Harvard Law says what we gun owners already know

[Chuck]

Knock the GCN and associated drivel merchants into a corned with this. More guns DO equal less crime.

Some interesting comparisons with the UK too.

http://www.law.harvard.edu/students/org ... online.pdf

[IainWR]

I do wonder about two big factors, only one of which is explicitly mentioned if I have skim-read carefully enough.

First is that, as the authors say, in the critical period where US violent crime went down and US concealed carry went up, the US tripled its prison population, and increased its execution rate five-fold. Now, call me a rabid right-winger but the first of those in the UK would, I strongly suspect, reduce our crime problem to statistical froth. And notwithstanding that I'm a panty-waist liberal when it comes to State-sanctioned killing, the second may well have had a powerful effect on even the hard of thinking.

Second is that most of the other countries they quote do not as far as I know permit concealed carry (of course, many of them may not have that level of sophistication in their firearms laws). Controls on UK firearms, as we all know, are an irrelevance in the last 30 years as regards personal defence - the laws have effectively prohibited that since the 1970s (except for NI which is such an end-of-curve case as to be inadmissible in any historical analysis). I rather suspect that the same applies across Europe. Therefore, comparing raw numbers or changes in numbers of firearms is of dubious value; it is necessary to include corrections for the permitted uses of legal firearms, and for the respect for law of the society being considered.

Criminology is not my subject, but I would suggest a little book called "How to Lie with Statistics" by Darrel Huff as recommended reading before trying to analyse this (quite scholarly and likely fairly accurate) piece.

[ordnance]

I see studies from pro- gun and anti -gun, And don't pay much attention to either. I wonder would there have being less crime here there were more firearms.

[Chuck]

I don't think CC has as much to do with it - not every state has it. Maybe the RIGHT to armed self defence in some places has an impact.

True statement though: the law abiding do not need regulated.