Only 5 percent were rejected because of violent crime convictions. It's not hard to imagine that those felons simply turned around and bought a gun on the streets or had a friend buy them one at a store. University of Chicago law professor John Lott in a recent analysis found that the Brady Bill didn't show any beneficial effects. You're probably guessing part of it is because so many of Bill and Hillary's friends have recently been put away. But remember we're talking violent crime here, not that genteel white-collar stuff.
Incarceration clearly is a factor, though.
Since 1980, the prison population has tripled. Just in the last two years, the population of state and federal prisons has increased by almost 14 percent. This has not only the direct effect of keeping the bad guys off the streets, but there is good evidence that stiffer sentences have a deterrent effect on would-be bad guys. The National Center for Policy Analysis in Dallas, Texas released a report earlier this year analyzing why that state had a huge drop in serious crime over the last few years. The average time served for serious crimes increased by a half.