crosspost

[benEzra]

10. Things that have also happened in that time frame, as the violent crime rate decreased by half:

-- An order-of-magnitude increase in the number of citizens with clean records who are licensed to carry handguns.

-- A vast increase in the number of people who own and shoot modern-looking semiauto rifles (way, way more than hunt), coinciding with a steady decrease in rifle homicide.

-- A vast increase in both annual gun sales and ammunition sales (the latter tracking with increased participation in target practice, training, and the shooting sports in general).

-- A trend toward smaller calibers, and therefore higher capacity, in civilian handguns and rifles.

-- A big increase in the proportion of women who own and carry guns.

I'm not arguing post hoc ergo prompter hoc here, just observing. Methinks that the observations in the OP *should* lead people in the gun control movement to rethink handgrip bans, magazine bans, and opposition to carry licensure as the three shibboleths of the gun control movement. Those things are absolutely irrelevant to gun violence, but rather are aimed at harassing lawful owners. Whether those shibboleths are motivated by ignorance, by fundraising efficacy, or by fundamentalists trying to maintain orthodoxy in the prohibitionist ranks, the result is simply to motivate gun owners into political activism, and is counterproductive.