A couple of months ago, I told you about Moms Demand Action and the lies they were perpetuating to advance their agenda. One of their partner groups, Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence, recently took lying to a whole new level. Not only did they lie and politicize a tragedy to dupe people, but they defended their actions to a group that exposed them.

Third Base Politics exposed a collaboration by the Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, and Progress Ohio to dupe people. The trio of groups set up a website where people could post condolences to Chardon High School shooting victims and their families.  When you signed the virtual card, you were actually signing up to receive emails from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s group, Mayors Against Illegal Guns.

Media Trackers, the group that exposed the link and the use of taxpayer dollars to advance the anti-self defense agenda, asked Ms. Hoover about the trio’s tactics at Comfest this last June. She explained that it was OK to collect the signatures “as long as it’s done appropriately.” She effectively said that lying and tricking people to support her cause was “appropriate.”

She also thinks it appropriate to ignore reality.

The very first paragraph on the group’s website tells us that “in 2004, guns killed 29,569 people in the United States, including 649 unintentional deaths, 16,750 suicides and 11,624 homicides.” One can lie by perpetuating a falsehood or by omitting the truth. In this case, Ms. Hoover is leaving out the truth.

The numbers offered by Ms. Hoover’s group are shocking indeed, if you take them out of context. Instead, let’s try to understand them in the context of rates over time. The following analyses are of CDC and FBI data.

In 2004, suicide by firearm occurred at a rate of 5.72 incidents per 100,000 persons. The rate increased to 6.28 in 2010. During that same time the overall suicide rate increased from 11.08 to 12.43. The increase in overall suicide outpaced the increase in firearms suicide 12.18% to 9.79%.

During that same period, firearms accidental deaths decreased from 649 to 606 for an effective rate decrease of nearly 10%.

Homicide by firearm fell from a rate of 3.73 per 100,000 to 2.75, a reduction of 26.05%.

These rate drops occurred despite an increase in firearms ownership and use. Gun ownership is the highest it’s been in twenty years, with 47% of Americans reporting they own at least one gun. States that report the numbers of concealed carry permits are showing increases as well. Florida just passed one million active concealed handgun permits. Ohio has been seeing an increase year after year passing the 300,000 milestone after only eight years of legal licensed concealed carry.

There’s only one method Ms. Hoover, Ms. Watts, Mayor Bloomberg, and other people that support more gun control have to advance their agenda and that’s to lie. Mayors are wising up to the lies and the general public is losing interest in their agenda. In the end, it’s the truth that will set us free.