Do you think that the increase in CWL's has contributed to the reduction in violent crime nationwide?

Yes, there is a correlation of the two. Variou cities and states over the years has shown the same thing. This can be easily researched and verified.

I'm a systems type. So one went up and one went down. How much they are related is the big question. Vegas odds would likely put it at "some" but not most or all. Another problem is with looking at "big macro" numbers and drawing absolute conclusions. It's like global warming. Are we the cause of it or is it a boil on the hippo's butt? The answer is most likely in between. There will always be outliers. Take the murder rate in Chicago. The extremes have a different dynamic driving their big number.

Criminals are like the islam "refugees". They're only attacking people they know they can get away with. Once they find out they can't they play stupid or play the victim in some instances. That is if he articles I've read are true anyway. They just want an easy mark