Backing an agenda to crack down on Second Amendment rights, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) echoed common gun control talking points last week, highly exaggerating the rate of “gun violence.” The claims were so weak, even left-wing PolitiFact nailed the freshman congresswoman with a false rating.
“Supporting my colleagues’ call on Senate Majority Leader to vote on H.R. 8, 1112 & 1158,” Omar pushed. “Every day on average 500 people die from gun violence. How many more lives will we let gun violence claim?”
In its review of Omar’s claim that 500 people are killed in the United States every day due to “gun violence,” PolitiFact admitted: “The actual figure is nowhere near that high.”
“Based on the latest federal figures, for 2017, the average per day was 109 — that’s counting deaths resulting from suicides, homicides, unintentional and undetermined deaths as well as those from law enforcement,” the partisan fact-checker said. “And it’s 100 if you use a five-year average for 2013 to 2017.”
“We rate Omar’s statement False.”
According to Politifact’s Tom Kertscher, a representative from Omar’s office claimed the Democrat was referencing gun deaths worldwide. However, as noted by Kertscher, the Minnesota rep. posted the claim while pushing a gun control measure in the United States:
Omar’s spokesman, Jeremy Slevin, defended Omar’s use of the 500 figure. But he acknowledged to us that Omar’s tweet was in the context of domestic legislation and that the reference to 500 could have been more precise.
In other words, the cover-up is not very convincing.
The gun control measure Omar was backing, H.R. 8, “establishes new background check requirements for firearm transfers between private parties (i.e., unlicensed individuals),” according to congress.gov. “Specifically, it prohibits a firearm transfer between private parties unless a licensed gun dealer, manufacturer, or importer first takes possession of the firearm to conduct a background check. The prohibition does not apply to certain firearm transfers, such as a gift between spouses in good faith.”
The same week, Omar took a serious hit when reports surfaced claiming the congresswoman filed taxes with her now-husband while she was married to someone else, a violation of federal law. The Daily Wire reported earlier this week:
“According to the Associated Press, the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board mentioned that Omar’s financial disclosures contained some irregularities, and although they aren’t the ones to ultimately investigate and punish her for them, the board felt they were worth mentioning.
‘Omar and her husband, Ahmed Abdisalan Hirsi, filed joint tax returns for 2014 and 2015 — before they were actually married and while Omar was legally wed to another man,’ a practice that runs afoul of both Minnesota state law and federal tax law.”
H/t The Blaze
