Virginian-Pilot -- Firearms sales in Virginia are increasing while gun-related violent crimes are declining.
Firearms sales rose 16 percent in 2012 to a record 490,119 guns purchased in 444,844 transactions, according to federally licensed gun dealer sales estimates obtained by the Richmond Times-Dispatch. During the same period, major crimes committed with firearms dropped 5 percent to 4,378.
"This appears to be additional evidence that more guns don't necessarily lead to more crime," said Thomas R. Baker, an assistant professor at Virginia Commonwealth University's L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs who specializes in research methods and criminology theory.
"It's a quite interesting trend given the current rhetoric about strengthening gun laws and the presumed effect it would have on violent crimes," Baker told the newspaper. "While you can't conclude from this that tougher laws wouldn't reduce crime even more, it really makes you question if making it harder for law-abiding people to buy a gun would have any effect on crime."
But he cautioned against drawing any conclusions that more guns in the hands of Virginians are causing a corresponding drop in gun crime.
Josh Horwitz, executive director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, said that the real question is how many guns are sold without a background check.
"In other words, if people who buy those guns and have a background check, and keep those guns and don't sell them, then you would not expect that those guns would affect the crime rate," Horwitz told the newspaper. "The important analysis is not the total number of guns sold with a background check, but rather the number of guns sold without a background check."
Virginia State Police conduct instant background checks on everyone seeking to purchase a gun through a federally licensed firearms dealer in Virginia.
Entire column...
Blog author's comments - I am sure that not only Virginia but most states have seen a significant rise in gun and ammunition sales. And this rise is not because of whom the left labels as "gun nuts" stocking up on guns and ammo. A huge number of these sales are first time gun owners. Obama has been the main reason gun stores cannot keep many types of guns and most ammunition in stock. The new gun customers feel that they should buy a gun now before the Obama administration passes laws which will make it more difficult to have a gun. There has also been a large increase of men and women acquiring concealed carry permits.
"Josh Horwitz, executive director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, said that the real question is how many guns are sold without a background check." Hey Mr. Horwitz...I wonder who would ever buy a gun without a background check. You don't suppose it would be the criminals in our society do you? I see no effort in attempting to gain control of the gangs and criminals in most cities who are doing the majority of shootings and killings with illegal guns.
The anti-gun people are not interested in any facts about legal gun ownership and its effect on gun related crime. A simpleton can understand that criminals don't abide by gun laws, or any law for that matter. What Josh Horwitz, Barack Obama, Diane Feinstein and many Democrats want to pass is laws to severely infringe upon the ownership of many types of guns by law abiding citizens. They don't like the premise of the 2nd Amendment.
Before Obama's final term ends he will attempt to pass more gun control laws and these laws will only affect the law abiding legal gun owners. This is only one of the many reasons why the election of 2014 is so very important. The Republican Party has got to maintain control of the House or Obama will pass any legislation he desires. And that includes many new gun control laws that will do serious damage to our Second Amendment rights.
