Yep. They’re cooking the books.
I expect to see all kinds of book cooking in the next 6 months.
Crime down.
The economy is great.
The border is secure.
Food and fuel prices are down.
All lies.
Note, also, that something similar was happening back when the first assault rifle ban was put in place. It was atop a years’ long decline in gun crime. So, the idiots who push gun control said : “See, our ban works.”
The law was allowed to lapse in part because every study that looked into it showed that the ban did not even cause a blip in the steady decrease.
This “cooked books” analysis will be (mis)used in the same way. Causation vs correlation.
In reality it only matters if people feel safe.not if they actually are safe. Ain’t going to Baltimore, DC or Philly anytime soon.