The Trace is an anti-Second Amendment propaganda machine that sprouted from Everytown for Gun Safety. Billionaire former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a rabid gun rights opponent, founded and bankrolled that group.
With those bloodlines established, it is not surprising that the organization believes that more firearms equal more violent deaths. Even when hard data disproves this correlation, The Trace proverbially sticks to its guns.
More guns do not lead to more violence
Take the widely reported news that gun violence in 2026 is trending toward historic lows. If anti-gunners are correct, that indicates that gun ownership is down.
But is it?
The National Shooting Sports Foundation reports that gun sales are up from 2025, have increased for seven straight months, and top 1 million nearly every month. How does that equate to a drop in violent crime?
There are, of course, multiple causes in a nation of hundreds of millions of people, but with the country trending toward a record low in violent crime, increased gun ownership appears to have the exact opposite effect.
Something The Trace never considered.
Anti-gun outfit hatched predictable theories on causes of violent crime decline
Instead, the anti-Second Amendment outfit produced “four dozen scholars” and gleaned an interesting theory from them. “A range of factors–including the end of the pandemic, community violence intervention work, and focused deterrence from law enforcement and social services” are the driving forces for the welcome drop in crime.
Not a word about having more armed citizens.
Can a direct link be established between INCREASED gun ownership and stronger public safety? Perhaps, but there’s one conclusion that cannot be avoided, no matter how much The Trace wants to ignore it.
An increase in law-abiding citizens owning legal firearms has not resulted in a surge in violence.
The opposite is an established fact, and though reasonable people may disagree on cause and effect, a surge in private gun ownership did not do what opponents of the right to bear arms preach every single day.
Don’t hold your breath for a retraction from that position. It doesn’t fit the narrative.
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