Gun ownership up, crime down

[jimnyc]

Of course a handful of nutters will still deny it...


Gun-control advocates are noticeably silent when crime rates decline. Their multimillion-dollar lobbying efforts are designed to manufacture mass anxiety that every gun owner is a potential killer. The statistics show otherwise.

Last week, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced that violent crime decreased 4 percent in 2011. The number of murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults all went down, continuing a pattern.

“This is not a one-year anomaly, but a steady decline in the FBI’s violent-crime rates,” said Andrew Arulanandam, spokesman for the National Rifle Association. “It would be disingenuous for anyone to not credit increased self-defense laws to account for this decline.”

Mr. Arulanandam pointed out that only a handful of states had concealed-carry programs 25 years ago, when the violent-crime rate peaked. Today, 41 states either allow carrying without a permit or have “shall issue” laws that make it easy for just about any noncriminal to get a permit. Illinois and Washington, D.C., are the only places that refuse to recognize the right to bear arms. The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence did not respond to requests for comment.

If the gun grabbers were right, we’d be in the middle of a crime wave, considering how many guns are on the streets. “Firearms sales have increased substantially since right after the 2008 election,” said Bill Brassard, spokesman for the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), which represents the $4 billion firearms and ammunition industry. “There was a leveling off in 2010, but now we’re seeing a surge again.”

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jun/18/gun-ownership-up-crime-down/

[Kathianne]

More to back up the above post by Jim:

http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/493636.html


An interview with
John R. Lott, Jr.
author of More Guns, Less Crime: Understanding Crime and Gun Control Laws
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Question: What does the title mean: More Guns, Less Crime?


John R. Lott, Jr.: States with the largest increases in gun ownership also have the largest drops in violent crimes. Thirty-one states now have such laws—called "shall-issue" laws. These laws allow adults the right to carry concealed handguns if they do not have a criminal record or a history of significant mental illness.


Question: It just seems to defy common sense that crimes likely to involve guns would be reduced by allowing more people to carry guns. How do you explain the results?


Lott: Criminals are deterred by higher penalties. Just as higher arrest and conviction rates deter crime, so does the risk that someone committing a crime will confront someone able to defend him or herself. There is a strong negative relationship between the number of law-abiding citizens with permits and the crime rate—as more people obtain permits there is a greater decline in violent crime rates. For each additional year that a concealed handgun law is in effect the murder rate declines by 3 percent, rape by 2 percent, and robberies by over 2 percent.


Concealed handgun laws reduce violent crime for two reasons. First, they reduce the number of attempted crimes because criminals are uncertain which potential victims can defend themselves. Second, victims who have guns are in a much better position to defend themselves.


Question: What is the basis for these numbers?


Lott: The analysis is based on data for all 3,054 counties in the United States during 18 years from 1977 to 1994.


Question: Your argument about criminals and deterrence doesn't tell the whole story. Don't statistics show that most people are killed by someone they know?


Lott: You are referring to the often-cited statistic that 58 percent of murder victims are killed by either relatives or acquaintances. However, what most people don't understand is that this "acquaintance murder" number also includes gang members killing other gang members, drug buyers killing drug pushers, cabdrivers killed by customers they picked up for the first time, prostitutes and their clients, and so on. "Acquaintance" covers a wide range of relationships. The vast majority of murders are not committed by previously law-abiding citizens. Ninety percent of adult murderers have had criminal records as adults. ...



So who is Lott?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lott


John Richard Lott Jr. (born May 8, 1958) is an American academic and political commentator. He has previously held research positions at academic institutions including the University of Chicago (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Chicago), Yale University (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yale_University), the Wharton School (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wharton_School_of_the_University_of_Pennsylvania) at the University of Pennsylvania (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Pennsylvania), and the University of Maryland, College Park (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Maryland,_College_Park), and at the non-academic conservative American Enterprise Institute (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Enterprise_Institute). He holds a Ph.D. in economics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economics) from UCLA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_California,_Los_Angeles), and his areas of research include econometrics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Econometrics), law and economics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_and_economics), public choice theory (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_choice_theory), industrial organization (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_organization), public finance (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_finance), microeconomics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microeconomics), labor economics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_economics), and environmental regulation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_regulation).
Lott is an author in both academia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academia) and in popular culture (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_culture). A political conservative,[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lott#cite_note-0)[2] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lott#cite_note-1)[3] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lott#cite_note-2)[4] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lott#cite_note-3) he is a frequent writer of opinion editorials, has published over 90 articles in peer-reviewed academic journals related to his research areas, and has authored five books, including More Guns, Less Crime (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/More_Guns,_Less_Crime), The Bias Against Guns (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bias_Against_Guns), and Freedomnomics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedomnomics).
Outside of academia, Lott is best known for his participation in the gun rights debate (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_politics_in_the_US), particularly his arguments against restrictions on owning and carrying guns.