Today’s press release from the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) led off with the following headline: Crime With Firearms At Twenty-Year Low. Duhhhhhh…there’s only one problem. It’s not true. As I pointed out in my May 10 post, gun homicides and violent crime in general slid downward from the early 90s, but the number of gun homicides reached its lowest point in 2000, and the number of gun homicides and injuries fell to its lowest point in 2004. Since then, both numbers have been inching back up.
The NSSF and the NRA aren’t alone in mis-reading the Department of Justice Crime Report. Jennifer Rubin, a conservative blogger for the Washington Post, also reported that violent crime has hit a twenty-year low. But don’t assume that the only people who missed the boat on this one come from the gun industry. NBC News, not a particular friend of gun owners, categorically stated that violent crime had fallen “dramatically” over the past twenty years.
Later this week I’m going to put up a Post that will take the criminal trends all the way back to the 1960s. I guarantee you’ll be in for a surprise.
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