More Guns - Less Crime

“A compelling book with enough hard evidence that even politicians may have to stop and pay attention. More Guns, Less Crime is an exhaustive analysis of the effect of gun possession on crime rates.” Wall Street Journal    

“Lott’s pro-gun argument has to be examined on the merits, and its chief merit is lots of data. . . . If you still disagree with Lott, at least you will know what will be required to rebut a case that looks pretty near bulletproof.” Business Week    

 The long-awaited update to More Guns, Less Crime is out. This best-seller by John Lott first stirred up controversy back in the mid-nineties, shattered conventional wisdom and forced gun-control advocates to search high and low for evidence of blood in the streets. Almost overnight, the academic debate changed from criminologists and economists arguing over how much guns caused crime to how much gun ownership reduced crime.   

The original book helped convince many reluctant state politicians to give right-to-carry a chance. After all, if the blood-in-streets scenario would not happen, why not let citizens defend themselves? There are now only two states that do not allow citizens to carry concealed handguns whatsoever. Gun ownership and concealed handgun permits among regular, law-abiding citizens continues to increase, helping reduce crime and save lives.   

However, while there have been many positive developments on the state level and the sun setting of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban, some larger cities – most notably Chicago and Washington, D.C. – continue to impose their strict regulations that amount to virtually complete handgun bans. Internationally, the UN small arms treaty poses a real threat and countries have moved either to ban or strictly limit gun ownership.

This update of More Guns, Less Crime provides the first research that examines the effect of a range of gun laws. No where else has studied what happened to crime rates changed after the Federal Assault Weapons ban was sunset or after states have adopted the “stand your ground” laws, that don’t require that individuals retreat as far as possible before using a gun defensively.

More Guns, Less Crime responds to continued attacks on right-to-carry laws with up-to-date numbers how extremely law-abiding permit holders are as well as how these laws have reduced crime rates. If you want to know how permit issuance, the laws for getting permits, and gun ownership rates vary by state, this book has the facts. It provides detailed information on how everything from gun show regulations to gunlock laws to gun ownership rates by state. As usual, Lott thoroughly backs up his analysis with solid facts and rigorous analysis. His book provides the latest facts and arguments that let you show where gun-controllers get it wrong.  

Thanks to our friends at The Second Amendment Foundation for providing this book review.