5/14/2006

Are guns effectively banned in most US cities?

Fox News has an interesting program on Alan Korwin's work showing that the gun free school zones make it impossible for people to own guns legally in most cities. The program gave a lot of attention to someone defending the laws and it would have been useful to at least address the question whether these gun free zones actually produced any beneficial effects. I know of no studies that show that gun free zones reduce crime and I have research that indicates the opposite. Letting the defender of the laws simply claiming a benefit without any evidence was unfortunate, though I am glad that Alan was given a chance to point out the impact of these laws.

13 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Every school principle and assistant principle should be carrying a firearm while at the school to protect students from armed intruders and from armed students. Teachers should have the option of carrying firearms while at the school.

saturdaynightspecial

5/14/2006 8:35 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

And that's the other benefit of gun ownership: the ability to resist a tyrannical government. It also proves the real purpose of a large police force (not to fight crime), but to stop citizen opposition against a tyrannical government. [read 'The Tyranny of Gun Control', www.fff.org]

"Remember New Orleans," and "never, never, never forget." [Wayne LaPierre]

saturdaynightspecial

5/14/2006 8:56 PM  
Blogger John Lott said...

I don't know if everyone has to carry a gun since there is actually some benefit for the attackers not to know who might be able to protect themselves and their students.

5/14/2006 9:01 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This is refreshing, non emotional folks who are not ninnies using facts to support reality. Criminals hate not being in charge, in fact depart the scene when someone "may" be packing iron. Keep up the good work informing the public.

5/15/2006 12:57 PM  
Blogger John Lott said...

Dear Dennis:

Thanks for the nice coment. I appreciate you taking the time to write.

Regards,

John

5/15/2006 1:09 PM  
Blogger Voolfie said...

Two days ago, on Saturday, I put my Browning 12 ga. in the car and drove from Philadelphia to New Jersey to shoot some sporting clays. Now, in addition to breaking the federal law prohibiting my gun from being within 1000 feet of a school at least 4 times, I probably broke another half dozen local or state ordinances getting from Philadelphia to New Jersey. We have reached the point in this country where it is literally impossible to live your life without breaking the law. There is going to be trouble one of these days.

5/15/2006 4:34 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Looking at the maps of most major cities, 1000ft. away from a school is a hard place to find. This does limit the ownership, and storage at home for a lot of people. Denver, Colorado even had (or has) a law that prevents a firearm to be carried in a private vehicle in city limits. This made a lot of hunters in the fall take alternate routes to the mountains for deer, or elk season. The second amendment has been bypassed by a lot of major cities, but a "Concealed Carry Permit" issued by the county puts a stop to a lot of this.
Joel Olsen

5/16/2006 12:28 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

In the state I live in, it's legal to carry concealed on school grounds.

Which law do I obey? State or Federal?

Which law do I violate? State or Federal?

The rule of lawyers has destroyed the Republic.

5/16/2006 1:53 AM  
Blogger John Lott said...

Dear Anonymous:

I don't think that you have to worry. Federal law allows an exemption when states specifically allow concealed permit holders to carry their permitted guns on to school property. Only a few states have passed such an allowance, but as long as you have a permit and live in such a state you are OK.

5/16/2006 3:21 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think people forget that without guns we would have no freedom WAKE UP AMERICA!!!!!!!!!!!!!
FREEDOM

5/16/2006 6:48 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks to "tough on crime" pol's and the retards that keep sucking down that stupidity. Just about everything you can think of can be made into some sort of Felony class crime. The list of things police, AGs and DAs can turn into Gun Sex or Drug crimes is insanely long.

Felony crimes strip you of a bunch of Civil rights. Obviously there are some people that should never have guns let alone be let out of jail. Allot of non violent things should not strip you of voting and other rights for the rest of your life.

This article at TCS is a good example and description. http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=031605B

People that say you have nothing to hide if you aren't a criminal just don't know that they are already criminals thanks to "Zero Tolerance" and other sorts of B.S. like Gun Free School Zones.

6/03/2006 12:14 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hello, Why is this Blog topic active? What is your motivation to perpetuate the idea that this law
is still valid?

In the 5 to 4 decision "United States v. Lopez",the Supreme Court struck down the federal Gun Free School Zones Act, which made it illegal for anyone to carry a firearm within 1000 feet of a school. It was the first time in almost 70 years that the Court invalidated a federal law on the grounds that it exceeded Congress’ authority to regulate interstate commerce.

6/17/2006 4:51 AM  
Blogger John Lott said...

Dear Anonymous:

The Lopez case had no real impact on anything. All that was required was that the congress re-enact the law with an addition that said that prosecutors had to make a finding that the gun was in some way involved in interstate trade (either the metal or or the gun's parts or the manufacturing or the labor, etc.). Obviously all guns are affected by this so all guns are banned. Very shortly after Lopez the congress re-enact this law and Clinton signed it.

6/17/2006 11:29 AM  

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