(GunReports.com) — The Brady Campaign gave its best score on the group’s 2011 State Gun Control Scorecard to California, where the total violent crime, murder, robbery, and aggravated assault rates were higher than national rates in 2010, the most recent full year reported by the FBI.
The NRA-ILA reports that the Brady Campaign compared California — which the group said “continues to blaze legislative trails saving lives” — to Arizona, Alaska and Utah. Cali earned 81 points out of 100 on the Brady scorecard, compared to 0/100 points for the other states.
But the so-called winner fails in the real world. California’s total violent crime rate was 5% higher, murder was 16% higher, and robbery was 97% higher than the average rates for the 0-ranked states.
The Brady Campaign scoring gives a state 21 points if the state required a license to possess a firearm, a permit to purchase firearms and ammunition, and fingerprinting and safety training as part of obtaining such a permit.
It would give another 17 points for prohibiting all private sales of firearms.
Another 12 points would go to a state requiring a state firearm dealer license on top of the standard federal license, along with requiring unlimited inspections of dealer records and inventory by police, reporting of sales to the state police, and mandatory theft reporting to the police.
Ballistic fingerprinting and microstamping semi-automatic pistols were worth 10 points. Banning “assault weapons” and “large” magazines were worth five points apiece, as were a 30-day waiting period between handgun purchases and mandatory integrated locks on handguns.
The 2011 scorecard awards two points to any state that doesn’t have a “shall issue” carry permit law.
The FBI doesn’t include gun control in its list of “factors that are known to affect the volume and type of crime occurring from place to place.”
