Significant reduction in violent crime during heavy handgun and AR-style rifle sales

[LockedBreech]

Thought you all might enjoy this. No politics, just a factual, statistical study. Apologies if it's been posted, searched and couldn't find it.

http://www.fbi.gov/page2/dec09/crimestats_122109.html

Key quotes

"Preliminary statistics released by the FBI for the first half of 2009 show that violent crime continues a downward trend that began in 2006. The figures show crime falling in all categories--robbery, aggravated assault, motor vehicle thefts, etc.--with murders down a remarkable 10 percent from the previous year.

The FBI statistics undermine a favorite argument of anti-gun groups... that "more guns equal more crime," especially when you consider that the decrease in violent crime from late 2008 through the first half of 2009 occurred at the same time that firearm sales were surging.

 

[Anticonn]

The "Assault" Weapons Ban became defunct in 2005, right?

 

[Double Naught Spy]

Thought you all might enjoy this. No politics, just a factual, statistical study.

It isn't all "just a factual statistical study" when the link you provide isn't to the statistics, but to a right wing interpretation of the statistics. The sections you cited are not statistics, but biased interpretations based on correlations without showing cause and effect.

The FBI statistics undermine a favorite argument of anti-gun groups... that "more guns equal more crime," especially when you consider that the decrease in violent crime from late 2008 through the first half of 2009 occurred at the same time that firearm sales were surging.

Apologies if it's been posted, searched and couldn't find it.

It was, but a different source for the same study is here and arguments countering the claims made here as well.
http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=389890&highlight=texas&page=2

 

[BryanP]

It's nice to see, but no matter what your political leanings you would do well to remember an important phrase:

Correlation does not equal causation.

Rising gun ownership may well be a factor, but I really doubt it's the only, or even the largest, factor.

 

[LockedBreech]

Double Naught, my mistake. I am actually more left-leaning than right, I was just having trouble finding the study itself, I just kept finding different sites that retold it. I tried to cut out politics in the actual post. Post has been edited, right-wing URL is gone with a direct link to the FBI study.

I fully understand that correlation does not equal causation. Time order, correlation, and the lack of a spurious variable are all necessary for causation. However, given that the claim is often made by anti-gun groups that there is a causal link between higher gun sales and violent crime, this study seems to debunk THAT false causal connection. My point wasn't to point out a causal connection between gun sales and a drop in violent crime, but to point out the false causal reasoning of gun sales and a RISE in violent crime.

The Federal Assault Weapons Ban was enacted in 1994 and expired in 2004 due to its sunset provision, anticonn.