Now, this article, taken from today’s Seattle Times Website does say tough gun control helped, however, it *is* pointed out that the police taking a preventative stance on gun enforcement is likely responsible. I think what is paramount is for we, the pro community, use this information to combat the notion that, with all the media coverage making the average person think that gun violence is getting to be *the worst ever*.
Gun-related deaths fall to lowest rate since ’60s

by James Pilcher
The Associated Press
ATLANTA – Thanks to a booming economy, falling crime rates and tougher gun-control laws, Americans were much less likely to die from gun-related incidents in 1997 than in 1993, according to a new report.

The Atlanta-based U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said yesterday that gun deaths in the United States dropped 21 percent over the five-year period and that nonfatal firearm-related injuries fell 41 percent.

The study looked at all gunshot wounds – whether intentional, accidental or self-inflicted – reported at emergency rooms.

The report said there were 39,595 gun-related deaths in 1993, about 15.4 per 100,000 people. That number fell to 32,436 in 1997, about 12.1 per 100,000.

The death rate “is the lowest it’s been since the mid-’60s,” said J. Lee Annest, a CDC statistician. “This progress is really encouraging and really says that joint prevention efforts of public-health officials, legislators and law enforcement should continue.”

The drop was not unexpected: Homicide rates in the 1990s have fallen to levels not seen since the 1960s, and about two-thirds of all homicides are committed with guns.

The latest figures also include suicides and accidental deaths, which dropped by 10.9 percent and 38.1 percent, respectively.

Nonfatal shootings fell from 104,390 to 64,207 in the same period, or from 40.5 per 100,000 to 24.0.

Bill Manown, a spokesman for the National Rifle Association, said the numbers prove that more gun laws aren’t needed; the laws on the books need to be enforced.

“It is a fact that this substantial drop in gun violence directly correlated to a big increase in gun enforcement by police,” said Lawrence Sherman, a University of Pennsylvania professor who has studied gun policy. “Police were not treating guns in a preventive sense prior to 1993 and now they are.”

But gun-control advocates said the recent focus of keeping guns away from criminals also should be expanded to include those who are emotionally distraught.

“This is something we’ve known is a problem, but society needs to wake up and address it,” said Nancy Hwa, spokeswoman for Handgun Control and the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence.

Some experts also credit a strong economy that has helped reduce overall crime and suicide attempts. Margaret Zahn, a North Carolina State University criminology professor, said prosperity has allowed governments to spend more on services that prevent gun violence, such as domestic-violence shelters and youth-recreation programs.

The CDC also listed such possible factors as an aging population and the waning of the crack trade.