6 ms·
Inflation fears are also a big driver. Bullets have a long shelf life. You also forgot the crime wave ripping across the country and inadequate policing.
by lugged 5y ago
Inflation fears are also a big driver. Bullets have a long shelf life.
You also forgot the crime wave ripping across the country and inadequate policing.
- ec109685 5y agoIt’s not a wave. While it has spiked, we are way safer than we were in the 1990’s: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jun/30/us-crime-rate-homcides-explained https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jun/30/us-crime-rat...
- charrondev 5y agoAnd less than in the 2000s? There’s a generation of adults who grew up with a gradual decreasing of crime rates throughout their lifetime. A regression to where we were 20 years ago is cause for some alarm.
- adolph 5y agoThe grain of salt to add is that rates are dependent on reporting, just like rates of a disease are dependent on diagnosis. In my part of the US, the rate of “burglar bars” on windows have slowly gone down and I see no uptick. This leads me to give credence the “crime down” hypothesis based on people’s behavior at scale. On the other hand I see more preparation for civil disaster and disorder. Firearms may be more part of that story than a reflection of people’s thoughts about the potential for victimization during a “normal” day.
- dogorman 5y agoA rising awareness of the risks posed by house fires might also suppress the rate of burglar bar installations. If there were a fire in my house, I wouldn't want bars blocking my egress.
- ec109685 5y agoI also bet the popularization of alarm systems help as well.
- greenie_beans 5y agoI’ll add that crime data is created by police. And a lot of them report a crime whether or not it led to a conviction. So somebody can get charged with a crime, be not guilty, and they’ll still be added to the statistics.
- kaliali 5y agoReport: Murders Rise 16% Across Major U.S. Cities in 2021 https://counciloncj.org/impact-report-1/ https://counciloncj.org/impact-report-1/
- lugged 5y agoJesus, I didn't know people cared so much about metaphorical language choices. Guess it's all narrative shaping though eh. It's good we have people like you to police little old me from speaking out against your chosen narrative. Enjoy your spike.
- ec109685 5y agoI wasn't criticising your choice of words – just that people are over estimating the amount of new crime. This article talks about that phenonium: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/07/there-no-national-crime/619506/ https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/07/there-no-n...
- lugged 5y agoThey're not over estimating the amount of new crime. They're estimating the amount of unpunished crime which is why a "spike" or a "wave" whatever that even really means, is having a disproportionate response in gun sales.
- tedunangst 5y agoWill be interesting to come back a year from now and see how many crimes were stopped by new gun owners.
- meowster 5y agoHow do you propose we measure that?
- tedunangst 5y agoFollow up survey with the people buying guns? Whatever survey determined people buy guns because crime is increasing, call them back in a year and ask how often they used their gun.
- lugged 5y agoThe only people that do this is the NRA. The government put a sanction on that kind of research in govt agencies because they didn't want to give ammunition (ick) to the NRA funded by the taxpayer.
- AdrianB1 5y agoStopping crime by not using the guns is the best way and it is hard to measure. Knowing your neighbours are all armed discourages robberies in that area, how to measure this?
- 88854473 5y agoLikely none. But what would be interesting is to come back here in a few years and see how many of those defending en masse arming are now preparing to take refuge in Europe or Canada because the us would have succumbed to civil war. Or would have become so violent that no sane person could live there.