God Bless America the Record Holder

(WASHINGTON D.C.) - God Bless America. On the eve of the Fourth of July, as Americans reflect on the history of the nation’s founding and contemplate its future, the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence has released the latest edition of its God Bless America poster, documenting that, in one year, guns murdered 17 people in Finland, 35 in Australia, 39 in England and Wales, 60 in Spain, 194 in Germany, 200 in Canada, and 9,484 in the United States.

When compared by gun murders relative to population size, the facts hold true: Citizens of the U.S. are murdered with guns at a rate five times higher than our nearest high-income neighbor, Canada, and at rates 10 to 44 times higher than the other high income nations.

This holiday weekend marks the 11th anniversary of a tragedy that could have been avoided. On the Fourth of July weekend in 1999, white supremacist and anti-Semite Benjamin Smith murdered Northwestern University head basketball coach Ricky Birdsong and Indiana University graduate student Wan Joon Yoon, and wounded nine others before committing suicide. Smith was prohibited from purchasing firearms, and would have been stopped by a Brady background check if the nation required the checks on every gun sale. He bought his “Saturday Night Special” handgun from Donald Fiessinger, a “private seller” who had purchased 65 handguns over two years from the same Pekin, Illinois gun store, the Old Prairie Trading Post.

The store remains open, but no longer sells firearms. The owner and his customer, Fiessinger, were indicted on gun trafficking charges, pled guilty and served jail time.

“We make it too easy for dangerous people, like Benjamim Smith, to get dangerous guns,” said Paul Helmke, President of the Brady Center. “And we haven’t closed the loophole that allowed this to happen 11 years later – the loophole that says if you buy a gun from a private seller, you don’t have to pass a background check.”

Background information about the statistics, sourcing data, and copies of the poster can be printed here: bradycampaign.org/facts?s=2.

The Brady Center believes that the U.S. Congress should extend Brady criminal background checks to all gun sales, particularly those at gun shows. On this July 4th, its leaders call on elected officials in Congress to pass gun show loophole legislation (S. 843 in the U.S. Senate and H.R. 2324 in the U.S. House.)

Source: The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence is a national non-profit organization working to reduce gun violence in America through education, research and legal advocacy. Through its Legal Action Project, the Brady Center provides pro bono legal assistance to gun violence victims and public entities seeking to establish legal principles that will reduce gun violence. The Brady Center complements the legislative and grassroots mobilization efforts of its sister organization, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence with its dedicated network of Million Mom March Chapters.

Salem-News.com Top Stories

2025: Hope for the Best, Prepare for the Worst

Two Wars with No Way Out

No One Owns the Future

The Ugly Origins of Trump's America First Policy

A One-State Solution Could Transform the World

Comments Leave a comment on this story.

All comments and messages are approved by people and self promotional links or unacceptable comments are denied.

Robert M July 8, 2010 4:09 pm (Pacific time)

"America, Land of the free. If you can stay alive." True. And the likelihood of staying alive is heavily contingent on whether you are an armed citizen...or a disarmed subject.

Robert M July 8, 2010 4:07 pm (Pacific time)

I'm so happy there are so many patriotic Americans willing to remove the entire Bill of Rights. Think about it: without the 2nd Amendment, you have no way to secure any other. Want free speech? It's hard to speak out against the government when you have no way to defend yourself against the tyranny of said government. The Constitution was designed in a way which is supposed to make the Government fear US, the citizens, not the other way around. We may not be the shining city on a hill anymore, but we are still the fortress on the high ground. We're protected by vast oceans on both sides, allies on the others, and enough guns to arm every man woman and child old enough to do so. Looked at this way, it's not so hard to determine the reasons we've enjoyed over 200 years without foreign invasion. When people ask me why I own guns, the answer is simple: "I own guns for the same reason you and I vote...because I f-ing CAN"

Hank Ruark July 5, 2010 11:43 am (Pacific time)

Mike F.: Yours well-done, friend --but relies on faith rather than logic and fact. You write:"...endowed by our Creator"referring to "natural" rights; millions believe in "natural" rights as legacy of civilization as developed by mankind --with by far larger majority of non-faith persons populating this Earth, at least of any one religious variety now extant. You are correct in struggle by secularists, but that's at least as moral, legal and now acceptable worldwide as the centuries-long well-muscled domination by dozens, if not hundreds, of themes,different directions, and many other differentiations, meaningful and otherwise, over far too many centuries to escape real rational consideration NOW. Many "on the left" (now itself a meaningless label) feel as strongly or more so than you express here on the true American virtues and values --we simply see them in much different light of events, time, consequences of decision and similar inevitable change over 250 years. Inevitably, too, to mention any/all-such implies ways to define and measure --and that is where we depart from real mutual understandings... Anyone who questions need in 21st Century for very strong governance-system, built on remnants of our "democratic experience", simply does not NOW understand what's been happening in the world for 100 years. We strive to build and to reform/rebuild where painful experience demonstrates the overwhelming need. IF we lack the solace of faith and rely instead on what the Reformation and all else since both teaches-and-demands of us, that's modern life... which you should perhaps now consider joining. To seek what control we can still exert with concepts and patterns and protocols built on 18th/19th Century is the height of absurdity --as many so-called "conservatives", hiding from truth-label of "libertarian", try to do. But professional training taught me that so long as the breath-process continues, just so long is there still full opportunity to share and learn for whomever breaths...

Vic July 4, 2010 3:34 pm (Pacific time)

The fact is, if one is willing to break the law you can get anything you want, anywhere. And anyone with basic machining skills and tools can make a gun. When I was a teenager we used to make "zip guns" ...a tube that held the cartridge which was fired by pulling back a spring loaded plunger/hammer.. So outlawing guns probably is not going to work all that well. I'm not sure if I understand the logic...outlaw guns so that criminals (people who break and disregard laws habitually) will for some reason draw the line at breaking that law...? Dont think so.

Anonymous July 4, 2010 2:13 pm (Pacific time)

Mike: I will buy you a brewski anytime my friend. Xlnt post, thanks.

Amanda July 3, 2010 9:29 pm (Pacific time)

If a comprehensive Gun Control Legislation was not put in place, after our own President was killed and another wounded in recent history, one must assume the gun lobby to be a radical group, which demands control and political influence, no matter what the consequences. Sad thing, they have gotten away with it.

Mike Fitzpatrick July 4, 2010 9:23 am (Pacific time)

The Brady organization is well known for putting out misleading information. They have been diminishing in their fundraising and their influence is fading. National gun sales are at an all time high while gun crimes are falling, except in places like Chicago and other similar locations where city officials are ignoring recent Supreme Court rulings on the 2nd Amendment. Of course criminals could care less about any law, so then how come places like Chicago have high gun crimes while other locales that honor the Second Amendment are much lower? On this July 4th: A bedrock belief of American conservatism is a respect for the established traditions and values of American culture. Conservatives believe from the time the first colonists landed in Jamestown, America took on a unique culture and set of values that have set us apart from our European cousins: a belief in natural rights, strong religious faith and values, the importance of the work ethic, and a spirit of community that manifests itself in a belief in limited government and strong civic participation. It is this set of beliefs -- truths enshrined in the Declaration of Independence -- that have made America so successful, and they deserve to be protected. The modern Left is best described as a "secular machine" -- is using every lever of power at its disposal to dismantle our unique American civilization and replace it with a secular, bureaucratic culture in which government is big, citizens are small, and our rights are defined by the state rather than endowed by our Creator. Equality under the law is being discarded in favor of equality of results; consent of the governed is being subverted by an increasingly overbearing federal bureaucracy and imperial judiciary; and the pursuit of happiness is being undermined by a redistributive welfare state that kills the can-do, entrepreneurial spirit of America. Note: Just observe how increased spending coupled with increasing taxes and fees are devastating our economy. This July 4th, or anytime, I hope you will take time to read the Declaration of Independence and consider the truths about our rights and freedoms contained within. I hope you will take time to appreciate the sacrifices made by the founding generation and generations since to secure our liberty.

Anonymous July 4, 2010 9:13 am (Pacific time)

2000? hmmm, tens of thousands die from dangerous pharmaceutical drugs, making the pharma's rich, who then lobby DC and give campaign funds. Why dont we just make guns illegal like we do drugs? It seems to work so well. Or, legalize drugs and watch the 2000 number drop in half. Secure our borders and the death numbers drop even further. And just to show you how the Brady campaign totally stretches the truth, Finland has a population of 5 million, the U.S. has 300 million. And Finland does more to secure their borders. The brady bunch are the ones that should be banned. This article is MORE than just misleading. Almost 60 american military died in June, for a war that is to profit the elite, and the CIA thru opium sales, that then come to the U.S. Brady doesnt care about the deaths, they just want the names. Criminals will still get guns thru the black market, just like they get drugs thru the black market. This is ridiculous.

Amanda July 3, 2010 9:29 pm (Pacific time)

Danielis July 3, 2010 9:16 pm (Pacific time)

America, Land of the free. If you can stay alive.

[Return to Top]