Christian Science Monitor Apparently Among 88% That Don't Know Firearm Related Crime is Declining

The Christian Science Monitor had this article yesterday asking "Is price of an armed America a more dangerous America."  You get the message from the story's title that America is an increasingly dangerous place.  Fact: Over the last twenty years homicides committed with a firearm have declined 49%.  However, the Pew Research Survey that found that little factoid also noted that only 12% of the public knew crime had decreased.

At the same time the Monitor article notes more women are target practicing and taking concealed carry classes (complete with video of a news story on home invasions targeting women), they also trot out this comment from the gun ban lobby:

Gun-control advocates consequently see the gun-carry movement as populated at least in part by white men who feel politically unempowered and who may be inclined to indulge in displays of extra muscle and power over their fellow citizens.

Professor Glenn Reynolds notes in the article that U.S. Supreme Court decisions like Heller "defined new parameters of self-defense and the carrying of firearms, making it more acceptable." And it is the broader acceptance that has likely lead to a 101% increase in firearm sales in Virginia between 2006 and 2012.  For those who think more guns equal more crime, with all those new firearms in the hands of Virginian's,  the Commonwealth's violent crime rate is the 4th lowest in the nation.  Maybe the Monitor should have looked at those numbers before asking if the trade off for a more armed America is a more dangerous America.