More Guns, Less Crime summary

In his book More Guns, Less Crime, John R. Lott,  Jr. talks about a robber named Darnel “Bubba” Lowery and his accomplice robbed and murdered a musician. He said basically they picked the musician because he was “vulnerable.” After taking the money from the musician Mr. Raglin asked if the man’s car was a stick or an automatic. Then he shot the guy. The musician cooperated and just handed over the money.

What’s interesting is this: Lowery and his accomplice decided against robbing cab drivers or drug dealers because they both sometimes carried guns.

Serial killers, rapists, muggers, etc. are just predators. Their prey is the victim. They size-up the situation when they look at a victim and think to themselves: Is my reward greater than my cost when I attack the victim? The cost being arrested, seen by a bystander or policeman or even being harmed by the victim? If the answer is yes, then they will pounce. Just like a lion attacking the weakest in the herd a criminal will go after the most vulnerable. Probably someone alone, someone not very strong or physically fit, someone not aware of their surrounding, and even someone as a study suggested who is not showing confidence in their behavior. And if the criminal believes his potential victim is not armed, like with a gun, then so much the better for the criminal. I wonder if the victims of Jack the Ripper had guns would they had a chance to survive? Keep in mind England back then banned firearms. It still has the ban. So, those victims never had the opportunity to use a gun to defend themselves. Maybe one would have survived. Ripper himself used a knife to commit the crimes.

In the book the author provides strong evidence that concealed-handguns laws reduce violent crime and that higher arrest rates deter all types of crime.

Massive killings drop dramatically when states adopt nondiscretionary concealed-handgun laws*.

Nondiscretionary concealed-handgun laws have equal deterrent effects on murders committed both with and without guns.

Mr. Lott says a gun-control advocate from the Violence Policy Center did not even want to look at his original study. Why? Because the advocate didn’t want to give publicity to the paper. That’s the stated reason. The real reason I believe is because the Left is arrogance and small minded. They never want to learn because they know all the answers or at least they believe they do. That and they are afraid they might be proved wrong. It was only after his paper got publicized did the advocate want to read it. Even then it was only to criticize it. Even Congressman Schumer attacked not only the paper but the author too (which is not surprising. That’s what the Left does. When you attack their narrative you are attacking a basic tenet of their religion. The quicker conservatives or anyone else learns this the better off they will be.)

Source: More Guns, Less Crime. Understanding Crime and Gun Control Laws (1998) by John R. Lott, Jr.

*Nondiscretionary concealed-handgun law- the term nondiscretionary means that once a person meets certain well-specified criteria for obtaining a concealed-handgun permit, no discretion is involved in granting the permit—it must be issued.