Perhaps those of you who think citing facts is propaganda should take a look at the numbers:
Guns and Violence in the United States, By the Numbers
If the gun control activists are right, then more guns must equal more crime. However, even in this graph that shows the overall homicide rate in blue and the firearms related homicide rate in red, you can clearly see that the phrase “steady” is the worst you can use to describe the current state of affairs in the United States, and the phrase “decline” might be more appropriate for the years since 2005. These numbers are from the U.S. Government
Center for Disease Control, which tracks all deaths in the United States, and I personally pulled them yesterday when researching this article.
Gun control activists constantly clamor that there’s a “gun violence epidemic” in the United States, but the numbers don’t reflect that statement. In fact, the argument could be made that as the firearms ownership rate increases there’s a correlation to a decline in the murder rate. So perhaps, more guns equal less crime? That’s the position taken by a
recent study from Virginia that showed a decrease in violent crime as the number of firearms being sold increased, and while it’s an interesting possibility there’s no good way to decisively prove it. On the other hand, this data
does decisively
disprove the gun control hypothesis that “more guns = more crime.”
The burden of proof is on the gun control activists. Their assertion is that more guns equal more crime, that concealed carry means “shoot-outs in the streets” and deranged “gun nuts” looking to kill people, and that there’s a “gun violence epidemic” that needs to be addressed. But looking at the numbers from the CDC, I don’t see it. Gun sales have gone through the roof in the last six years, and at worst the numbers for firearm related deaths are stable. At best, they’re declining. Not one single metric that I could find indicated that gun owners were anything less than model citizens, and that gun ownership is not the root of all evil.
The best confirmation of this comes not from any study or calculation, but from the opinions of the American people themselves.
Support for gun control is at an all time low. I’d like to think that it’s because people are finally understanding that the object is not the problem but instead it’s the behavior that needs to be changed. However, some people still don’t see the light. Hopefully with enough proof we can change their minds as well.
http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2013/12/foghorn/guns-violence-united-states-numbers/
There is no argument that the "mass shootings" in the past few years are truly horrific, but the increase in the number of guns sold to private citizens since this article was published have not increased the rate of "gun violence" and, in fact, by virture of the sheer numbers, have decreased it.
