Mary Sanchez, who writes an opinion column carried in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, writes that the rate of gun ownership in America is in decline since rates peaked in the 1970s.
That's not the obvious conclusion from all the furor over gun control these days. So what gives?
It seems that fewer homes contain guns now, even though the manufacturing of guns has increased dramatically from 3.7 million to 6.1 million between 2007 and 2011. That can only mean that fewer people are buying more guns.
Sanchez says it's like buying cell phones. "Once you're hooked, only the newest killer version will do, prompting more frequent gun purchases." But not everyone is hooked. Sanchez says that the appeal is mostly to older white men. "Younger people are more likely to play soccer than sit in a duck blind or deer stand."
What about all those news stories of women flocking to shooting ranges to practice with their pink-handled pistols? "Gun industry fairy tales." The rate of gun ownership among women was 14% in 1982 and declined to less than 10% in 2010.
So is it all a big marketing-lobbying strategy to make profits for the gun industry? It seems that is part of it. The other part (my analysis, not Sanchez's) is a combination of anxiety about economic hard times and major social changes, so that many people feel their way of life threatened.
Many blame the liberal government, specifically President Obama, and conservative politicians and the gun industry fan these flames into a paranoia that -- guess what? -- leads to stocking up on guns before the government tries to take them away.
Neat, huh? The only trouble is that a lot of people get killed with these guns. A lot of innocent people. And a lot of the very people, and their family members, who bought these guns.
We have a big problem, even though the interest in guns seems in decline overall.
Ralph
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