It’s been a long time since I’ve given up on the idea that banning any type of firearm would reduce the number of crimes. I do believe in registration, licensing and training to buy a gun.
But recently I’ve lost faith in the idea the gun ownership reduce crime as well. There are 1st world countries who require citizen to own fire arms like and some that don’t allow private gun ownership at all and both types of nations have lower rates of gun murder.
So dose the number of gun owners effect a countries/state’s/counties/cities level of crime? Or is gun ownership a topic that the public and lawmakers have gotten stuck on in the debate on how to make are society safer?
Basically, if you were able to conduct an experiment where gun ownership was the only variable then you might see a difference in crime rates. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case. There are other variables that are much more indicative of a crime rate, namely police presence, unemployment, population density, economic opportunity, etc. There are some cities that have banned guns that have a higher crime rate than cities with liberal conceal-carry laws and vice-versa.
The best way to reduce crime is to have a strong economy that is able to create opportunity to every economic level, as well as an involved police presence. Having a society that has traditionally low crime rates due to cultural factors is also a help.
No, there’s no direct link. Unless of course you’re Sarah Brady, in which case the link is obvious and indisputable.