Another Dunce Cap for Brady Campaign

(Source: NRA/ILA, January 15, 2005)

You know the anti-gunners are desperate when they have to resort to nonsense like this. Even though violent crime has declined 12 straight years and is at a 27-year low, the Brady Campaign says that 31 states deserve a "D" or "F" grade for their gun laws. This, according to their eighth annual "report card."

If that isn`t silly enough, on the January 12 episode of NRA`s live talk-radio show, NRANEWS.com, Brady spokesman Peter Hamm claimed Brady`s grades are determined by a "secret" formula. There`s no secret, though. Plain and simple, Brady gives the highest grades to the states that have the most "gun control." So, for example, the state of Maryland gets the highest grade (A-), even though it has the nation`s second highest murder rate and highest robbery rate. But low-crime states with fewer restrictions on the rights of lawful gun owners, like Idaho, Maine, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming and Vermont get a "D" or "F."

If anyone deserves a bad grade, the Brady Campaign does for failing "Civics 101." It reduced Ohio`s grade from a "D+" to a "D-" because the state`s Right-to-Carry law "forced police to issue CCW" permits! Well of course they did; that`s called "democracy." Legislatures, representing the people, pass laws. That`s what they do!

The Brady Campaign also gets an "F" for failing math, claiming that "gun control" reduces crime. As noted in numerous studies, including recent ones from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and National Research Council, there is no evidence to support that claim.

Basically, the Brady Campaign`s "report card" is a superficial publicity stunt, perpetrated by an extremist anti-gun organization trying to attract attention to itself because it is fast on its way to becoming irrelevant. Name the issue, and the Brady Campaign is either losing the battle, or has lost the war. To wit: the right to arms is now widely recognized as an individual right. The federal "assault weapons" ban expired. The federal waiting period expired in favor of Instant Check. And NRA-PVF-supported candidates were even more successful than usual in the recent elections, while virtually all Brady-supported candidates for national office were defeated.

While sitting in the corner, the folks at the Brady Campaign would do well to read the writing on the wall.