Just how far anti-gunners will go to sway voters may be seen in an email blast to Washington State gun control supporters in a fund raising effort that uses some questionable data.
The Seattle-based Alliance for Gun Responsibility sent a message about a report from the Joint Economic Committee in Congress that reportedly calculates the “state-by-state toll of the gun violence epidemic in America.”
“Right here in Washington State,” says the unsigned Alliance message, “717 people every year are killed by gun violence. That’s one precious life lost every 12 hours. And gun violence is costing Washingtonians $3.8 billion a year – that’s $544 a person.”
However, according to the FBI Uniform Crime Report, Washington state loses fewer than 150 people annually to homicide involving firearms. Last year, of the 232 people slain, 138 were killed with guns. In 2017, of the 228 murders reported, 134 involved firearms. In 2016, there were 195 homicides, but only 127 involved guns.
According to a March 2018 story in the Spokane Spokesman-Review, a newspaper analysis of state death records between 2010 and 2017 showed that 78 percent of gun-related deaths in Washington State were suicides, not crimes as might be suggested by the term “gun violence.”
Rights activists have long contended that combining suicide and homicide numbers, and even victims of accidents, is at best deceptive. Homicide, they say, is a crime of violence while suicide, by whatever means, is an act of emotional desperation. Combining the numbers produces a more sensational total, gun owners argue.
The Alliance is using this message as a fund raiser, to raise money for its activities related to political activities in 2020. That may include fending off an initiative attempt to repeal gun control Initiative 1639, which is also being challenged in federal court.
The message included this assertion: “The racial divide persists, making a young black male 20 times more likely to be murdered by gun violence than a white peer.”
