FILE - In this June 7, 2012 file photo, Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y. speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill. Credit: AP
Attempting to show how huge of a mistake it was to drop the ban on so-called "assault weapons" from the Senate's gun control bill, Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) on MSNBC Thursday claimed "millions of kids" are dying at the hands of these weapons and Congress is failing to act.
Rangel blamed the National Rifle Association, politics and money for the gun ban's failure.
"I’m ashamed to admit it but its politics and its money, The NRA has taken this position, there is no reason, there is no foundation. There is no hunter that needs automatic military weapons to enjoy the culture of going hunting," Rangel began. "But you know it’s really basically the absence of the voices of good people. I cannot believe that politicians are afraid of the NRA."
He went on: "We're talking about millions of kids dying — being shot down by assault weapons, were talking about handguns easier in the inner cities, to get these guns in the inner cities, than to get computers. This is not just a political issue, it’s a moral issue and so when we condemn the NRA we should not ignore the fact that a lot of people that have taken moral positions have been solid on this big one."
Watch his comments via MSNBC below:
Rangel's assertion is so ridiculously false, it's hard to really put it into perspective. But let's try.
According to FBI data, just 358 people -- of all ages -- were killed with "rifles" in 2010. In fact, more people were killed by hands and feet (745), knifes (1,704) and shotguns (373) than with rifles that same year. As Fox Nation points out, the total number of gun homicides in 2011 was 8,583, still exponentially lower than Rangel's estimation of murders involving so-called "assault weapons" alone.
Using the 2011 total gun-related murder rate, it would take more than 116 years for one million people to be killed by a firearm. Additionally, it would take more than 2,793 years for one million people to be killed with rifles, or what Rangel calls "assault weapons," according to the 2010 FBI data.
Now, that does not lessen the impact of such a horrific tragedy like the Newtown massacre, however, the United States will never be able to have a meaningful debate about guns as long as such blatant lies are being used to demonize firearms.
