#435 (2/7) "Dispelling a Common Gun-Control Myth"

URGENT CALL FOR CONTINUED PRAYER  (from the American Center for Law and Justice, - 2/6 ; "American Pastor Saeed (who just started an 8 year sentence for helping the underground churches in Iran) continues to undergo mental torment – fed lies by Iranian prison guards. He's been cut off from speaking to his wife and children, and when his Iranian family visited him, he questioned if anyone was still working for his freedom.  His wife, Naghmeh, shared, "When I heard this from my husband, I cried. It broke my heart. Behind those walls he feels helpless and relies on us to be his voice. . . . Please help me make sure he is never forgotten." Please CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR PASTOR SAEED. Also, if you have not already, please join over 130,000 who have signed the latest petitioin for Pastor Saeed's release at http://aclj.org/iran/save-american-pastor-from-iranian-prison-sentence 

 

Boy Scouts Will Postpone a Decision on Admitting Gays ; February 06, 2013 http://www.presidentialprayerteam.com/Prayerwatch?pw=1131
"The Boy Scouts of America, which reconfirmed last summer its policy banning openly gay people from participation, then said last week it was reconsidering the ban, said on Wednesday that it would postpone a decision once more, until May, as talk of gays in the ranks has roiled a storied organization that carries deep emotional connection and nostalgia for millions of Americans. An end to the national ban on gays, which the United States Supreme Court said in 2000 was legal free speech by a private organization, would create a huge new moment of risk, experimentation and change people on both sides of the issue. The proposal floated last week would allow local scouting units to decide membership rules for themselves..." (Sources: New York Times, Reuters)

As the Lord leads, please pray:

• For the officials charged with making decisions for the Boy Scouts of America.
• About the thousands of scouts, their parents, and scout leaders who are being assailed by the debating groups.
• For wisdom for the many churches and religious groups who sponsor scouting.

PLEASE CONSIDER:  I am participating in the annual fundraiser Walk for Life on Feb. 9 for a local pregnancy resource center that ministers to girls and women who might otherwise abort their baby. My goal is $213 and I'm about halfway there. If you can make a pledge of $10 or more, please go to http://www.razoo.com/story/Stan-M-Yonashiro, THANK YOU for whatever you can pledge. (I'd especially appreciate your prayers that I (and all the walkers) will meet my goal.)

"Dispelling a Common Gun-Control Myth;'' February 1, 2013 http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=22803&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DPD

Gun-control advocates in the wake of the Sandyhook school shooting have used a particular statistic over and over again: "As many as 40 percent of guns are purchased without a background check." While President Obama, Vice President Biden, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today and many others have used the "fact" repeatedly, it is false, says economist John Lott in the National Review.

• The Brady Act requires background checks to prevent someone from buying a gun from a federally licensed dealer if he or she has a felony, some misdemeanor convictions or has been involuntarily committed for mental illness. Before the Brady Act, simply a waiver needed to be signed.
• The "40 percent" claim misrepresents the actual number that was reported -- 36 percent -- which is still almost 25 percent above the accurate number, says Lott.
• The number 36 percent actually comes from a Clinton-era survey of 251 gun sales that occurred before the Brady Act required mandatory background checks. The survey asked buyers if they thought they were buying from a licensed dealer; many buyers who did not believe the seller was licensed actually bought from small dealers and did not know they were licensed.

Access to guns is also much more limited since many small dealers have been forced out of business. After accounting for guns that were bought, traded, rented, issued for a job or won through raffles, 85 percent went through federally licensed firearms dealers, meaning just 15 percent of the 251 gun sales were transferred without a background check. Lott says that if the same survey were performed today the numbers would likely be in the single digits.

• President Obama claimed that background checks have kept 1.5 million people from purchasing a weapon in the last 14 years but failed to explain that number reflected only initial denials.
• According to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, 94 percent of those initial denials were dropped after preliminary reviews, almost all of the rest were dropped after extended reviews and only 62 people, or just 0.1 percent, were prosecuted for attempting to purchase a weapon.

Lott says that increasing background checks will constitute nothing more than an inconvenience for most gun purchasers and the delays may even trigger slight rises in violent crime.

[bold and italics emphasis mine]

Source: John Lott, "The '40 Percent' Myth," National Review, January 29, 2013.

"On guns, an abuse of power," by: David Harsanyi  1/16/2013 http://www.humanevents.com/2013/01/16/on-guns-an-abuse-of-power/

"...Not a single one of the items Obama intends to implement — legislative or executive — would have stopped Adam Lanza’s killing spree or, most likely, any of the others. Using fear and a tragedy to further ideological goals was by no means invented by Obama, but few people have used it with such skill..."

"Debunker: Assault weapons ban bunk," - by: Mark LaRochelle 1/21/2013 http://www.humanevents.com/2013/01/21/debunker-assault-weapons-ban-bunk/

"...firearms murders were already declining before the ban was enacted, and in fact had declined at an even greater rate—4.17 percent—the year before it went into effect..."