More Guns, Less Crime
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| Author | John Lott |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Gun control |
| Genre | Non-fiction |
| Publisher | University Of Chicago Press |
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Publication date
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June 1, 1998 (1st ed.) Jun 15, 2000 (2nd ed.) May 24, 2010 (3rd ed.) |
| Media type | Paperback (3rd ed.) |
| Pages | 472 (3rd ed.) |
| ISBN | (3rd ed.) |
| OCLC | 38067725 |
| 344.73/0533 21 | |
| LC Class | KF3941 .L68 1998 |
| Preceded by | Straight Shooting |
| Followed by | The Bias Against Guns |
June 1, 1998 (1st ed.)
Jun 15, 2000 (2nd ed.)
More Guns, Less Crime is a book by John Lott that says violent crime rates go down when states pass "shall issue" concealed carry laws. He presents the results of his statistical analysis of crime data for every county in the United States during 29 years from 1977 to 2005. Each edition of the book was refereed by the University of Chicago Press. The book examines city, county and state level data from the entire United States and measures the impact of 13 different types of gun control laws on crime rates. The book expands on an earlier study published in 1997 by Lott and his co-author David Mustard in The Journal of Legal Studies and by Lott and his co-author John Whitley in The Journal of Law and Economics, October 2001.
Below are summaries of the main topics discussed in More Guns, Less Crime.
Lott examines the effects of shall issue laws on violent crime across the United States.
His conclusion is that shall issue laws, which allow citizens to carry concealed weapons, steadily decrease violent crime. He explains that this result makes sense because criminals are deterred by the risk of attacking an armed victim. As more citizens arm themselves, the danger to criminals increases.
Lott examines the effects of training requirements on crime rate and accident rate. He finds that training requirements have very little effect on both crime rates and accident rates.
Lott examines the effects of waiting periods. These include limiting the time before purchasing a gun, and limiting the time before obtaining a concealed carry permit.
Lott examines the effects of the Brady law.
The third edition of the book is the first study to examine Stand Your Ground and Castle Doctrine laws.
The focus of the book is overwhelmingly on the US, but Lott does mention briefly gun ownership and crime rates in other countries, such as Great Britain, Ireland, and Jamaica, noting that murder rates rose after guns were banned. He also notes that many countries, such as Switzerland, Finland, New Zealand, and Israel, have high gun ownership rates and low crime rates, while many other countries have both low gun ownership rates and either high or low crime rates.
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