Must be the crossfire of contradictions....
"Share of households with guns drops, survey finds" by Sabrina Tavernise and Robert Gebeloff | New York Times, March 10, 2013
NEW YORK — The share of American households with guns has declined over the past four decades, a national survey shows, with some of the most surprising drops in the South and the Western mountain states, where guns are deeply embedded in the culture....
The rate has dropped in cities large and small, in suburbs, rural areas, and in all regions of the country. It has fallen among households with children, and among those without. It has declined for households that say they are very happy, and for those that say they are not. It is down among churchgoers and those who never sit in pews....
The findings contrast with the impression left by a flurry of news reports about people rushing to buy guns and clearing shop shelves of assault rifles after the massacre last year at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn.
Then someone is lying.
‘‘There are all these claims that gun ownership is going through the roof,’’ said Daniel Webster, the director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research. ‘‘But I suspect the increase in gun sales has been limited mostly to current gun owners. The most reputable surveys show a decline over time in the share of households with guns.’’
Detailed data on gun ownership is scarce....
There are no facts or evidence?
SIGH!
Measuring the level of gun ownership can be a vexing problem. Various recent national poll responses can vary because the survey designs and the wording of questions differ.
So what agenda you want support for?
But researchers say the survey done by the center at the University of Chicago is crucial because it has consistently tracked gun ownership since 1973, asking if respondents ‘‘happen to have in your home [or garage] any guns or revolvers.’’
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Gallup, which asks a similar question but has a different survey design, shows a higher ownership rate and a more moderate decrease....
Andrew Arulanandam, a spokesman for the National Rifle Association, said he was skeptical that there had been a decline in household gun ownership. He pointed to reports of increased gun sales, to long waits for gun safety training classes, and to the growing number of background checks, which have surged since the late 1990s, as evidence that ownership is rising.
Yeah, it would seem to indicate that, but my agenda-pushing study cited by my paper can't be a distortion or anything.
“I’m sure there are a lot of people who would love to make the case that there are fewer gun owners in this country, but the stories we’ve been hearing and the data we’ve been seeing simply don’t support that,’’ he said.
Tom W. Smith, the director of the General Social Survey, which is financed by the National Science Foundation, said he was confident in the trend.
And what was cut from the printed version I'm staring at?!!!!!!!!!???
It lines up, he said, with two evolving patterns in American life: the decline of hunting and a sharp drop in violent crime, which has made the argument for self-protection much less urgent.
And the argument for gun control less urgent, right?
Related: The Vile Statistics on Violent Crime
Any wonder why I'm confused and angry?
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Also see: The Globe and Gun Control
Sunday Globe Special: They Really Are Coming For Your Guns
Government ammunition stockpiling story breaks through media censorship and goes mainstream
Social Security Has a SWAT Team?
