We Are More Afraid Than Ever of Gun Violence, But the Truth Is the Murder Rate Is at a 50-Year Low [View all]

[Kang Colby]

Some may even think that the more scared Americans get about gun violence, the more likely it is we’ll pass laws that will reduce it. Maybe, maybe not.

Now, about that data. As the image at the top of the post demonstrates, the U.S. murder rate is now lower than it has been in half a century. According to some measures, the current murder rate approaches the lowest levels seen in more than 100 years. Or maybe even ever.

As for mass shootings in the U.S.? James Alan Fox, a Northeastern University criminologist and co-author of Extreme Killing: Understanding Serial and Mass Murder, has shown that the number of incidents — defined as any shooting in which four or more people died — has remained steady over recent decades, despite the doubling of the U.S. population since 1960. Regarding gun deaths as a whole, the data just about exactly parallels the overall U.S. homicide rate.

Additionally, Pew recently asked Americans whether the number of gun crimes has gone down, gone up, or stayed the same over the past 20 years. Bear in mind that the gun murder rate is half what it was, and the rate of non-fatal gun crimes is about a quarter of what it was 20 years ago. Only 12 percent said gun crimes were down, 26 percent said they were the same, and 56 percent said they’ve gone up.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ian-reifowitz/we-are-more-afraid-than-e_b_8740750.html

Apologies in advance, as this article is about six months old.

I think it's interesting because the author points out that when Americans are led to believe violence is out of control, legislatures tend to react. Last time this phenomenon occurred, the result was prison policies that led to mass incarceration. Could gun controllers attempt to pad the "gun violence" numbers with suicides obstruct efforts at criminal justice reform? Food for thought.

Lastly, despite the proliferation of liberalized carry, violent crime is way down.