Pandemic gun violence surge was not linked to rise in gun sales, study finds

[BGBD]

5. It stands to reason

that even a huge increase in gun sales wouldn't lead to a huge increase in gun violence because of the number we already have.

There are something like 400 million guns already in circulation in the country. If you add 50k or even 500k more, that's not going to change much. They are going to go heavily to people who already own at least one and there is nearly nobody in this country that doesn't have access to a gun in one way or another already, legal or not.

If you want to commit a crime with a gun there aren't many barriers to accessing one without making a purchase.

Maybe possessing a gun makes you more likely to commit a gun crime, but only a small number of gun sales will be to first time buyers who also don't have easy access to another gun. Only a small number of those people will actually shoot anyone.

It's a pretty small number to consider being responsible for a noticeable uptick in gun violence.

Essentially it's the law of diminishing returns.

The first 100,000 guns in a population would lead to a immense increase in gun-related crime, but 100,000 additions after 400 millions guns isn't going to increase the crime rate by the same.