[geeks] [rescue] Guns - what are they good for? - was Re: TME and Apple II and other Drive emulator questions.

[Andrew Jones]

On 05/21/2014 09:50 AM, Phil Stracchino wrote:
> As I already pointed out, from the violent crime perspective that's the
> wrong question.  The key statistic there is not *guns* per 100,000
> population, it's gun *owners* per 100,000 population.  Very, very few
> gun collectors are criminals.  If I own 27 firearms, and I murder my
> neighbor in a fit of jealous rage, I don't carefully make sure to shoot
> him once with each.  Nor am I 27 times more likely to murder him because
> I own 27 firearms.

Notably, gun ownership and violent crime have both been falling for decades.

Individual collectors buy a lot of guns, but the number of households 
indicating they are gun owners in social surveys is falling.