truthful politics

This article contains information and statistics from various sources on guns, gun control, and gun violence.

James Agresti and Reid Smith in Just Facts reported the following:

Roughly 16,272 murders were committed in the United States during 2008. Of these, about 10,886 or 67% were committed with firearms.

During the years in which the D.C. handgun ban and trigger lock law was in effect, the Washington, D.C. murder rate averaged 73% higher than it was at the outset of the law, while the U.S. murder rate averaged 11% lower.

During 2002 and 2003, out of 17 million background checks resulting in 120,000 denials, the federal government prosecuted 154 people (about one-tenth of 1% of the denials).

In the three-year period from October 2003 through September 2006, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) conducted 202 operations at 195 gun shows, leading to 121 arrests and 83 convictions (with some cases still pending as of June 2007).

A 1997 U.S. Justice Department survey of 14,285 state prison inmates found that among those inmates who carried a firearm during the offense for which they were sent to jail, 0.7% obtained the firearm at a gun show, 1% at a flea market, 3.8% from a pawn shop, 8.3% from a retail store, 39.2% through an illegal/street source, and 39.6% through family or friends.

To read the entire article and see additional charts and statistics, click on Gun Control Facts.

Full citation:  “Gun Control Facts.” By James D. Agresti and Reid K. Smith. Just Facts, September 13, 2010. Revised 2/11/13.

Don Kates and Gary Mauser wrote about the correlation between the amount of guns and the amount of deaths across different countries.

To read the entire report, click on Would Banning Firearms Reduce Murder and Suicide?

Arkadi Gerney, Chelsea Parsons, and Charles Posner in April 2013 from the Center for American Progress wrote about the 50 U.S. states and the correlation between gun violence and gun laws.

Click on the chart below to see an enlarged, clearer chart.

To read the entire report, click on America Under the Gun.

This article contains statistics on state ranking, economic, education, poverty, debt, and health care areas of Mitt Romney’s record as governor of Massachusetts from 2003 – 2007.

Massachusetts’ ranking in CNBC’s America’s Top States for Business:

To view rankings of all 50 states for both years above, click on America’s Top States for Business 2007 and/or America’s Top States for Business 2012.

Economic statistics:

• During Romney’s tenure, Massachusetts lost manufacturing jobs faster than the national average
• Massachusetts rate of losing manufacturing jobs was slower than before and after Mitt Romney took office
• Massachusetts’ unemployment rate was 5.6% when Romney entered office and 4.7% when he left office
• Romney vetoed a bill that would ban the state of Massachusetts from “contracting with companies that outsourced labor overseas”
• In December 2006, Massachusetts’ unemployment rate was 4.7%, while the national average was 4.4%.

To read the entirety of the articles containing the source data, click on Claims and counter-claims on Mitt Romney’s Massachusetts record, Mitt Romney’s Massachusetts record: proof of ‘strong leadership’?, and/or the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Education statistics:

• During Romney’s tenure, the number of charter schools increased from 46 to 59
• Massachusetts placed first on the National Assessment of Educational Progress exams from 2005-2011.
• 2002-2003 high school (grades 9-12) dropout rate was 3.3%
• 2006-2007 high school (grades 9-12) dropout rate was 3.8%
• 2010-2011 high school (grades 9-12) dropout rate was 2.7%

To read the entirety of the articles containing the source data, click on Mitt Romney’s education record was mixed, Romney’s record on education includes successes, failures, and/or Dropout Rates.

Poverty statistics:

The table below shows the percentage of the population below the poverty level.

To view the source data or see data for other years and/or states, click on American FactFinder.

Debt statistics:

• In 2007, Massachusetts had more debt per person, at $4,153, than any other state
• Romney slowed the rate of debt growth from 5.8% to 1.9%
• During Romney’s tenure, state debt averaged 9% of personal income, second worst in the nation.

To read the entirety of the article containing the source data, click on Is Romney’s Massachusetts record really as bad as Obama says?

Health Care statistics:

• 62% of physicians say the law had no adverse effect on waiting times
• In 2006, 68.5% of nonelderly adults supported the law, and in 2011, 67% supported it
• In 2006, Massachusetts’ rate of uninsured was 7.7% (the lowest rate in the country) compared to the national average of 14.8%
• In 2010, 98.1% of Massachusetts residents had health insurance compared to the national rate of 84.6%
• The “net added cost to Massachusetts taxpayers was $353 million in 2010, or roughly 1.2 percent of the state budget”
• About “$487 million of the 2010 Medicaid budget, about 5.2 percent, was for expansions under the health care law. (All those figures are before federal reimbursements.)”

To read the entirety of the article containing the source data, click on ‘RomneyCare’ Facts and Falsehoods.

The Supreme Court of the United States was created in 1789. It’s Constitutional origin is in Article III. The court consists of a Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices. According to the Supreme Court official website, “The Supreme Court is the highest tribunal in the nation for all cases and controversies arising under the Constitution or the laws of the United States. The Court stands as the final arbiter of the law and guardian of constitutional liberties.”

To read more information about the Supreme Court, click on Supreme Court of the United States. To see a list of all Supreme Court Justice nominations, whether they were confirmed or not, the president who nominated them, etc., click on Supreme Court Nominations, Present-1789. To see Supreme Court statistics, click on SCOTUSblog Statistics.

Adam Liptak in The New York Times in November 2010 reported the following:

• The Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954 that said segregated public schools are unconstitutional was fewer than 4,000 words.
• The Parents Involved v. Seattle in 2007 was 47,000 words.
• Some decisions have been vague or ambiguous.
• “In the 1950s, the median length of decisions was around 2,000 words.”
• The Citizens United v. Federal Election commission decision in 2010 was more than 48,000 words.

To read the entire article, click on Justices Are Long on Words but Short on Guidance.

Carol J. Williams in the Los Angeles Times in April 2011 reported the following:

• Korematsu v. United states in 1944 allowed the “internment of 110,000 Japanese Americans without individual cause or suspicion.”
• Dredd Scott v. Sandford in 1857 decided that descendants of slaves were not entitled to Constitution liberties, including freedom and U.S. citizenship.
• Buck v. Bell in 1927 said that institutionalized individuals may be sexually sterilized.

To read the entire article, click on Legal scholars examine the U.S. high court’s ‘Supreme Mistakes’.

The following video is from 60 Minutes in 2010:

To view the 60 Minutes website, click on 60 Minutes.