Homicide Drop While Gun Ownership Rises Shows Anti-Gunners Wrong, Says CCRKBA

BELLEVUE, Wash., Jan. 12, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- This week's revelation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that homicide is no longer among the leading causes of death in the United States – at a time when gun ownership is at an all-time high – shows that the gun ban lobby has been wrong, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today.

"The CDC's report for 2010 that removes homicide from the top 15 leading causes of death in this country coincides with a period of record high gun ownership," said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. "At the same time, increasing numbers of citizens have obtained concealed carry permits and licenses. This is pretty strong evidence that rising gun ownership does not translate to more violence and murder."

Gottlieb, co-author of the newly-released SHOOTING BLANKS: Why Facts Don't Matter to the Gun Ban Crowd with Dave Workman, noted that the CDC has long been a source of data exploited by gun prohibitionists.

"I wonder how anti-gunners will try to spin this report," he mused. "Gun control extremists will have a hard time explaining how, after years of repeated predictions and warnings that more guns in private hands will result in more mayhem, that homicides are no longer among the top causes of death in the United States."

"Gun banners can't have it both ways," Gottlieb continued. "If the data had shown murders on the increase, you can bet your life savings that they would be screaming 'We told you so!' on every front page in America."

Gottlieb said the CDC report is just one more demonstration of how wrong anti-gunners have been in their campaign of fear against private gun ownership.

"This new information correlates with national crime trends over the past few years, showing declining violent crime while gun ownership has increased," he concluded. "You simply can no longer demonize gun ownership or the Second Amendment as a leading cause of crime."

With more than 650,000 members and supporters nationwide, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (www.ccrkba.org) is one of the nation's premier gun rights organizations. As a non-profit organization, the Citizens Committee is dedicated to preserving firearms freedoms through active lobbying of elected officials and facilitating grass-roots organization of gun rights activists in local communities throughout the United States.

SOURCE Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms