The second amendment of the constitution guarantees the right to keep and bear arms. As the specter of gun violence continues in our workplaces, roads and schools, the question keeps arising: do guns keep you safe, or just increase the level of violence?
Since 1991, violent crime crime has decreased to about a 30-year low, and murder has decreased to about a 40-year low, as the number of guns has risen more than four million a year, to an all-time high. Violent crime peaked in 1991. Since then, total violent crime has decreased 39 percent, and murder is particular has decreased 44 percent. Total violent crime is lower now than anytime since the mid-1970s, while murder is lower than anytime since the mid-1960s.
Also since 1991, the number of guns in the U.S. has risen by more than four million annually, to an all-time high. Moreover, in the same time frame, federal, state, and gun control laws have been eliminated or made less restrictive. Gun control supporters claimed that crime would skyrocket without a waiting period on handgun sales, and if the federal "assault weapon" law expired, and if states adopted NRA-supported Right-to-Carry laws. Well, the waiting period expired in favor of the NRA-supported Instant Check, the "assault weapon" law expired, the number of Right-to-Carry states has risen from 10 to 40 since 1987 and, as noted, violent crime decreased.
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