There are a couple of memes that need dispelling.
First is that the mid-term shellacking of Dems was due to gun control. This is SOOOOO wrong. First, gun control was so far down the list of concerns as not to be a factor. Second, in instances where gun control was a factor like Colorado and Virginia, the gun control proponents won.
Everytown supported and endorsed a number of candidates in state and local elections. In an email they claimed an 86% win rate. Again, not sure how much the gun issue had to do with it but ET and MDA endorsements clearly weren't a factor in defeats. As a side note the NRA claims a 90% win rate for endorsed candidates but it appears to me they are claiming credit for every Republican win. I guess that's legitimate because they support the Republican party regardless of NRA scorecard. However in the 2012 election the NRA scored .03 return on investment for candidates contributions (Rachel Maddow show). In at least one case an NRA backed Governor is continuing with gun control policies in his state.
Homicide rates have been flat for the last decade. Non suicide gun deaths have been flat as well. However, injury rates are up a bit. It seems more gunshot woulds are being survived because of improved trauma treatment. 15 years at war tends to improve gunshot treatment I guess.
Gun homicides are down from the '90s but compared to Canada (the country most nearly comparable to the US in education, ethnicity, income and industrialization) a US citizen is 6x more likely to suffer a homicide and 12x the next nearest country. The meme that it's all good because homicides and crime are down is simply false.
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