Gun grabbers' gun violence grade cards; Media ignores trend of higher grades for more violent states

By Chad D. Baus & Dean Rieck

The Brady Campaign has released its annual "State Report Cards," scoring the states according to their gun control laws. What is most curious about this ranking is that, once again, there is an obsessive focus on guns rather than on crime. If anti-gun groups talk about crime at all, it's always focused specifically on "gun crime," as if getting killed by a gun is worse than being killed with a knife or a baseball bat.

Columbus' 10TV.com reports that the Brady scorecard rates states on five categories including curbing firearm trafficking, strengthening Brady background checks, child safety, banning military-style assault weapons and making it harder to carry guns in public places.

The Brady scorecard compares current state laws to the extremists' gun control agenda. The group gave Ohio 13 points out of a possible 100. To put things in a larger perspective, however, The Hannah Report noted that all but one state had earned a "D" for the five categories. California scored a high "C," or 79 points; New Jersey trailing with 63 points, Connecticut and Massachusetts 54 points, and so on. In the Great Lakes region, Illinois and Pennsylvania drew the highest marks with 28 and 26 points, respectively.

The Brady Campaign seeks to reinstate the failed Clinton Gun Ban, abolish concealed carry laws, mandate child locks on all guns stored in Ohio, and wants states to sell so-called childproof guns. They also want all gun owners - including private sellers and those at gun shows - to use background checks.

Franklin County Sheriff's Lt. Marty Buchner told 10TV.com such a plan would be "almost impossible" to enforce, and added "I think you limit someone's right if you tell them what you can and can't sell."

Indeed, and yet this is exactly what Presidential hopeful John McCain and his anti-gun friends in the Senate are hoping to do by carrying water for the Brady bunch.

In response to the annual Brady score card stunt, the Columbus Dispatch obediently ran an article titled "Ohio scores low in gun-control study." It's little more than a regurgitation of a press release from the anti-gun Brady Campaign.

Neither 10TV.com nor the Dispatch bothered to note the fact that Brady gives the entire country low marks, nor that Brady's scores correlate inversely with states' crime rates. Indeed, the Brady rankings clearly demonstrate that states that have the most gun control tend to have the most violent crime. Not that you'll find that fact noted in any of the Ohio media reports on the subject.

The fact is, Ohioans should be proud that we didn't score higher on this ludicrous scorecard. Higher scoring states, such as California or New Jersey, are where you find some of the most egregious assaults on Second Amendment rights. StateMaster provides state-based statistics on gun violence. Compare that to the Brady's ranking of states.

According to the Brady scorecard, California is by far the best state for anti-gun laws. But look at the gun violence statistics and you see it has the fifth-highest gun violence rate in the country. The Brady group claims Oklahoma and Kentucky are the worst for anti-gun laws. Yet Oklahoma's gun violence rate is below the national average while Kentucky ranks better than 22 other states.

And Ohio? Despite ranking 20th on the Brady's scorecard, we come in well below the national average, ranking better than 38 other states in gun violence.

So what does the Brady's scorecard mean? Nothing. It's just an excuse to issue a press release and get some media coverage. The Brady Campaign is not concerned about crime or safety. They're just concerned about banning guns and infringing on your Second Amendment rights. Why? Because they hate guns. Simple as that.

What happened to James and Sarah Brady years ago is truly regretable. Their anger is understandable. But taking vengeance on an entire nation won't prevent such events. It will enable them. Playing fast and loose with the truth with bogus "scorecards" and other misleading information will increase, not decrease, injuries and death.