Reply #52: I would put the rule change at Stone Mountain in the "responsible gun laws" category, IMO.

[benEzra]

The prior rule certainly did not stop anyone from bringing guns into the park; to the extent that it even existed (I have visited Stone Mountain Park with guns in the vehicle on multiple occasions in the past two decades, and was not aware there was even a token rule against it), it was merely moral grandstanding with no impact on safety or violence.



FWIW, the considerable increase in the ownership of nonhunting guns since the 1980's has coincided with a rather remarkable decrease in gun crime, gun accidents, and gun murders of police officers. I am not arguing causality here, merely noting the absence of correlation with the "more lawfully owned guns automatically equals more gun murder" hypothesis. And gun murder is associated very strongly with prior criminal records.