“Guns Don’t Kill People, People Kill People,” And Other Myths About Guns and Gun Control

FEATURING DENNIS A. HENIGAN – Cleveland, Ohio, will be the site of the upcoming Republican National Convention, and in anticipation of large masses of people coming together in a politically polarized and highly charged atmosphere, the city has banned the carrying of all types of weaponry including knives, axes, and even fake guns around the area of the convention. But Cleveland is located within a state with some of the least restrictive gun laws in the nation. Ohio is one of those states that allows practically anyone over the age of 18 to buy as many guns as they want.

So Cleveland, in anticipation of potential violence is sensibly banning all weapons near the convention – except one of the most dangerous, compact and portable weapons – guns – because of the state’s insane gun laws. By the logic of gun rights activists, the more weapons there are floating in society, the safer we all are, right? Why then should any weapon be banned?

The myth that guns make people safer is repeated so often by gun proliferation advocates that they have permeated our culture. My guest, Dennis Henigan took on these and other myths in his 2009 book Lethal Logic.

Dennis A. Henigan, Director of legal and policy analysis at the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and formerly the Vice President of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. His new book is called “Guns Don’t Kill People, People Kill People,” And Other Myths About Guns and Gun Control.