Better options for dealing with boredom outside of general crime. I remember hearing a few years ago about older somali pirates complaining about internet cafes and video games making things difficult for finding young recruits for their field.
Drug and alcohol abuse down. Steep decline in alcohol consumption in the under 30 crowd. Teen pregnancy down (at least in the blue parts of the country). Reduction of lead in drinking water and household products. Much better awareness about mental health. A dramatically widened media landscape that does a better job in creating distraction. Improved emergency medical care.
Yeah, my understanding is the big jump in gunshot survival rates happened in the '80s/'90s (with the increase in murder rates - all the extra people being shot improved medical responses). The survival rate has basically been flat for the last 20 years from what I can tell.
Looking at the stats, the total number of shootings (fatal and non-fatal) increased during the pandemic. There’s a pretty straightforward explanation as to why - at the start of the pandemic, gun sales went through the roof (people expecting a collapse of society and preparing for it… with guns). More guns in homes = more murders, more suicides, more non-fatal and accidental shootings, all of which saw increases with the pandemic.
