From catherine.driscoll at adelaide.edu.au Wed Apr 28 21:15:14 1999
I am happy to stand by the position that guns are a crucial
factor in this problem *as it is*, not as it might be in
another context.
I don't see how they could be crucial.
I came across a great series of graphs last night while surfing around that calls this into question.
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/homicide/teens.htm
It looks to me like in the early 90's there was a dramatic surge in homicide {victims,offenders} among young adults (but no one else); similarly, since then, there has been a dramatic decrease in that same group. Everyone else sorta stayed the same or even went down slightly. There was a similar bulge around 1980.
How this could correlate with gun availability is beyond me.
/jordan