Interview with CA shopowner who killed five gang members in three attacks.

[gejohnston]

70. but the two are not mutually exclusive

He could very well be one of the neighborhood activists. Just like many of the businesses working with the cops and activists in NYC probably also had NYC premises permits an a pistol or two to go with it because of robbery insurance costs and a few who don't like to leave witnesses behind. Once the problem is curtailed, many probably sold the gun and let the permit expire. There is a difference between "gun culture" and casual gun owner. Most of these folks would be in the latter. Crime rates affect gun sales, not the reverse. Kind of like the suburbanite in the late sixties, when crime was going up, bought a revolver and threw it in the sock drawer, where it sat for the next 40 years. The kids discover it when dad passes away of old age, unfired and the same shells he loaded it with "just in case".