Fact Checking Fact Checking

From Mother Jones:

I factchecked this, and the answer is: Not exactly. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives found that states with tougher gun laws in fact export the guns used in crimes(PDF) at a much lower rate than states with weak gun laws. That is, those illegal guns handled by criminals and confiscated at crime scenes are most often traced back to states that don’t do background checks for all guns purchased at gun shows [CLICK HERE FOR MOJO’S ARTICLE ON GUN SHOWS], that don’t require purchase permits, that don’t prosecute gun dealers who violate background check laws, and that don’t allow local law enforcement to approve or deny conceal carry permits. Findings confirm that regulations dodeter criminals from getting guns.

ATF hasn’t found squat. That’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a gun control advocacy group, who has drawn that conclusion. My fact checking tells a very different story. Lesson for Mother Jones: If you’re going to fact check, it helps to have the facts.

5 thoughts on “Fact Checking Fact Checking”

  1. They really want local Boss Tweed to approve or deny permits, instead of the rule of law? Communists. And I know a high-ranking Mother Jones mucky-muck – Pacific Heights Communist apparatchiks of the Ruling Cadre…

  2. Somebody is looking in mother jones and expecting to find facts?!??!
    It is to laugh…

  3. Those charts in the two posts you linked to remind me of Linoge’s fine work. I don’t have the time to work through them in order to get your poiint, let alone what it must have taken to prepare them.

    Your conclusion is certainly the expected one. It’s convenient how that always seems to work out.

  4. @mikeb302000: Isn’t it convenient how the Violence Policy Center, the Brady Campaign, and now Mayors Against Illegal Guns (among other anti-gun groups) come up with statistics that support their position…but are then quickly debunked by looking closely at the studies (which is exactly what Sebastian did).

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