Oh God, Not More Gun Shit

Now that Biden is on another roll with gun violence, I thought it time to correct a major oversight on my part that would have provided some relevant context.  To recap, there are those who yell and scream about how gun violence has become an epidemic because of how there are so many more guns on the street.  First, as I've previously noted, gun related homicides have remained mostly steady, increasing a percentage point or two one year and decreasing by the same amount for a few years.  Full disclosure - I only have FBI data through 2019 because they recently transitioned to something they call an explorer to view data; I call it an unusable pile of shit.  

Anyway, let's look at what I could find on the last few years, which is gun related homicides by capita (specifically per 100k people).  Before the pandemic (2019), we were in the 4.5 range.  This was down from 7.2 in 1993 (didn't hear about a gun violence epidemic then, did ya?).  Unfortunately, that number's climbed, hitting 6.2 in 2020.

 While I'm on a roll with gun statistics, let me address one that makes me batshit; number of guns in the US versus other countries.  We have so many more guns and thus so many more gun related deaths.  To be clear, too many people die this way; that's not up for debate.  What you're supposed to take away is how dangerous the US with all of its nasty, evil guns.  

However, how have these numbers changed over time?  That's of greater interest to me than a snapshot designed to be outrageous by use of cherry picking and omission.  

With the yelling and screaming from the not so bright, you would think the US has been arming itself to the teeth over time and gun related homicides have skyrocketed.  "It's the guns!!!" 

How has gun ownership changed over time?  In 1977, just over half of American households owned one or more guns.  That number steadily declined from there, ultimately stabilizing at around 30-31%, where it's sat for more than a two decades.  During the pandemic, everyone went out and bought guns, but that only bumped ownership from 30% to 32%; still under a third.  

To summarize, we've seen an increase in gun related homicides of 16% over the past two years versus an increase in gun ownership of 5%.  And remember that despite what the gun grabbers claim, it's more difficult to get a gun than it's ever been.  I'm always a fan of the libs who want to prove how easy it is to buy a gun, only to discover it isn't.  

It's the guns!!!!  Try again, sparky.