More Guns/Less Crime: Confirmed

Disarming Realities: As Gun Sales Soar, Gun Crimes Plummet:
(May 14, 2013)

A couple of new studies reveal the gun-control hypesters’ worst nightmare…more people are buying firearms, while firearm-related homicides and suicides are steadily diminishing. What crackpots came up with these conclusions? One set of statistics was compiled by the U.S. Department of Justice. The other was reported by the Pew Research Center.

(H/T: The Hobo Brasser)

I had heard this claim parenthetically, but not having the gumption to do my own research I have never bothered to confirm it for myself (although I have bought, and read, John Lott's book).

Now I am informed of a May, 2013 Forbes article which provides links to the source material. (There is an accompanying May, 2013, CNN article which addresses the PEW report.)   The study covers the 20 year period between 1993 and 2013.

Something that surprised me;  the report also discusses briefly a few sociological issues which are parenthetical ... but vitally important ... factors in the murder/suicide rates which are the key elements:

• Violent non-fatal crime victimization overall (with or without a firearm) also is down markedly (72%) over two decades.
• Compared with other developed nations, the U.S. has a higher homicide rate and higher rates of gun ownership, but not higher rates for all other crimes.  [emphasis added]
• Mass shootings are a matter of great public interest and concern. They also are a relatively small share of shootings overall ...  homicides that claimed at least three lives accounted for less than 1% of all homicide deaths from 1980 to 2008. 
• ... there were 31,672 deaths from guns in the U.S. in 2010. Most (19,392) were suicides; the gun suicide rate has been higher than the gun homicide rate since at least 1981, and the gap is wider than it was in 1981.
• Despite the attention to gun violence in recent months, most Americans are unaware that gun crime is markedly lower than it was two decades ago. 
• Highest densities of firearms victimization are defined by sociological groups: male, under 25, metropolitan areas, black, children in single-mother families.

The report is extensive, chapters are listed separately (links are provided to all chapters) and while the body of information is too extensive to be even summarized here, I believe that it's a rich resource for those among us who are more interested in rigorously researched data to make informed decisions, rather than relying on emotion as our political lodestone.

And again, the people whose minds are already made up will NOT believe that Gun Control isn't the answer to their fears.

PS:  The CNN article which I mentioned earlier   (same link, here)   doesn't add much content to the study, but it does have a few associated 'sidebar' links which the reader may find interesting ... if not particularly informative.   As is typical of CNN, their appeal is to those who act on what they "feel", and not what they "think".