Amazed how lucky I am that I have had jobs where I
could just think about whatever I wanted to think
about.
Last summer I moved to the University of Maryland.
Previously I held positions at the University of Chicago,
Yale University, Stanford, UCLA, Wharton, and Rice and
was the chief economist at the United States Sentencing
Commission during 1988 and 1989. I have published over 90
articles in academic journals. I received my Ph.D. in
economics from UCLA in 1984. Born in Detroit, I spent a lot
of time with my grandparents in Miami, Florida before
moving to Miami at the end of junior high. Otherwise I have
lived all across the country from Nashville to LA to Texas to
Montana to Northern California back to Texas to Maryland
back to LA to Pennsylvania to Illinois to New Haven to DC
to New York back to the DC area.
could just think about whatever I wanted to think
about.
Last summer I moved to the University of Maryland.
Previously I held positions at the University of Chicago,
Yale University, Stanford, UCLA, Wharton, and Rice and
was the chief economist at the United States Sentencing
Commission during 1988 and 1989. I have published over 90
articles in academic journals. I received my Ph.D. in
economics from UCLA in 1984. Born in Detroit, I spent a lot
of time with my grandparents in Miami, Florida before
moving to Miami at the end of junior high. Otherwise I have
lived all across the country from Nashville to LA to Texas to
Montana to Northern California back to Texas to Maryland
back to LA to Pennsylvania to Illinois to New Haven to DC
to New York back to the DC area.
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| John R. Lott Jr. |
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| Copyright © 2006 - 2008 - Barry M. Baker - CareerPoliceOfficer.com |
| Disclaimer |
| CareerPoliceOfficer.com is not responsible for the contents of any linked site or any link contained in a linked site, or any changes or updates to such sites. Links are provided only as a convenience, and the inclusion of any link does not imply endorsement by this site. |
| "Thoughtful and realistic views on Gun-Contol." |
| ~ CareerPoliceOfficer.com |
Americans' fears over the safety of schools continues.
Last Monday, three colleges and four K-to-12 schools were shut down by threats of violence.
This week over 25,000 college students at 300 chapters in 44 states belong to a group, Students for
Concealed Carry on College Campuses, that will carry empty handgun holsters to protest their concerns
about not being able to defend themselves.
With the first anniversary of the Virginia Tech attack last week and the discussions that it created, we
clearly have not been able to put that and other attacks behind us. There are good reasons why the safety
measures adopted over the last year to speed up response times or hiring more police haven't eliminated
the fear people feel.
The attack earlier this year at Northern Illinois University proved that even six minutes was too long. It took
six minutes before the police were able to enter the classroom, and in that short time five people were
murdered. Compared to the Virginia Tech and other attacks, six minutes is actually record breaking speed,
but it was simply not fast enough.
The Thursday before the NIU murders five people were killed in a city council chambers in Kirkwood, Mo.
There was even a police officer already there when the attack occurred. But as happens time after time in
these attacks, when uniformed police are there, the killers either wait for the police to leave the area or
they are the first people killed. In Kirkwood, the police officer was killed immediately when the attack
started. People cowered or were reduced to futilely throwing chairs at the killer.
There is a problem that people just are unwilling to recognize.
Just like attacks last year at the Westroads Mall in Omaha, Neb., or Trolley Square Mall in Salt Lake City or
the recent attack at the Tinley Park Mall in Illinois or all the public schools attacks, all these cases had one
thing in common: They took place in “gun free zones,” where private citizens were not allowed to carry their
guns with them.
The malls in Omaha and Salt Lake City were in states that let people carry concealed handguns, but
private property owners are allowed to post signs banning guns and those malls were among the few
places in their states that chose to post such signs. In the Trolley Square attack an off-duty police officer
fortunately violated the ban and stopped the attack. The attacks at Virginia Tech or the other public
schools occured in some of the few areas within their states that people are not allowed to carry concealed
handguns.
It is not just recent killings that are occurring in these gun-free zones. Multiple-victim public shootings keep
on occurring in places where guns are banned. Nor are these horrible incidents limited to just gun-free
zones in the US.
In 1996 Martin Bryant killed 35 people at Port Arthur in Tasmania, Australia. In the last half-dozen years,
European countries including France, Germany and Switzerland have experienced multiple-victim
shootings. The worst school attack in Germany claimed 17 deaths, another 14 deaths; one attack in
Switzerland claimed the lives of 14 regional legislators.
At some point you would think that something is going on here, that these murderers aren’t just picking
their targets at random. Yet, when one thinks about it, this pattern isn’t really too surprising.
Most people understand that guns deter criminals. The problem is that instead of gun-free zones making it
safe for potential victims, they make it safe for criminals.
Criminals are less likely to run into those who might be able to stop them. Everyone wants to keep guns
away from criminals, but the problem is who is more likely to obey the law.
A student expelled for violating a gun-free zone at a college is extremely unlikely ever to get into another
college. A faculty member fired for a firearms violation will find it virtually impossible to get another
academic position. But even if the killer at Virginia Tech had lived, the notion that the threat of expulsion
would have deterred the attacker when he would have already faced 32 death penalties or at least 32 life
sentences seems silly.
Letting civilians have permitted concealed handguns limits the damage from attacks. A major factor in
determining how many people are harmed by these killers is the amount of time that elapses between
when the attack starts and when someone with a gun is able to arrive on the scene.
In cases from the church shooting in Colorado Springs, Colo., last December, where a parishioner who
was given permission by the minister to carry her concealed gun into the church quickly stopped the
murderer, to an attack last year in downtown Memphis, to the Appalachian Law School, to high schools in
such places as Pearl, Miss., concealed handgun permit holders have stopped attacks well before
uniformed police could possibly have arrived.
Twice this year armed Israeli citizens have stopped terrorist attacks at schools (once by an armed teacher
and another by an armed student). Indeed, despite the fears being discussed about the risks of concealed
handgun permit holders, I haven’t found one multiple-victim public shooting where a permit holder has
accidentally shot a bystander.
With about 5 million Americans currently with concealed handgun permits in the U.S. and states starting
having right-to-carry laws for as long as 80 years, we have a lot of experience with these laws, and one
thing is very clear: Concealed handgun permit holders are extremely law-abiding and lose their permits for
any gun-related violation at hundredths or thousandths of one percentage point. We also have a lot of
experience with permitted concealed handguns in schools.
Prior to the 1995 Safe School Zone Act, states with right-to-carry laws let teachers or others carry
concealed handguns at school, and several states still allow this today. And there is not a single instance
that I or others have found where this produced a single problem. There are today even some universities,
including large public universities such as Colorado State University and the University of Utah, that let
students carry concealed handguns on school property.
With all the news media coverage of the types of guns used and how the criminal obtained the gun, at
some point the news media might begin to mention the one common feature of these attacks: they keep
occurring in gun-free zones.
Gun-free zones are a magnet for these attacks. But, even without the media, considering that 15 more
states this year debated legislation to let concealed handguns on school campuses, possibly the issue is
becoming clear anyway.
*John Lott is the author of Freedomnomics and a senior research scientist at the University of Maryland.
Last Monday, three colleges and four K-to-12 schools were shut down by threats of violence.
This week over 25,000 college students at 300 chapters in 44 states belong to a group, Students for
Concealed Carry on College Campuses, that will carry empty handgun holsters to protest their concerns
about not being able to defend themselves.
With the first anniversary of the Virginia Tech attack last week and the discussions that it created, we
clearly have not been able to put that and other attacks behind us. There are good reasons why the safety
measures adopted over the last year to speed up response times or hiring more police haven't eliminated
the fear people feel.
The attack earlier this year at Northern Illinois University proved that even six minutes was too long. It took
six minutes before the police were able to enter the classroom, and in that short time five people were
murdered. Compared to the Virginia Tech and other attacks, six minutes is actually record breaking speed,
but it was simply not fast enough.
The Thursday before the NIU murders five people were killed in a city council chambers in Kirkwood, Mo.
There was even a police officer already there when the attack occurred. But as happens time after time in
these attacks, when uniformed police are there, the killers either wait for the police to leave the area or
they are the first people killed. In Kirkwood, the police officer was killed immediately when the attack
started. People cowered or were reduced to futilely throwing chairs at the killer.
There is a problem that people just are unwilling to recognize.
Just like attacks last year at the Westroads Mall in Omaha, Neb., or Trolley Square Mall in Salt Lake City or
the recent attack at the Tinley Park Mall in Illinois or all the public schools attacks, all these cases had one
thing in common: They took place in “gun free zones,” where private citizens were not allowed to carry their
guns with them.
The malls in Omaha and Salt Lake City were in states that let people carry concealed handguns, but
private property owners are allowed to post signs banning guns and those malls were among the few
places in their states that chose to post such signs. In the Trolley Square attack an off-duty police officer
fortunately violated the ban and stopped the attack. The attacks at Virginia Tech or the other public
schools occured in some of the few areas within their states that people are not allowed to carry concealed
handguns.
It is not just recent killings that are occurring in these gun-free zones. Multiple-victim public shootings keep
on occurring in places where guns are banned. Nor are these horrible incidents limited to just gun-free
zones in the US.
In 1996 Martin Bryant killed 35 people at Port Arthur in Tasmania, Australia. In the last half-dozen years,
European countries including France, Germany and Switzerland have experienced multiple-victim
shootings. The worst school attack in Germany claimed 17 deaths, another 14 deaths; one attack in
Switzerland claimed the lives of 14 regional legislators.
At some point you would think that something is going on here, that these murderers aren’t just picking
their targets at random. Yet, when one thinks about it, this pattern isn’t really too surprising.
Most people understand that guns deter criminals. The problem is that instead of gun-free zones making it
safe for potential victims, they make it safe for criminals.
Criminals are less likely to run into those who might be able to stop them. Everyone wants to keep guns
away from criminals, but the problem is who is more likely to obey the law.
A student expelled for violating a gun-free zone at a college is extremely unlikely ever to get into another
college. A faculty member fired for a firearms violation will find it virtually impossible to get another
academic position. But even if the killer at Virginia Tech had lived, the notion that the threat of expulsion
would have deterred the attacker when he would have already faced 32 death penalties or at least 32 life
sentences seems silly.
Letting civilians have permitted concealed handguns limits the damage from attacks. A major factor in
determining how many people are harmed by these killers is the amount of time that elapses between
when the attack starts and when someone with a gun is able to arrive on the scene.
In cases from the church shooting in Colorado Springs, Colo., last December, where a parishioner who
was given permission by the minister to carry her concealed gun into the church quickly stopped the
murderer, to an attack last year in downtown Memphis, to the Appalachian Law School, to high schools in
such places as Pearl, Miss., concealed handgun permit holders have stopped attacks well before
uniformed police could possibly have arrived.
Twice this year armed Israeli citizens have stopped terrorist attacks at schools (once by an armed teacher
and another by an armed student). Indeed, despite the fears being discussed about the risks of concealed
handgun permit holders, I haven’t found one multiple-victim public shooting where a permit holder has
accidentally shot a bystander.
With about 5 million Americans currently with concealed handgun permits in the U.S. and states starting
having right-to-carry laws for as long as 80 years, we have a lot of experience with these laws, and one
thing is very clear: Concealed handgun permit holders are extremely law-abiding and lose their permits for
any gun-related violation at hundredths or thousandths of one percentage point. We also have a lot of
experience with permitted concealed handguns in schools.
Prior to the 1995 Safe School Zone Act, states with right-to-carry laws let teachers or others carry
concealed handguns at school, and several states still allow this today. And there is not a single instance
that I or others have found where this produced a single problem. There are today even some universities,
including large public universities such as Colorado State University and the University of Utah, that let
students carry concealed handguns on school property.
With all the news media coverage of the types of guns used and how the criminal obtained the gun, at
some point the news media might begin to mention the one common feature of these attacks: they keep
occurring in gun-free zones.
Gun-free zones are a magnet for these attacks. But, even without the media, considering that 15 more
states this year debated legislation to let concealed handguns on school campuses, possibly the issue is
becoming clear anyway.
*John Lott is the author of Freedomnomics and a senior research scientist at the University of Maryland.
| Gun-Free Zones Are Not Safe |
| Article published Monday, April 21, 2008, at Fox News |
| By John R. Lott, Jr. |
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