Via Dave Hardy we have a view from the other side.
I haven’t read the entire thing yet but I found this interesting (page 4):
Ironically, the surge in gun purchases coincided with an ammunition shortage in the U.S. in 2009. Industry experts estimate that close to 12 billion rounds of ammunition were sold that year, up from average annual sales figures that lie somewhere between 7 billion and 10 billion.
First off, I don’t see anything ironic about ammo sales increasing dramatically at the same time as gun sales go up.
But more importantly--think about those numbers. 12 billion rounds of ammunition is almost enough for two rounds for every person on the planet!
If it were true, as some bigots claim, that guns and bullets (or some knives) are only good for killing people then nearly all those bullets must have been defective. Or as Eric Shelton says, “If handguns cause crime, mine’s defective”. The violent crime rate did not go up in proportion to the gun or ammunition sales. Hence it cannot be truthfully claimed that “gun availability” increase violent crime.