You can't say "but guns stayed the same and crime both increased and decreased at points, which means that guns don't affect crime". I didn't say they don't af

You can't say "but guns stayed the same and crime both increased and decreased at points, which means that guns don't affect crime". I didn't say they don't affect crime, but if crime spikes, then drops then spikes, while gun ownership remains steady, then it is a piece of evidence that crime is largely driven by something other than the quantity of guns.