The murder rate declined significantly in the United States in the 1990s:
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Most homicides in the US (74.4 percent in 2016) are committed with guns, so it should come as no surprise that the gun homicide rate dropped over this period, too. Michael Planty and Jennifer Truman of the Bureau of Justice Statistics found that between 1993 and 2011, gun homicides fell 39 percent, and non-fatal firearm crimes fell 69 percent.
There was a slight uptick in murder rates in 2015 and 2016, but they fell in 2017 and appear to have fallen in 2018 too.
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There’s roughly one gun for every person in America
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Gun crime is more prevalent in the US than in other rich countries
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Places with more guns have more homicides
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There are more gun suicides than gun homicides in America
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Suicide is more common in places with more guns
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Living in a house with a gun increases your odds of death
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Guns contribute to domestic violence
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Mass shootings represent a tiny share of all shooting deaths
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A tiny fraction of gun violence is committed by the mentally ill
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Gun control is generally popular
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