News Reporter: Fact Checker: Are toy guns more regulated than real guns?

Friday 17 May 2019

Fact Checker: Are toy guns more regulated than real guns?

Democracy Dies in Darkness

The truth behind the rhetoric

Are toy guns more regulated than real guns?

2020 contender Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) rolled out a few iterations of a catchy talking point with a new gun control proposal: "In the US we have more federal regulation over toy guns than real ones." Given that firearms are highly regulated, could this be possible?

Booker says he's specifically talking about regulations from the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which regulates toy guns not real guns. But that does not mean there are "more regulations" on toy guns. There are nearly 300 laws that govern firearm safety and sales. Plus, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which is tasked with regulating real guns, banned bump stocks in 2018.

Booker is calling for another level of regulation, but he can't suggest toy guns are even more highly regulated. He earns Three Pinocchios.

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The 1994 crime bill's impact of mass incarceration rates

The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, better know as the 1994 crime bill, is no stranger to controversy. When then president Bill Clinton signed it into law, it was criticized because it included pork-barrel projects and untested law enforcement methods. More recently, some (including Clinton) have said the law contributed to higher incarceration rates. 2020 hopeful former vice president Joe Biden (D-Del.) disputed that claim, telling voters the "1994 Biden Crime Bill," as he calls it, "did not generate mass incarceration." So, who's right?

The bill included a wide swath of financial incentives to encourage states to build more prisons and institute laws where people convicted of violent crimes served at least 85 percent of their sentences. It also included an unusually tough federal "three-strikes" provision that required mandatory life imprisonment for anyone who triggered it.

Of course, 90 percent of prisoners in the U.S. are in state — not federal — prisons, and states make their own decisions when it comes to building new prisons and passing tougher criminal justice laws. But in this case, the federal law set the tone in part because the bill Biden crafted included incentives for states to follow the federal government's lead.

The 1994 crime bill didn't create the United States's high incarceration rate, but few dispute that it contributed. Biden earns Two Pinocchios.

(Note: We realize some readers dislike our regular selection of cat gifs, while many other readers love them. This week's offering is in honor of the passing of Grumpy Cat. RIP.)

Facebook didn't do it (Instagram and What's App helped)

Misinformation doesn't just live on Facebook. It jumps platforms, languages and countries. And updated data from Poynter suggests not only that fact checkers are struggling to keep up, but that keeping up might just be impossible. The reach of fact checks — even viral ones — is typically outpaced by the spread of misinformation. When a fact check matches the hoax's engagement levels on one network, it has likely already moved on to another. Needless to say, fact-checkers have their hands full.

We're always looking for fact-check suggestions.

You can also reach us via email, Twitter (@GlennKesslerWP, @mmkelly22, @rizzoTK or use #FactCheckThis), or Facebook (Fact Checker). Read about our rating scale here, follow us on YouTube and sign up here for our weekly Fact Checker newsletter.

Scroll down for this week's Pinocchio roundup.

— Meg Kelly

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