My grandfather's nearly 100-year-old shotgun rests quietly above my fireplace. It was a proud day many years ago when I was finally old enough to shoot it, and the memory still makes my shoulder ache.
Recently, I took the old gun down, just after reading about the senseless jihadist shootings in San Bernardino and the shrill cries for more gun control afterwards. The old gun spurs fond memories, but it is only a relic. Like any gun, it has no soul and commits neither wicked nor good deeds. Blaming guns instead of people for the problems in our society is superficial. Let's consider some facts.
Between 1993 and 2013, nationwide, homicide rates using guns dropped 49 percent. In 1993, there were 7 homicides per 100,000 people, but in 2013, there were 3.6. Closer to home in Chattanooga, while gun violence is still too high, overall crime has dropped similarly. In 2001, there were 16.6 murders per 100,000, but it dropped to 10.3 in 2013. It's the right direction, but we know we can do better.
Ironically, the drop in violent crime parallels an unprecedented growth in the total number of firearms owned by Americans. Gun sales in the country remained stable at about 3.4 million per year from 2001 to 2007, but they've increased dramatically each year since. Since Obama came to office, Ruger announced a 700 percent increase in sales while Smith & Wesson is up 450 percent, according to Economist magazine.
A July 2015 Washington Times article stated the number of right-to-carry permits issued nationwide more than tripled between 2010 and 2014, and the fastest growing group attending those classes were women, whose attendance soared 270 percent. Interestingly, three times as many black women enrolled as white women. Smith and Wesson reported this year that more than 37 percent of its first-time gun buyers were women. Also, among Americans identifying themselves as Democrats, gun ownership increased from 30 percent in 2009 to 40 percent in 2014.
Those numbers, however, don't make it more palatable to read about another Chattanooga homicide in our headlines. What should we do? The panacea for the left is stricter gun control, but such policies alone have not worked. Some of the most violent attacks recently occurred in states having strict policies: Sandy Hook, Conn.; Umpqua Community College, Ore.; and San Bernardino, Calif.
As a further example, compare gun control policies in Houston and Chicago. Chicago, with a population of 2.7 million, has some of the strictest gun control laws in the country. Houston, with almost 2.2 million, has some of the most relaxed laws. No guns are sold legally in Chicago, but in Houston you can buy a gun at more than 150 gun stores or at more than 1,500 retail stores like Wal-Mart or sporting goods stores. Chicago has no right-to-carry laws. Houston does. Last year Chicago experienced 460 homicides. Houston had 239, almost half.
There are potentially effective programs, proposed by groups like the National Rifle Association, that further limit bad actors from accessing guns while still protecting Second Amendment rights. However, until the left argues with facts instead of self-righteous scorn, there is little hope for compromise.
Such disdain was famously displayed in the infamous New York Times front page anti-gun editorial following the recent San Bernardino shootings. The last line asks, "What better time than during a presidential election to show, at long last, that our nation has retained its sense of decency?"
So, let me get this straight: If I don't support the anti-gun Democrat, I have no sense of decency?
Hmm. I think I'll oil the old shotgun.
Roger Smith is a regular contributor to the Chattanooga Times Free Press. He is author of "American Spirit."