Cruz’s Gun Control Deception

[SecularMotion]

In arguing against gun control, Sen. Ted Cruz said that Washington, D.C., and Chicago “for years” have been “right at the top of murder rates,” and claimed that most “jurisdictions with the worst murder rates” have “the very strictest gun control laws.” Cruz distorts the facts:

• It’s true that Chicago “has long been at or near the top” in total annual murders, but its murder rate is “nowhere near” the top, according to Pew Research Center’s analysis of FBI data from 1985 through 2012. Chicago’s murder rate in 2014 was 35th highest among cities with 100,000 or more residents, FBI data show.
  
  
• Washington, D.C., had the highest murder rate eight times during the 28-year period reviewed by Pew. But the last time the District had the highest rate was 1999. In 2014, Washington, D.C., reported 15.9 murders for every 100,000 people — 29th highest in the country.
  
  
• There is no evidence that gun control laws result in higher murder rates. In fact, studies suggest the opposite: States with a higher number of firearm restrictions have lower firearm deaths. But there is only an association between gun control laws and firearm deaths, not a causal relationship, studies show.

Cruz made his remarks at a town hall event on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” A pastor from Bronx, New York, asked the Texas senator what he would do to stop gun dealers from buying guns in Southern states and “shipping them into my community.”

http://www.factcheck.org/2016/04/cruzs-gun-control-deception/