That 40% lie keeps coming up.... and maybe that was the plan

Last year President Obama quoted a figure, "40 percent of all gun purchases take place without a background check.”
And that number keeps coming up. I think that was the plan, because who would think that THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES would, ummm, 'be inaccurate' on national TV, with a prepared speech, and with something that can be easily checked by ANYONE with access to the internet?

Anyone want to know just how 'bogus' this claim is?
1. First off the study was published in 1997, so he was quoting a 15 year old study (Outdated).
2. The study was from 1991 to 1994, with 20 year old data (Very outdated).
3. The Study was a telephone survey. (Not the most accurate way of collecting data)
4. Of 251 people, that's right, ONLY 251 people. (A tiny sampling makes for BAD data)
5. The NICS system (National Instant Criminal Background Check System) was mandated by the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (Brady Law) of 1993 and launched by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 1998. (Inconsequential, the laws had changed since the study)
6. The actual number was 35.7%, NOT 40% (Artificially inflated).
7. The 36%, see I rounded it off the RIGHT way, was for ALL transfers, not just sales. (A lie by misrepresentation)
8. If you take away the 'non sales' transfers, you come up with 26.4% with only 14% not going through federally licensed dealers. (A far cry from that 40% number)
9. One of the authors of the study, Philip Cook of Duke University, has been quoted as saying,  "This survey was done almost 20 years ago. … It’s clear there are a lot of transactions that are not through dealers. How many, we’re not really clear on it. … We would say it’s a very old number." (Even one of the Authors thinks it is out of date)
10. One expert, David Kopel at the University of Denver law school, said he doesn’t think the figure was ever accurate because of what the survey actually asked.
 "The study did not say whether there was a background check on the sale. It asked the buyer, do you think there was? So some buyers may have known, some may not have known," Kopel said. "All it measured was buyer perception, not whether a check actually occurred." (Buyer perception and memory, not facts)
11. Criminals don't buy guns from vendors BECAUSE vendors ALREADY do a background check! Even dealers at gun shows have to use it! See the National Instant Criminal Background Check System link above. (So how would more laws, making it more difficult for a law abiding citizen, make things better when criminals do not abide the laws already in place or buy guns from dealers?)

My overall take on this, Obama used the 40% number as if it is current, accurate and true to push his agenda. In short the lie told to us was,
Outdated, very outdated, inaccurately collected, tiny sampling, inconsequential because of newer laws, artificially inflated, misrepresented, an outright lie, discredited by one of the authors, not based on facts and useless for stopping crimes.
No one should be surprised that he told us a HUGE lie.

Remember, the FBI has stated the 1994 assault weapons ban did NOTHING to stop ANY shootings.

Anti-gun politicians like to point to Australia as an example. It has a 'mass murder' rate of 0.0042 per 100,000.
And then they ignore New Zealand. New Zealand doesn't have Australia's anti gun laws and has an inconsequentially (numerically) higher rate of 0.0050 per 100,000.

Dan Emplit WBFD
USN 1986 - 1992