Woops-- you walked into a trap I had laid-- read this:
"CrimeWatch Weekly Breaking news on critical crime-fighting
issues, policies and legislation
Vol. 2, No. 12 August 13, 1996
First-Ever Study On Right-To-Carry Laws And Crime Released
At a forum at the Washington, D.C.-based libertarian Cato
Institute on Aug. 8, Dr. John Lott, Jr., of the University of Chicago
Law School, released the findings of the first comprehensive study of
the effects of right-to-carry laws on crime rates.
In the study's introduction, Dr. Lott synthesized the controversy
over allowing lawabiding citizens to exercise their right to lawful
self-defense outside the home by lawfully carrying firearms: "Will
allowing concealed handguns make it likely that otherwise law-abiding
citizens will harm each other, or will the threat of citizens carrying
weapons primarily deter criminals?"
While in previous Dept. of Justice research 74% of criminals
interviewed agreed they would avoid burglarizing occupied homes for
fear of being shot by an armed homeowner, Dr. Lott's study is the
first to take research one step further by evaluating nationally the
effect of right-to-carry laws on crime.
The University of Chicago study findings: When state
right-to-carry laws went into effect in a county, murders fell 8.5%,
rapes fell by 5%, and aggravated assaults fell by 7%.
According to NRA CrimeStrike Director Elizabeth Swasey, "We must
never forget that these percentages represent living, breathing people
our friends and families. Dr. Lott found that if states that did not
have right-to-carry laws had adopted them in 1992, that every year
approximately 1,570 fewer people would have been murdered, 4,177 fewer
women and children raped, and 60,000 fewer people victimized by
aggravated assaults."
In the past nine years, NRA has helped 23 states pass or reform
discriminatory right-to-carry laws.
The University of Chicago Law School professor's report, "Crime,
Deterrence and Right-to-Carry Concealed Handguns," co-authored with
graduate student David Mustard, is scheduled for publication in The
Journal of Legal Studies this January, However, it is available online
now at law.uchicago.edu;
Please read the study:
law.uchicago.edu |
