By Elizabeth McGuigan
U.S.A. -(AmmoLand.com)- Despite record numbers of firearm purchases over the past three months, a global pandemic, and civil unrest, news reports suggest that violent crime is down.
Naturally, gun control advocates are taking advantage of the ongoing pandemic and the current protests to call for more of their pet priorities. We know that none of these will help prevent crime. The prescriptions needed for real reform to address the underlying social problems aren’t found in public health journals. They are found in criminal justice research.
For the past year, following President Donald Trump’s signing of the FIRST STEP Act, a criminal justice reform law, a diverse task force, led by former Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal, has been hard at work examining evidence-based actions the federal government can take to advance reform.
The Council on Criminal Justice has just released an Independent Task Force Report called, “Next Steps: An Agenda for Federal Action on Safety and Justice.” This report includes 15 top recommendations for federal action on criminal justice. A far cry from the ineffective wish list of gun control activists, the bold recommendations span everything from streamlining the criminal code to expanding education in prison and targeting high-violence cities with evidence-based strategies.
Real Solutions
As the firearm and ammunition industry, we aren’t experts in reforming the criminal justice system. But we support the efforts of this task force and other groups that put forward evidence-based recommendations, not politically motivated proposals that would do nothing to address the deep-rooted problems in our society.
What we can do is to continue our efforts to promote Real Solutions. Rather than focusing on sound bites and political divisions, we’ve taken the lead in getting our FixNICS program signed into law in Congress and 16 states, increasing the disqualifying background checks from 1.7 million to 5.3 million since 2012, a 220-percent increase. It is the firearms industry that leads with Project ChildSafe, passing out 38 million free gun locks. We’ve partnered with the largest suicide prevention group in the country to provide gun ranges and retailers the resources to intervene before a moment of crisis. We’ve led on preventing straw purchases with our Don’t Lie for the Other Guy campaign.
We do this because we are committed to ensuring guns remain out of the hands of those who shouldn’t possess them. Blaming guns for the senseless actions of criminals is counterproductive. We know the answers require much more. This is hard work. It takes committed leadership. We’re not afraid of the challenge and invite any of those who genuinely want to work toward answers that will save lives and respect the rights to join us.
About The National Shooting Sports Foundation
The National Shooting Sports Foundation is the trade association for the firearms, ammunition, hunting and shooting sports industry. Its mission is to promote, protect and preserve hunting and the shooting sports. Formed in 1961, NSSF has a membership of more than 10,000 manufacturers, distributors, firearms retailers, shooting ranges, sportsmen’s organizations and publishers. www.nssf.org
The US criminal justice system is changing a lot these last 4-5 years. Cause over 2 million locked up long term is now a bad thing, and what’s worse is Blacks (only 13% of pop) are over half of the convicted for violent crimes, can’t have that, numbers like that make them look bad. George Soros has been getting DAs elected across the country for the last 4 years under the radar and now we have: 5 states have ended bail bond, many municipalities have ceased enforcement of vagrancy and petty theft(up $750)laws, sanctuary cities for illegal aliens, Trump’s ‘prison… Read more »
“we’ve taken the lead in getting our FixNICS program signed into law in Congress and 16 states, increasing the disqualifying background checks from 1.7 million to 5.3 million since 2012, a 220-percent increase.”
The NSSF endorsed the appointment of Barr as AG even though that scumbag defended the murderers at Ruby Ridge and Waco and he said he would make red flag laws his top priority. Now they’re pushing for more gun control. The NSSF is as bad as the NRA. NICS is unconstitutional. #Infringement #AllArmsLawsAreUnconstitutional
Let’s be totally honest for a change, which no one in “the industry” is willing to do. You want to “FixNICS”? Eliminate it! It should never have existed in the first place. It and every other gun control law are prior restraints on law abiding citizens, forcing them to prove they are not criminals before they can purchase an object. We don’t do that with any other object.