correlation does not equal causation. Economy, pop culture, social safety nets, offline-social networks, and so many other things are factors in all this.
the 90's were not the same at 2009 and not the same as 2021 by many means.
I just searched : https://www.startpage.com/do/dsearch?query=Pittsburgh+2008+w... - and even the left wing news is saying that gun rights folks are accurate in that most gun crime is committed by non-legal-firearms owners, like 8 out of 10.
It's a weird stat to consider anyhow. In my experiences, many crimes are not officially reported, and many are not reported completely - so all that is screwed anyhow. There is no way to know how many crimes are committed in each city with illegal gun possessors.