Book Review: More Guns, Less Crime
By John R. Lott, Jr. The University of Chicago Press, 3rd Edition; 442 pages; $13 Buy From amazon.com, $6 Kindle edition.
It is hard to summon up any interest in gun control these days; especially after the horrid events of Friday December 14, 2012 in Newtown, Connecticut. Democrat politicians and left wing pundits are apoplectic with cries of assault weapon bans to a sweep of all guns from the American landscape. Yet they are singularly incapable of producing an actual solution. As usual their solution is exactly opposite of what should be done. The problem is not that there are 270 million guns owned by approximately 124 million households in the United States, the problem is too few citizens carry concealed weapons for their protection.
One of the many merits of John Lott's monumental work, More Guns, Less Crime, is the precise detail of analyzing the crime statistics since various states put in concealed carry laws. Mr. Lott has devoted a lifetime to this work and has suffered great criticism and academia rejection. Still his work is detailed, precise, and prescient and he reminds us that law-abiding citizens are responsible gun owners and can be trusted to carry a concealed weapon. The result is dramatic reductions in violent crimes including murder, assault, and rape.
The fact that people have been debating gun control for years is indicative of the destructive nature of gun controllers. The loudest voices that cry gun control live in surroundings that are unexposed to violent crimes. Mayor Bloomberg of New York City has a full entourage of bodyguards and will never be exposed to potential violent crimes as a regular citizen. The same with Senator Feinstein who will introduce and assault weapon ban. It escapes Senator Feinstein that an assault rifle is a fully automatic weapon; there are no assault weapons in the law abiding gun owner community.
In the United States there are 4,621,625 concealed carry permits, but that only represents 2.03 percent of adults with a permit. But even those scant numbers has produced a significant drop in violent crimes and lower law enforcement costs. After the implementation of concealed carry laws murder rates dropped immediately 20.3 percent; rape rates fell 14 percent; robbery fell 5.7 percent, and aggravated assault rates fell 12.7 percent. Over time (10 years) murder rates fell in Georgia 53 percent, but 89 percent overall for all states. Rapes fell 85 percent with a smaller decline in assaults and robberies.
The cost impact is dramatic. Lott writes; “Victims face real costs from crime. Although the loss of life and physical and psychological damage are the most important, there are lost earnings, medical care, and the destruction of property that should be included in adding up the costs. Not too surprisingly, murder imposes by far the biggest cost. The estimated total loss from a murder $3.9 million in 2007 dollars is far greater than the $115,260 average loss from rape and the $10,758 average loss from robbery. These victimization costs were developed by the National Institute of Justice. If we use these figures, the twenty-nine states that we study save over $30 billion a year, with over half of that coming just from the reduction in murder rates. To put it differently, the average citizen in those states saved $221 each year from other law-abiding citizens carrying concealed handguns.”
Not all citizens benefit equally from concealed carry laws. Women and blacks benefit the most. Studies show that “One additional woman carrying a concealed handgun reduces the murder rate for women by about 3-4 times more than one additional man carrying a concealed handgun reduces the murder rate for men.” This is due to the fact men are bigger and heavier to protect themselves with their hands. Likewise in high crime lower income neighborhoods the right to concealed carry protects law-abiding families being subjected to criminal violence.
Mr. Lott says at one point that “I find no crime-reduction benefits from state-mandated waiting periods and background checks before allowing people to purchase guns. At the federal level, the Brady law has proven to be no more effective. Surprisingly, there is also little benefit from training requirements or age restrictions for concealed-handgun permits.” The more regulation and removing the ability of ordinary citizens to protect themselves enables violent crime. The solution to the Newtown tragedy would be to remove Gun Free Zones in Georgia and allow teachers and administrators to carry concealed.
The left wing has got it wrong again.
George Wilson
11:18 am on Saturday, December 22, 2012
When you are in trouble with a position, like Wayne Pierre and the NRA, you do what most people do:
1. Change the subject (guards needed in schools)
2. Blame it on someone else (the media and the entertainment business)
3. Deny it (when did guns become the villain asked Wayne LaPierre rhetorically during his news conference?)
Let's start from the top with number one. Most schools have security officers, Virginia Tech and Columbine did and many schools already do. Do we also include guards at most locations where people congregate; ie, movies, ball games, etc.? The expense for schools would be about 6.7 billion dollars .Who pays? The Republicans have over the last ten years cut five billion from schools in Georgia. Where will schools get the money? Perhaps a special tax on bullets and guns could be passed?
Lets' take the number two argument. Japan is noted for its extremely violent video games yet the per capita deaths by guns is very small .This also applies to Germany,Canada,Great Britain, and other countries they also looks at the same movies we do and play the same video games.
The number three argument is the gun industry is enjoying a boom with 5 % of the world's population the United state owns 50% of all guns. Wayne LaPierre is paid over one million dollars a years in salary. This money comes from the gun industry and the 4 million members that the NRA keeps in a constant state of agitation and fear in order to keep the money coming in.
George Wilson
5:55 pm on Saturday, December 22, 2012
Lets play follow the money and responsibility for the massacre at Sandy Hook.
The military-style assault weapon used to kill most of the victims in last week's Sandy Hook elementary school massacre in Connecticut was a Bushmaster XM-15 .223 caliber rifle, manufactured by Bushmaster Firearms International LLC, which is owned by the Freedom Group of Madison, N.C. Cerberus Capital Management is a the private equity firm that owns the Freedom Group -based in New York City, Cerberus is owned by billionaire financier Stephen A. Feinberg. Freedom Group is the world's largest manufacturer of commercial firearms, ammunition and accessories, owning brands that in addition to Bushmaster include Remington, DPMS/Panther Arms, Marlin, H&R, The Parker Gun, Advanced Armament Corp., Dakota Arms, Para USA, Barnes Bullets and TAPCO.
Despite the sluggish economy, the Freedom Group has been doing well, with sales up 20 percent in the third quarter of this year compared to the same period last year, according to its third-quarter financial report. Sales made to Arkansas-based Wal-Mart accounts for a substantial portion of the company's total sales at about 13 percent.
George Kollitides, the chair and interim CEO of the Freedom Group, is a major Republican donor. A former managing director for Cerberus, he contributed $10,000 to the Republican National Committee in October and $2,500 to Mitt Romney's presidential campaign in May.Dan Quail in on the Board of Directors of Cerberus.
Harry Balls
8:28 pm on Monday, December 24, 2012
Hopefully president obama will get some sensible gun control policies through those evelynesque retards in the house of representatives.
Neil Stapley
10:21 am on Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Bill if more guns means less crime why does the US have one of the highest crime rates in the world? If gun controll is so bad why does the US have the highest gun related death rates in the developed world?
Neil Stapley
3:21 pm on Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Bill the title of the book review and your sumary is more guns less crime.
Why would I even care about the sucide rates when it comes to this debate because its very likely that a suicuide would occur regardless if the person had a gun or not (but even these figures are much lower in the countries listed below). So the only statistic that matters in this is the gun related homecides. (Figures UN World Health organisation)
USA 3.7 per 100.000
Canada 0.76 per 100,000
France 0.22 per 100,000
Germany 0.06 per 100,000
UK 0.04 per 100,000
Japan 0.02 per 100,000
These numbers are significanly lower and each of those countries have far strickter control of weapons, registries, stronger background checks, controls on how and where these weapons are stored, with regular checks by the police. Yes a drug dealer no matter how strict the law is will get hold of a gun but it's more likely that a drug dealer is likely to kill another drug dealer rather than a 6yr old child.
So why is it Bill that these countries have significantly lower rates than the US and if you want to add in the suicides they also have significantly lower of them to.
Jack Gleason
11:52 am on Thursday, December 27, 2012
Apples-to-Oranges when one correlates these Nations "Statistics" being congruent an environment of "First-World Nations" ~ Implying superior "Quality-of-Life" cum "Government Policy" ~ when implementation of strict Gun Controls -- according to "More Guns Less Crime" -- more impeeds a Citizenry in the ability to appreciably defend their Person and (no-less important IMHO "Property") from "Violent Crime"...so the question begs to be asked:
A. What "Violent Crime" statistic is commensurate in-worth to the likes of any 2nd Amendment type "Freedom" denied?
B. THAT qualifies "First World" status : ?
Quite to the contrary, does not the U.S.A. rather implement "Freedom" ~ for its proclamation of it's Citizens 2nd amendment rights...that "The People" may then become "Secure"...for having procured "The blessings of Liberty" as-such : ?
IMHO impeeding its Citizens ability to defend themselves and their property first-hand is more representative of a "Second-World Nation", with such "Changing Demograpic" evolving for Its advancement of the 21st Century : ?
Regarding that ~ for what abberation is evolving in-place of the previous "Right-Left" body politic at-least! ~ I think you'll soon be finding that dispite the majority of "Americans" agreeing that "SOMETHING needs to be done about all these senseless massacres!", most "Citizens" do NOT wish to emulate such restrictive "Government" the likes of Canada, the U.K., etc., employ : ?
We should rather "Vette" that : ?