Himes At Capitol Press Conference Blasts “Testosterone-Laden Individuals”

Calling it “gun safety,” Rep. Jim Himes Wednesday joined Democratic colleagues and called for legislation to outlaw assault magazines. Himes also supports reinstating the assault weapons ban and legislation to close loopholes that allow the purchase of a gun without a background check.

… And there are no arguments against doing so, starting with the pernicious argument, most lately articulated by Governor Rick Perry of Texas, this argument that more guns in a nation awash in guns will make us safer. The facts, the history, the data show that that is not true. A gun in the home is 22 times more likely to be used in a suicide or a murder than it is to be used in self-defense. A study by the rand corporation of trained officers of the law in a situation of an exchange ever gunfire, found that those officers hit their intended target less than two out of 10 times. So the notion that more Americans, quote-unquote, in the words of Governor Perry, ‘packing heat,’ will make us safer is not founded in reality, facts, or history; it is founded in the fantasy of testosterone-laden individuals who have blood on their hands for articulating that idea.