School Gun Shootings: Access to Guns or Something Else?

I don't think anyone will assert (if you do, please cite sources) that school gun shootings were more prevalent in the U.S. fifty, sixty or seventy years ago than today.

I also don't think that anyone can seriously argue that access to guns was more strictly controlled fifty, sixty or seventy years ago than today.

So, then, if access to guns was far easier fifty, sixty or seventy years ago than today and yet there were not just fewer but [b]FAR FEWER[/b] school shootings than today, isn't it reasonable to conclude that other factors are at work that are resulting in [b]FAR MORE[/b] school shootings than simply the mere access to a firearm?

EDIT:
Statistical reference
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_school_shootings_in_the_United_States

School Massacres Around the World
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_school_massacres_by_death_toll

This page is a permanent link to the reply below and its nested replies. See all post replies »

Graylight · 51-55, F

There are twice as many guns in the US now as there were 50 years ago. There are currently about 300 million firearms. Important in this equation is that a correlation has been drawn between having a gun in a home and the probability of homicide or suicide.

Incidentally, gun violence has actually been on the decline over the last two decades. In 1993, there were seven homicides by firearm for every 100,000 Americans, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. By 2013, that figure had fallen by nearly half, to 3.6 — a total of 11,208 firearm homicides.

Sources:
https://www.npr.org/2016/01/05/462017461/guns-in-america-by-the-numbers

https://qz.com/1095899/gun-ownership-in-america-in-three-charts/

Killias, M. (1993). International correlations between gun ownership and rates of homicide and suicide. CMAJ: Canadian Medical Association Journal, 148(10), 1721–1725.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/12/03/weve-had-a-massive-decline-in-gun-violence-in-the-united-states-heres-why/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.c57735e1f7e3

beckyromero · 36-40, F

@Graylight

[quote]There are twice as many guns in the US now as there were 50 years ago. There are currently about 300 million firearms.[/quote]

The unanswered question from that data though is whether than means a higher percentage of people own guns or is it gun owners owning more guns?

Graylight · 51-55, F

@beckyromero There's an estimated one gun for every American, but only 1/3 of the population owns one, so it would seem we have some neighbors amassing weapons.

beckyromero · 36-40, F

@Graylight Thanks. I've always wondered what percentage. One-third is still fairly sizable, especially if you factor out children. And, if so, is it one-third of all adults or one-third of all households?

Graylight · 51-55, F

@beckyromero From CNN (and those with CNN-phobia, these stats exists elsewhere as well): "High quality telephone polls from Gallup and the Pew Research Center in 2017 found that 42% of people in the US live in households with guns. According to the General Social Survey, which has a much higher response rate than telephone polls and interviews people in person, a relatively lower 32% of Americans said in 2016 that they lived in household with guns. The gap between telephone and GSS surveys has existed in some form for 20 years, so it isn't just a one-off difference."

There are no reliable statistics because too many states require to licensure or registration for gun ownership, so it's a best guess situation.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/15/politics/guns-dont-know-how-many-america/index.html