Gun violence has become a regular part of the news headlines this year. Murders in American cities spiked in 2021, particularly in large cities. So far this year, the trend has continued. The Wall Street Journal recently reported on a surge in gun violence in Seattle, which is generally considered a relatively safe city.

According to the Gun Violence Archive, there already have been 9,558 gun deaths in America so far in 2022. Even with stricter gun ownership and purchasing laws, the difficult fact is that about 400 million guns are currently owned by private citizens, the police, and the military. The chance that civilians who own guns will turn them into the government, no matter what the incentive, is small. (Violent crime in general has been rising.

Gun sales, meanwhile, have been increasing in recent years. There are several theories explaining the sharp rise in gun sales, particularly in 2020. Among them is the violence in American cities during protests. Another theory is that the pandemic, perhaps irrationally, has increased concerns about protecting one's property. The 2022 background checks figures show that some of these trends may have started to taper off.

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Inexplicably, gun sales collapsed in the first two months of this year, compared to the same period in 2021. So far, the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System reported 5,146,500 background checks, compared to 7,760,581 in January and February of 2021. That means the 2022 number was only 66% of the number for 2021.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/gun-sales-plunged-in-every-state-so-far-in-2022/ss-AAVyve9?li=BBnb7Kz