New analysis shows annual rate of gun-related homicides down nearly 50 percent since 1993

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In the wake of several mass shootings across the country, America’s gun control laws have become a topic of controversial debate with candidates and citizens across the country weighing-in with varied opinions.

Many Americans believe the number of gun-related homicides has risen in recent years. That, however, is not the case.

According to new analysis released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center of death certificate data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the annual rate of gun-related homicides is on a steady decline —  the United States has seen nearly a 50 percent drop between 1993 to 2013.

According to Breitbart News, that’s the same time period in which The Washington Post (WaPo) reported firearm ownership doubled in the United States. Estimating that the “average gun owner went from owning 4.1 guns in 1994 to owning 8.1 in 2013.”

Which Breitbart News points out “shows that this surge in privately owned guns did not correlate with an increase in firearm-related homicides but with a plunge in the annual firearm-related homicide rate, which fell from 7 per 100,000 Americans in 1993 to 3.6 per 100,000 in 2013.”

Data from the Crime Prevention Research Center shows also during that same time, since 2007, the number of concealed handgun permit nationally skyrocketed from 4.6 million to over 12.8 million.

In Alabama, the exact number of  conceal-carry permits is unclear, but according to statistics from the FBI, pre-sale gun background checks in the state has increased in recent years — rising from 336,102 in 2011 to 621,305 in 2014 — roughly 85 percent.