[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 2557]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                GUN MYTH

  (Mr. CICILLINE asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. CICILLINE. Mr. Speaker, today I want to bring attention to 
another myth about gun violence: the suggestion that more guns are the 
key to reducing gun violence.
  On December 4, just days after San Bernardino, Senator Ted Cruz said, 
``You stop bad guys by using our guns.''
  We hear similar comments from gun advocates and allies all the time, 
but the facts tell a much different story. Not one of the 62 mass 
shootings from 1982 to 2012 was stopped by an armed citizen.
  A 1998 study in the Journal of Trauma, Injury, Infection, and 
Critical Care found that a gun in the home is 22 times more likely to 
be used against a friend or family member than used in self-defense.
  A 2003 study found women in homes with a gun were 2.7 times more 
likely to be murdered. A 2013 study found, for each percentage point 
increase in a State's gun ownership rate, firearm homicide rates 
increased by 0.9 percent.
  Facts are stubborn things. But the facts are clear. More guns will 
not end our country's epidemic of gun violence.

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