The writing was done well. It's the police chief that's disseminating incorrect information.
Point 1: This is why gun-owners want to see straw purchasers thrown in jail. This is also why many, such as myself, want the National Instant Check System (NICS), the federal background check that is required for federal firearms dealers to perform, to be available or even required for citizen-to-citizen purchases. Yet arrests for this seem to be few and far between. In fact, I would even support a law limiting firearm purchases to 12 in a 52-week period without a waiver from the BATFE. But people knowledgeable about firearms, such as gun owners, don't really seem to get asked what their opinion is. They get
told by politicians and non-gun-owners what is needed to become law to fight crime.
Point 2: It is not surprising at all that military-styled weapons are filtering down to the criminals, any more that it is surprising that criminals are using camera cell phones and video iPods. It filters down. And, as the statistics show, handguns are still the preferred firearm of the criminal element and will continue to be so. When Smith & Wesson designed and introduced a new handgun cartridge, the .40 S&W, it filtered down to the criminal element, joining the .25, 9mm, .45, .38, and .357 as one of the common calibers being used in crime.
Point 3: Despite owning plenty of these firearms, overall crime and homicide rates are stable. Those that would commit crimes continue to do so, those that don't, don't. The kind of weapon a person owns does not make them more or less likely to commit a crime. In come cases a criminal chooses to use a military-styled weapon in place of a handgun. Same crime, different gun. Just like nobody suggests that the .40 S&W is responsible for more crime and death. The composition of the pie shifts, the size of the pie does not.
Point 4: Despite the fear-mongering, domestic-violence murders are at historic lows:
Here's a breakdown by relationship and weapon.
Police officers killed, by handguns, other guns (rifles and shotguns) and other weapons.
Despite the public being well-armed with "killing machines", as Miami Police Chief Timoney said in the article, the super-vast majority of all homicides are single-victim.
And the UK, which after the Dunblane and Hungerford massacres decided that non-sporting firearms had no place in a "civilized" society, has a homicide rate that looks like this: