In terms of gun control, Massachusetts used to be "the cradle of liberty; now it's the nanny state," National Rifle Association radio commentator Cam Edwards told Tufts students last night.
Dialogue over gun control is something with which Edwards is highly familiar. He hosts a daily three-hour talk radio show on gun control issues through the Web site NRANews.com.
"We court the other side. We say, 'please come on the show,' and [gun control advocates] do. We're tough but fair with them," Edwards said.
At the event, which was sponsored by Tufts Right to Arms and the Tufts Republicans, Edwards criticized the state's strict gun control policy.
He said that in light of Boston's 28 percent jump in homicides this past year, Mayor Thomas Menino wants to further strengthen gun control laws.
Obtaining a firearm in Massachusetts is supremely difficult, Edwards said. First, applicants must be fingerprinted and obtain a basic firearm safety certificate. Then, the applicant must wait for the "police to decide if they want you to have a gun."
Permits are issued within a 40-day window, and separate permits are required for each different type of gun. After a would-be gun purchaser obtains the necessary permit, he or she must also undergo an additional background check at the federal level.
Menino, Edwards said, has "lost his mind" in supporting such restrictions. Edwards characterized the restrictions as redundant, pointing out that even a criminal who moved out-of-state would still be subject to the same federal criminal background check before purchasing a firearm.
According to Edwards, additional plans for stricter gun control include restrictions on the amounts of ammunition permitted for purchase, as well as implementing a registry of statistics for gun and ammunition purchasers in gun stores.
Another proposed technique is micro-stamping, which places a "unique identifier" on the casing of a bullet every time the trigger is pulled.
These techniques "won't do anything to reduce crime," Edwards said. "Criminals don't obey the law, but they're not morons."
Edwards said that cities with the strictest gun control laws also have very high rates of murder and violent crime. For example, Washington, D.C., "which banned handguns 30 years ago, has lead the nation in homicides in 14 out of the last 15 years," he said.
Strict limits on gun ownership do not improve crime rates, Edwards said; rather, they place an undue burden on legal gun owners.
Other policies, he asserted, can be more successful. In Richmond, Virginia, for example, the murder rate was six times the national average until a 1997 policy named "Project Exile" severely limited plea bargains for criminals and extended prison sentences. As a result, according to Edwards, the homicide rate fell by 70 percent.
This policy, he said, has been exported successfully nationwide under various names, including "Project Safe Neighborhoods" and "Project Ceasefire."
According to Edwards, obstacles to gun ownership constitute unacceptable limits on property rights.
He also opposed Menino's alliance with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The two mayors, Edwards said, seek to "export [harsh] New York/Massachusetts style gun ratings all across the country."
"Nobody in this country wants to see the crime rate go down more than the legal gun owners," Edwards said. "Every time [crime] stories come out in news, legal gun owners are the ones affected."
Widespread unfamiliarity and discomfort with guns, as well as a media uneducated about firearms, exaggerate the risks of gun ownership, Edwards said.
"How many gun owners are there in the media?" Edwards asked. "There's a reluctance to even talk about this."
Edwards said that of the 300 million people living in America, only 700 died as a result of firearms accidents last year.
"You're 100 times more likely to die from drowning in a swimming pool than from gun problems," Edwards said.
He added that "pro-gun" stories are indeed underreported. "Most pro-gun stories are not heard due to the bias and inaccuracy regarding firearm stories in the national media," he said.
He cited an example in which many New Orleans residents' guns were confiscated, sometimes violently, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Only police and other security personnel were allowed to carry firearms.
The NRA and the Second Amendment Foundation filed a lawsuit against the city, at which point Louisiana District Judge Jay Zaney issued the city an "immediate injunction to stop the legal seizure of firearms, and return them to their rightful owners."
The city refused. As a result, defendants New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and Police Chief Edwin Compass III will soon be summoned on contempt of court charges.
The issue received "no mention whatsoever" in the national media, Edwards said.
