Many gun owners are hidden criminals.

[Atypical Liberal]

68. That is really not the point of Kates' work.

Whether or not murders have committed serious enough crimes to disqualify themselves from owning firearms or not is not really the point, though it would appear from your data that a considerable percentage, 30%-40%, do have prior felony convictions.

The point of Kates' study is that people who have committed murder almost universally have an extensive prior criminal record, which means that people who commit murder almost certainly work their way up to a callous disregard for human life over the span of many lesser crimes against others.

The point of Kates' and others work is not that murderers would not have access to guns because of their record. The point is that very seldom do law abiding people just snap and commit murder.