John Stossel: More Guns = Less Crime

You know what the mainstream media think about guns and our freedom to carry them.

“Organizations like the NRA … are trying to increase deaths by gun in this country.” ~ Keith Olbermann

“When someone gets angry or when they snap, they are going to be able to have access to weapons.” ~ Pierre Thomas of ABC

“I wonder if in a free society violence is always going to be a part of it if guns are available.” ~ Chris Matthews of MSNBC

Today, 40 states issue permits to competent, law-abiding adults to carry concealed handguns (Vermont and Alaska have the most libertarian approach: no permit needed. Arizona is about to join that exclusive club.) Every time a carry law was debated, anti-gun activists predicted outbreaks of gun violence after fender-benders, card games and domestic quarrels.

What happened?

John Lott, in “More Guns, Less Crime,” explains that crime fell by 10 percent in the year after the laws were passed. A reason for the drop in crime may have been that criminals suddenly worried that their next victim might be armed. Indeed, criminals in states with high civilian gun ownership were the most worried about encountering armed victims.

In Canada and Britain, both with tough gun-control laws, almost half of all burglaries occur when residents are home. But in the United States, where many households contain guns, only 13 percent of burglaries happen when someone’s at home – [source]

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