By NRA’s Institute of Legislative Action
Last week, the FBI released its Crime in the United States report for 2011. For the 18th time in the last 20 years, the nation’s violent crime rate has gone down. In 2011, as compared to 2010, the total violent crime rate decreased 4.3 percent, to a 41-year low, down 49 percent since the all-time high in 1991. The murder rate decreased 2.1 percent, to a 48-year low, down 52 percent since 1991.
Meanwhile during the last 20 years, the number of privately owned guns has risen by about 130 million, including several million “assault weapons,” about 60 million handguns, and countless millions of ammunition magazines that hold more than 10 rounds.
Perhaps we missed something, but we couldn’t find anything mentioning the FBI’s recent report on the Brady Campaign and Violence Policy Center websites. It’s not hard to imagine why.