From the founding of the country to 1950 there were 16 assassinations of politicians. From 1950 to present there were 16 assassinations of politicians - i.e., assassinations are far more frequent in the last 60 years than in any other era. Meanwhile, gun ownership (self-reported) has been dropping (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_politics#United_States), at least since 1973. So there is no correlation between rates of gun ownership and frequency of assassination.
(Disclaimer: This doesn't account for unsuccessful assassination attempts or assassinations of non-politicians. Adding in those numbers may alter things.)
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Date: 2011-01-11 10:34 am (UTC)From the founding of the country to 1950 there were 16 assassinations of politicians. From 1950 to present there were 16 assassinations of politicians - i.e., assassinations are far more frequent in the last 60 years than in any other era. Meanwhile, gun ownership (self-reported) has been dropping (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_politics#United_States), at least since 1973. So there is no correlation between rates of gun ownership and frequency of assassination.
(Disclaimer: This doesn't account for unsuccessful assassination attempts or assassinations of non-politicians. Adding in those numbers may alter things.)