The anti-gun group Giffords recently released its annual scorecard rating states on the “strength” or “weakness” of their gun control laws. As usual, the gun-banners at Giffords have everything upside down and backward. But local and state media outlets are eating it up, just like they do every year.
“Gun violence is a crisis our leaders cannot continue to ignore,” the group posted on its website. “States must act now and protect our communities.”
Of course, they are talking about criminal violence, but saying that takes the focus off the guns, which they don’t want to do. However, I digress.
“Each year, Giffords experts analyze every gun law in every state—including new laws as they’re enacted,” the group continued. “Policies are assigned point values based on how effective they are at reducing gun violence, the points are tallied to determine grades and rankings, and the grades are compared to the latest CDC gun death data. That’s how we’ve been doing this project for 15 years now, and the results have never changed: States with stronger gun laws have lower gun death rates. Yet tens of thousands of Americans continue to die every year, because some states refuse to take action.”
Of course, Giffords could have stopped the ruse there, admitting that their ranking rates states with punitive laws high, and those states that have more firearms freedom low. Instead, they have to push that simple, and incorrect, conclusion out to the states with individualized information about each states score.
And the anti-gun media eat it up! Here’s just a selection of shat a few newspapers or news websites posted immediately following the release of the scores, all, of course, under a local reporter’s byline.
“Mississippi receives F grade; rating tied to gun legislation,” a story postd at WATP.com stated in the headline. It continued, “The state of Mississippi has received an F grade for failing to pass strong gun legislation. This is according to the Giffords Law Center’s annual gun law scorecard. It grades and ranks all 50 states on their gun laws. This year, 24 states received an F.”
At the other end of the spectrum, media outlets in states with high rankings wore the badge with honor in their headlines.
“Colorado gun policy receives ‘A-‘ from Giffords Law Center,” the headline at coloradopolitics.com, crowed. The story began: “Colorado earned an A minus anew on the Giffords Law Center’s annual Gun Law Scorecard—due in part to a law passed during the last legislative session that requires individuals to undergo training and obtain a permit to purchase semiautomatic firearms.”
The story then quoted Giffords Executive Director Emma Brown bragging about the state, which has turned decidedly anti-gun in the past decade.
“Commonsense gun laws stop crime and save lives, and Colorado is proof of just how effective they can be,” Brown said. “While we celebrate the progress made in states like Colorado, we still have more life-saving work to do.”
Interestingly, Colorado’s rate of death by gunshot is 20% above the national average. But hey, at least politicians there are ensuring they get a good Giffords score.
If you haven’t already seen a local or state outlet posting a story about the gun scorecard in your state, just keep an eye out. It’s likely coming soon.
Just remember that if your state is one of the 24 that scored an F, wear it as a badge of honor, since you live in a freer state than those in states that scored an A. Don’t forget: It’s an upside-down world.