Green Pees, I know this can't help someone as terminally vapid as you, but I shall still try to stop your abuse of children:
More Guns, Less Crime: Understanding Crime and Gun Control John R. Lott, John M. Olin Visiting Fellow in Law and Economics, University of Chicago
ISBN: 0226493636 Publisher: University of Chicago Press Pub. Date: April 1998
Synopsis
Challenging conventional wisdom, legal scholar John Lott presents a timely and provocative work in which he comes to a startling conclusion: more guns mean less crime. Relying on the FBI''s massive yearly crime figures over 18 years, "More Guns, Less Crime" should be required reading for anyone interested in the critical debate over gun control. Illustrations. Expert Commentary
From Kirkus: An intriguing and shocking took at crime, guns, and gun control policy. Lott (Law/Univ. of Chicago) writes with a relentless distaste for conventional wisdom, such as the belief that most people are killed by someone they know. That category, Lott protests, is simply too large to be meaningful, and he takes to task the notion that concealed guns increase crime. To Lott's mind, citizens who carry concealed guns protect themselves against both friends and strangers and prevent the death of innocent citizens. Lott cites a host of cases where armed victims managed to outwit or kill their attackers. Common sense approaches like gun buyback programs or waiting periods for gun parchases, the hallmark of the Brady Bill, also seem useless to Lott. He draws on studies and data to suggest that an armed citizen is a safe citizen. Lott stresses that many western states like Arizona, Texas, and Oklahoma have nondiscretionary handgun laws, and crime is significantly lower in those areas. Sure to raise questions and some controversy, and hopefully will draw attention to the complex issue of crime and potential solutions. From The Publisher: Does allowing people to own or carry guns deter violent crime? Or does it cause more citizens to harm each other? Wherever people happen to fall along the ideological spectrum, their answers are all too often founded upon mere impressionistic and anecdotal evidence. In this direct challenge to conventional wisdom, legal scholar John Lott presents the most rigorously comprehensive data analysis ever done on crime. In this provocative work he comes to a startling conclusion more guns mean less crime. In what may be his most controversial conclusion, Lott finds that mass public shootings, such as the infamous examples of the Long Island Railroad by Colin Ferguson or the 1996 Empire State Building shooting, are dramatically reduced once law-abiding citizens in a state are allowed to carry concealed handguns. shop.barnesandnoble.com
Based on the following academic study:
Crime, Deterrence, and Right-to-Carry Concealed Handguns
John R. Lott, Jr.
School of Law
University of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois 60637
and
David B. Mustard
Department of Economics
University of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois 60637
July 26, 1996
* The authors would like to thank Gary Becker, Phil Cook, Clayton Cramer, Gertrud Fremling, EdGlaeser, Hide Ichimura, Don Kates, Gary Kleck, David Kopel, William Landes, David McDowall,Derek Neal, Dan Polsby, and Douglas Weil and the seminar participants at the University of Chicago,American Law and Economics Association Meetings, and the Western Economic Association Meetings for their unusually helpful comments.
Abstract
Using cross-sectional time-series data for U.S. counties from 1977 to 1992, we find that allowing citizens to carry concealed weapons deters violent crimes and it appears to produce no increase in accidental deaths. If those states which did not have right-to-carry concealed gun provisions had adopted them in 1992, approximately 1,570 murders; 4,177 rapes; and over 60,000 aggravate assaults would have been avoided yearly. On the other hand, consistent with the notion of criminals responding to incentives, we find criminals substituting into property crimes involving stealth and where the probabilities of contact between the criminal and the victim are minimal. The largest population counties where the deterrence effect on violent crimes is greatest are where the substitution effect into property crimes is highest. Concealed handguns also have their greatest deterrent effect in the highest crime counties. Higher arrest and conviction rates consistently and dramatically reduce the crime rate. Consistent with other recent work (Lott, 1992b), the results imply that increasing the arrest rate, independent of the probability of eventual conviction, imposes a significant penalty on criminals. The estimated annual gain from allowing concealed handguns is at least $6.214 billion....
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