Over the last year or so, we’ve seen a dramatic increase in violent crime, particularly homicides. Yes, most of these have also involved guns. I won’t pretend facts don’t exist, after all.

We can trace much of this violence to the aftermath of the death of George Floyd.

Floyd was killed during an arrest, the entire encountered on video, and sparked massive public outrage. People were angry, but some people started screaming about defunding the police. This was also about the time that murder rates started skyrocketing.

Oh, but CNN has other thoughts on what happened.

One of the fastest-growing cities in the country, the capital of Texas is nearing the end of its deadliest year on record in 2021 as cities nationwide are experiencing a rise in homicides and gun violence incidents that began last year when the pandemic tightened its grip on the US.

Fueled by what both authorities and community leaders say is the easy access to guns, Austin has recorded 88 homicides so far this year, shattering the previous high of 59 in 1984.

…

The final factor experts say is causing violent crime to go up is a “huge surge in gun sales that began at the beginning of the pandemic and has not slowed down,” he said.

A small but significant number of these guns are “ending up in the wrong hands and being used in gun crimes,” Abt added.

Show your work.

No, I’m serious, I want to see hard data that lawfully purchased firearms ended up in criminal hands.

See, I have always rejected this whole “easy access to guns” fueling violent crime thing for a couple of reasons. One is that there were no changes that increased access to firearms over the last year or so. Yes, more people bought them, but these are people who passed NICS background checks and had no felony convictions whatsoever. The access to these weapons, though, hasn’t changed.

Additionally, if more guns automatically equated to more crime, then why did violent crime drop after more and more states started repealing decades of gun control laws?

I’m sorry, but guns aren’t the problem. They’ve never been the problem.

What they truly are, though, is the scapegoat. They’re the thing you can blame because you don’t know what’s going on but don’t want the public to think you can’t keep control over your city.

That’s the role guns actually play in all of this.

However, guns can also be the solution. If enough of these thugs start getting shot trying to pull this kind of thing, enough of their buddies will get the message that trying such antics is a good way to lower one’s life expectancy.

As it should be.

But that doesn’t help the narrative. They have to try and convince people that guns are bad.

Unfortunately for them, what we’ve seen in the past is that when violent crime rises, people start wanting to arm themselves. They recognize the police can’t protect them–not just that they won’t protect them, but that they physically can’t–and opt to be more proactive about their safety.

At the end of the day, the problem is going to take care of itself, just so long as the ninnies who freak out over anyone having a gun don’t get their way.