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Journal Article

Citation

Zimmerman FJ, Hawkins G. Responsive Community 1997; 7(2): 46-60.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1997, George Washington University, Center for Policy Research)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

There is a new wrinkle this season in the tired debate about gun control in the United States. A statistical analysis has been released with the flamboyantly specific claim that relaxing the remaining restrictions on concealed handguns in the United States would prevent "approximately 1,570 murders, 4,177 rapes, and over 60,000 assaults" each year. According to the study's authors, John R. Lott Jr. and David B. Mustard, the "estimated annual gain from allowing concealed handguns is at least $6.214 billion." This estimate was based on a multivariate regression analysis that showed lower murder and crime rates in jurisdictions that had made it easier for citizens to obtain permits to carry concealed firearms on their persons and in cars.

This new "right to carry" study is newsworthy in three respects. First, the crime prevention claims are very large and yet the legal changes necessary to achieve them are modest and do not involve financial costs. Here lies the promise of crime control on the cheap. Second, the people making these claims are not from the local branch of the National Rifle Association. The study is authored by a postdoctoral fellow in law and economics and a graduate economics student at the University of Chicago. Any connection of research to a reputable institution of higher learning is worthy of notice in a field where so many "studies" are transparent special pleading.

Third, from the perspective of a television news producer, the most exciting aspect of this new study is the method by which the legal changes are supposed to save lives and reduce crime. Whereas most observers worry that the city streets of the United States have too many people carrying guns on them, this new study announces that increasing the number of loaded handguns on our streets will reduce the number of citizens killed and wounded. This is what newspaper editors in bygone days used to call a "man bites dog" story. What could be more paradoxical than asserting that the current violence problem could be ameliorated by more guns rather than fewer?

The complete essay is available at:
https://www2.gwu.edu/~ccps/rcq/issues/7-2.pdf


Language: en

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