Obama Inflates Homicide Statistics To Suit Anti-gun Agenda

President Barack Obama is at it again. A couple of weeks ago Obama, while speaking to a college crowd, said that he wasn’t exaggerating about some of the proposals he has heard from the pro-gun population.

Obama said: “What we also have to recognize is, is that our homicide rates are so much higher than other industrialized countries. I mean by like a mile. And most of that is attributable to the easy, ready availability of firearms, particularly handguns.”

“And as long as you can go into some neighborhoods and it is easier for you to buy a firearm than it is for you to buy a book, there are neighborhoods where it’s easier for you to buy a handgun and clips than it is for you to buy a fresh vegetable — as long as that’s the case, we’re going to continue to see unnecessary violence.”

“People just say well, we should have firearms in kindergarten and we should have machine guns in bars. You think I’m exaggerating — I mean, you look at some of these laws that come up.”

The Washington Post fact checked his claims.

‘Our homicide rates are so much higher…by like a mile’

When we first saw this quote, we thought the president said the United States had the highest homicide rate among industrialized nations. So did our reader. After all, the president even used the phrase “by like a mile.”

We got some push-back from the administration on this interpretation so just to be sure, we surveyed six colleagues and asked them what they thought the quote meant. The result was unanimous: the president was telling students the United States had the highest homicide rate among the industrialized world.

That is factually incorrect.

The best proxy for “industrialized countries” is the membership of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. There are currently 34 countries in the OECD, but the agency also includes Brazil and Russia in its statistical data. (The two countries have been negotiating for membership but talks have been suspended with Russia because of the Crimea crisis.)

The OECD says the average homicide rate among the 36 countries is 4.1 per 100,000 people.

According to the 2014 data, at the top of the list is Brazil, with a homicide rate 25.5, or six times the average. Next on the list is Mexico, with a homicide rate of 23.4, followed by Russia at 12.8.

Then comes a tie for fourth place—Chile and the United States both have a homicide rate of 5.2. Estonia follows close behind with a homicide rate of 4.7.

The U.S. has a homicide rate that’s above average but nowhere near the claim that Obama made that the rate was higher “by a mile.”

Obama also blatantly lied when he claimed it was easier to buy a handgun and ammo than it is to buy fresh vegetables. The Washington Post said that the claim appeared to have no statistical basis.

Again, from the Washington Post’s fact checkers:

“People just say well, we should have firearms in kindergarten and we should have machine guns in bars.”

The president added here: “You think I’m exaggerating — I mean, you look at some of these laws that come up.” But he is certainly putting a bit of spin on the proposals.

For instance, Georgia in 2014 approved a law that allowed firearms to be carried into bars and restaurants (unless the owner objected), but there was little if any discussion that the purpose was to allow machine guns in bars. The goal was to allow for hand guns and long rifles in bars and other public places.

Similarly, while there have been proposals to allow guns in schools,particularly college campuses, the proposals do not specifically address kindergarten. (A bill under consideration in Florida would allow some school personnel to carry guns, provided it is approved by school administrators. It would be limited to former or current law enforcement or military personnel and they must receive training at law-enforcement academies.)

I can understand why Obama exaggerates these claims, he has an agenda and the truth just keeps getting in the way of that.  He knows how to play the emotional strings on his progressive audience as well.  For the Progressive, feelings trump facts.  As long as Obama can make it feel like evil ‘gun nuts’ want to shove weapons into your children’s faces then that’s better than a thousand lists of facts proving it false.

However, is this how a President should act? Like some common propagandist, using his stature as President of the United States to push his progressive agenda to students that might not know better?

I certainly don’t think so and as an outsider looking in, I can only hope the next leader of the U.S. brings back some dignity and respect to the office.