates is also a stretch of credulity. The same CDC report, cited above, says that "stolen guns and retail gun show purchases account for very little crime."
   
  According to a recent poll of 15,000 law enforcement officers by PoliceONE, only 1 out of 10 supports banning the private sale of firearms. Police see how criminals routinely evade current gun laws and therefore overwhelmingly reject the pro-universal background check rhetoric that permeates today's firearm-related public policy discourse. The same survey shows that 98.5% of police oppose "tighter limits on weapons sales and transfers" in direct contradiction to Conroy and CeaseFire PA.
   
  Who are we to believe, Mr. Conroy, sitting in his comfortable office penning letters to the editor, or the men and women of law enforcement, who are on the front lines fighting the criminal element, daily risking their lives for our protection?  Polls of the average citizen also reflect a declining level of support in the populace for gun control across the board.  Clearly, Mr. Conroy is in the minority in his, and CeaseFire's, gun control beliefs.
   
  I encourage everyone reading: before you believe the alarmist cries of those who wish to curtail our civil rights, please, check their facts and figures. Look them up on the internet, check, validate, and verify. The problem of violence is a complicated one, but I am confident that whatever the solution is, it is not to inhibit our personal freedoms any further with useless laws. No other than Mark Glaze, the former Executive Director of Mayors Against Illegal Guns,a staunch anti gun organization if there ever was one, recently said that "when a mass shooting happens, [no law] that we have to offer would have stopped that mass shooting."
   
  Dedicating one's life to the fight for reducing violent crime with guns is a noble cause.  However, to deceive others by repeating intentional falsehoods to further an agenda is underhanded at best.  It is time for all of us to take a step back, view the forest and not the trees, and fight for solutions that are meaningful and effective.  Engaging in misguided pursuits that will do nothing to solve the problems but will serve to further squelch the liberties of law abiding Pennsylvanians is unconscionable.
   
  Kim Stolfer
  FOAC, President
  www.foac-pac.org