Crime overall may have declined by about 5 percent in 2020, but the social harm from the rise in murders, most of which were committed with guns, more than offset the reduction of several hundred thousand fewer reported crimes total. Crime overall may have declined by about 5 percent in 2020, but the social harm from the rise in murders, most of which were committed with guns, more than offsets the reduction of several hundred thousand fewer reported crimes total. While some criminologists have disputed large estimates for the social costs of gun violence on political grounds, fearing that they may be used to justify policies they don't like (such as imprisonment), the large burden gun violence imposes on society is equally an argument for more spending on social programs.