Quote:
Originally Posted by Number 10 GI
Crime should have been rampant during the Great Depression but from what I've read about that period of economic catastrophe, there wasn't a drastic rise in crime.
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Actually, crime and murders did increase during the Great Depression - it spawned many gang murders in the big cities and often involved the Mafia. Many factors were different in 1929 than today obviously. The US population was 123 million people then. Most people were farmers and the Midwest became a "dust bowl" where much of the rich topsoil blew away. The average farmer would own a shotgun or a bolt action rifle for deer hunting. Only career criminal mafia types would possess semi-auto rifles or automatic "machine guns". In 1929 the ratio of guns per person was probably less than .25 - today it is 1.2 guns per person in the US. In 1929 there was no NRA or gun manufacturer's lobby trying desperately (for high profits) to convince every young male that they NEEDED a semi-auto, low recoil, MAN-killing weapon with a 30 round banana mag. Yes, the "times they are a-changing"!