The good news regarding gun violence is that it is in decline. In November 1999 the FBI reported that gun deaths in the United States dropped 21 percent between 1993 and 1997 to the lowest level in more than thirty years, and firearm-related injuries fell 41 percent. Survey figures from the FBI indicate that major violent and property crimes reported to police dropped again in 1999, down 7 percent from the year before. Experts cite a variety of factors that may have contributed to lower levels of gun violence, including tougher gun control laws, a booming economy, better police work, increasing rates of incarceration, declining crack and cocaine use, and a dip in the number of young males, the group most prone to violent crime.

But despite this decline, the public’s perception that gun violence is a serious problem seems to be growing: American...