Clinton says 50% since ban expired. Wrong. Try 20%.
Bill Clinton’s over-the-top ‘fact’ on mass shootings
Glenn Kessler at 06:02 AM ET, 01/11/2013
“Half of all mass killings in the United States have occurred since the assault weapons ban expired in 2005, half of all of them in the history of the country.”
— Former president Bill Clinton, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Jan. 9, 2013
A colleague spotted this eye-popping statistic by the former president and wondered if it was correct.
President Clinton signed the assault weapons ban into law in 1994, but it expired after 10 years and was not renewed. Even supporters have said it was riddled with loopholes, limiting its effectiveness. But the rash of mass shootings in recent years, including the Newtown tragedy, have provided new impetus for a renewed ban.
So let’s dig into the data and see what we find.
Phi Beta Iota: “It's the economy, stupid.” Or more technically, it's the cognitive dissonance of losing the American Dream to Griftopia by the 1% and their political servants. Mass murders happen for one of two reasons: a) someone loses their mind over losing their job or some other personal tragedy and goes on a rampage. If they did not have an assault weapon (most do not) they would use something else including a vehicle driven at speed into a crowd; or b) some dark power decides to stage a massacre for any of a number of purposes including the elimination of pedophile witnesses, the inspiration of fear, to cover up a specific murder, etcetera. We know two things with certainty: the assault weapons ban is irrelevant; and the government is not honestly investigating nor being truthful about what actually happened in Aurora, Sandy Hook, and before them, Waco, Oklahoma City, and 9/11. All these folks pontificating are avoiding the raw facts: the USA is on the brink of a violent revolution. What we are missing a precipitant — not a mass murder, but something public, one on one, where a government official abuses their authority and someone snaps, but the public instantly mobilizes as they did with the Tunesian fruit seller.
See Also:
2011 Thinking About Revolution in the USA and Elsewhere
Berto Jongman: Sandy Hook Reprise — What? + Plus Lack of Truth in USA RECAP
Eagle: We MUST Control Baseball Bats
Graphic: Preconditions of Revolution in the USA Today
Graphic: Top Ten Killers In USA – Guns are LAST
John Steiner: Declaration of Occupation of NYC + Revolution USA RECAP
John Steiner: Idle No More — Indigenous Uprising Sweeping Across North America?
Koko: Poverty Rate Very High, Congress Oblivious
Mini-Me: Workers Kill Company President in India
Paul Fernhout: Global Groundswell Mad as Hell
