Guns and Crime, Going in Different Directions

Quick and dirty macrodata chart from the NRA via LewRockwell.com on guns and crime in the U.S. showing that as gun possession goes up and gun laws loosen, violent crime goes down. From 1991-2009, total violent crime down 43 percent (with murder down 49 percent). Meanwhile:

There are well over 250 million privately-owned firearms in the U.S., including nearly 100 million handguns and tens of millions of "assault weapons"…and the number of firearms typically rises about 4 million per year.6 Annual numbers of new AR-15s, the most popular semi-automatic rifle that gun control supporters call an "assault weapon," are soaring. In 2008, there were more than 337,000 new AR-15s configured for home defense, competition, training, recreational target practice and hunting.7 NRA-supported Instant Check firearm transactions have increased over 10 percent annually since 2006.8