Why Do So Many People Think Gun Violence Is Getting Worse?

One of the most striking public policy stories in urban America for the past generation – true all across the country but mysterious in its causes – has been the steep decline in gun homicides and violent crime since the early 1990s. Gun homicides peaked in the United States in 1993, a zenith that coincides with the worst reputations of devolving cities in the midst of crack epidemics and white flight.

Since then, firearm homicides have declined, dramatically through the 1990s and then more slowly since 2000. Non-fatal firearm crimes have declined. And violent crime in general has gone down, too. By 2010, the firearm homicide rate in America was 49 percent lower than it was in 1993. This chart, from a report out today by the Pew Research Center, shows the long-term trend in gun homicides since 1980: