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About VPC
The Sniper's Paradise website is dedicated to and
designed for professional snipers. The articles, links, and information found in this section
of our site is designed
to keep our readers informed about who wants to take our pistols and
rifles and how they plan on doing it. The best way to stop the Gun
Grabbers in their steps is to research the enemy and know their tactics.
As they say, "knowledge is power!"
America is in a gun crisis. Since 1960, more than a million Americans have
died in firearm suicides, homicides, and unintentional shootings. In 1998
alone, more than 30,000 Americans died by gunfire. Today guns are outpaced
only by motor vehicles as a cause of fatal injury stemming from a consumer
product.
In addition to the human toll exacted by firearms, the monetary cost—as
measured in hospitalization, rehabilitation, and lost wages—is staggering.
In 1992 the economic cost of firearms violence totaled $126 billion. Other
less tangible costs associated with firearms violence include the fear
that permeates the streets of our cities, the gnawing concern for our
children's safety, and, perhaps worst of all, a debilitating hopelessness
that anything can ever be done to stop the bloodshed.
The Violence Policy Center (VPC) is at the forefront of those working to
stem the tide of firearms violence engulfing our nation. The VPC is a
national 501(c)(3) educational organization working to move beyond the
popular but narrow perception of firearms violence as solely a crime issue
to place it in its proper perspective: a widespread public health problem
of which crime is merely the most recognized aspect.
Contrary to popular perception, most gun death in America is not crime
related. Most firearm deaths stem not from homicide (12,102 reported to
the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) in 1998) but suicide
(17,424 reported to NCHS in 1998). And even for those who are murdered
with firearms, each year the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform
Crime Reports affirms that the majority of homicide victims die not as the
result of criminal activity, but because of arguments between people who
know each other. The reality of firearms violence is that it results not
from "guns in the wrong hands," but from the virtually unregulated
distribution of an inherently dangerous consumer product of which specific
categories—such as handguns and assault weapons—have very limited utility
and inflict high costs on society in the form of premature death and
debilitating injury.
Recognizing this, the Violence Policy Center approaches firearms violence
from a public health perspective and explores policy alternatives to
commonly accepted views on gun violence. The Violence Policy Center also
researches interpersonal violence such as domestic assault and its link to
firearms injury. A primary goal of the Center is the widespread
dissemination of this information in an effort to educate the public, news
media, and policymakers.
To effectively reduce firearms violence all aspects of the issue—from
manufacture and distribution to societal use and costs—must be analyzed,
new trends identified, and honest, up-to-date information supplied for the
development of effective public policy. Presenting new aspects of the
issue—and honestly assessing old ones—will interest the press, motivate
the public, and act as a mainspring for change.
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