Support for Gun Control in US at its Lowest Level in More than 50 Years

[Major Robert Dump]

You do know that the crime rate is much lower today than 20 years ago? And lower than 30 years ago. THE GOVERMENT SUCKS AND CAN'T DO ITS JOB, SO WE NEED THE GUNS TO PROTECT OURSELF.

And what makes you think the "GOVERNMENT" is responsible for making the crime rate go down? Are you really that naieve? There are hundreds of stimuli that affect crime trends

I might also point out that as populations age and mature and progress, certain things become less illegal over time, which affects recording crime. 20 years ago, stealing anything with a value over $50 was considered GRAND LARCENY a felony in most US States. Now it's anywhere from $500 to $1000 to qualify for that....... Based on a change of values, there are fewer felonious thefts today than 20 years ago.

[Ironside]

And what makes you think the "GOVERNMENT" is responsible for making the crime rate go down? Are you really that naieve? There are hundreds of stimuli that affect crime trends

I might also point out that as populations age and mature and progress, certain things become less illegal over time, which affects recording crime. 20 years ago, stealing anything with a value over $50 was considered GRAND LARCENY a felony in most US States. Now it's anywhere from $500 to $1000 to qualify for that....... Based on a change of values, there are fewer felonious thefts today than 20 years ago.

The government is a factor, but I can agree on that's it's probably not the main driver in this case.

Main thing was that there's no (or very poor) correlation between "guns are needed, since the goverment fails to protect", gun ownership and crime.

Theft is completely irrelevant to gun ownership. Muggery and robbery is in some form, although I'm not sure how it's treated (theft or assult) in the data.

[Major Robert Dump]

Of course government is one of many factors in lower crime, but I might also point out that gun ownership is also a factor. That being said, there is plenty to correlate that people want guns because their government fails to protect. I am not making a statement of right or wrong, I am telling you how people feel. One thing that trips me up about the gun-control crowd from countires that have effectively had strict gun controls for decades, is that their arguments fail to consider the pure saturation of guns in this nation. We can argue and go round and round endlessly about what came first the chicken or the egg, but the simple fact is that there are plenty of bad people in this country who have guns, gun control would not convonce them to turn in their guns as they are crooks already, and citizens lacking guns will cause a field day for the criminals with guns. You, Ironside, may think it worthwhile to partake in such a social experiment for the greater, long term good, and that is probably where we will never see eye to eye.

Washington DC is one of the worst places in the nation. Chicagos gun ban has been fail. Meanwhile, states that enact conceal-carry laws see an almost immediate drop in victim-type crimes, while counties in adjacent states that dont have conceal-carry have an immediate increase in victim-crime, because the professional criminals are migrating targets.

Guns are not the solution, and neither is banning them wholesale.