The Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville, Florida), Saturday, November 21, 2015
From the start, the controversy over Stand Your Ground laws has included discussions of race.
Critics have said they favor white defendants who claim self-defense against black people. . . . .
“African-Americans win more Stand Your Ground cases than any other race,” Lott said. “So it benefits African-Americans more than anyone else.”
Stand Your Ground was designed to protect the people who lack money and influence, and that’s often minorities charged with a crime, Lott said.
Of the 64 people who have sought Stand Your Ground hearings in Duval County, 44 were black. But Isaiah Rumlin, president of the NAACP’s Jacksonville branch, said the minority community has no faith in Stand Your Ground and that changes are needed. . . .
Second article in the same paper had this:
“There’s really not a lot of states left where it hasn’t had an impact,” he said. . . .
Houston Chronicle, November 17, 2015
“It’s not going to accomplish anything,” Gavran said. “All this law is doing is protecting the CHL holders from not breaking the law. It’s not helping us.”
Lott shot back, noting that CHL holders in Texas and elsewhere commit far fewer crimes than the average citizen. He said lawbreakers are not going to abide by “gun-free zone” signs or rules, and argued people living in high crime areas and “people who are relatively weaker physically: women and the elderly” will benefit from having concealed weapons to defend themselves. . . .
The Telegraph (Macon, Georgia), November 13, 2015
Second, the statement that “The United States has more gun violence than any other country on the planet combined” is both confusing and incorrect. The Crime Prevention Research Center disputes this irrational and emotion-led charge in a thorough and objective study at https://crimeresearch.org/2014/03/comparing-murder-rates-across-countries/. This study exposes the fallacious arguments used by many gun-control advocates and the misleading truth behind the numbers. The study does show that the ways countries report both gun ownership and gun homicides varies so much that it is nearly impossible to draw accurate comparisons. A more reliable indicator is the high level of gun violence, within the U.S. in cities which have restrictive gun ownership laws, as compared to those cities which are more liberal in their gun policies. . . .
PoliZette.com, November 19, 2015
But what about terrorism? Fewer guns could mean more carnage.
Lott said would-be terrorists likely would make the same calculations as would-be criminals.
“Some places, like Washington, D.C., or New York or Los Angeles would be more attractive [targets] than places like Dallas or parts of Florida,” Lott told LifeZette. . . .
Lott drew a parallel between French gun laws and Israeli policy from that country’s founding through the 1970s. The Israeli government in recent months has moved to loosen restrictions in response to “lone wolf” acts of terror in the country.
“For years, they tried what the French are doing,” he said.
Lott noted the French government put 10,000 soldiers on the streets in January in response to attacks on Jews, and mobilized an additional 1,500 amid last week’s attacks. He said the approach is doomed to failure because terrorists can easily find targets that soldiers and police cannot cover.
“They have many options,” he said. “It’s simply impossible for the government to put enough troops to defend every place.”
Wisconsin Rapids Tribune (Rapids, WI), November 19, 2015
Outdoor Life, November 20, 2015
By this calculation, he says, your risk of being a terrorist target is greater in places with tight gun control: places like Paris, like New York, and like Washington, D.C.
After all, Lott said, a terrorist would be using the same criteria a criminal or lunatic would use in targeting defenseless victims, always seeking “soft” populations legally unarmed and easily ambushed for their slaughtering pleasure.
“Some places, like Washington, D.C., or New York or Los Angeles would be more attractive [targets] than places like Dallas or parts of Florida,” Lott told Brendan Kirby of Polizette. . . .
San Francisco Weekly, November 16, 2015
Gov. Brown’s bill went “against the grain” of how lawmakers in other states are talking about gun on campus, per the New York Times.
“California is the only state that I know of that has passed a modern ban on people being able to carry a gun on college campuses. The California law is interesting in that, can you point to one example of any problem they’ve had with the current rules? So why are they changing it?” John Lott, head of the Crime Prevention Research Center, asked the Times. . . . .
Sierra Sun, November 17, 2015
The Buchtelite (University of Akron), November 18, 2015
Of the estimated 129 deaths on Friday night, around 100 of them were in the hostage situation that developed in the Bataclan Theater where eight terrorists were eventually either shot in their confrontation with the Préfecture de police de Paris, or killed by detonating explosive vests. It’s important to note that the Bataclan is a theater, a public place, and that according to the Crime Prevention Research Center, 92 percent of all mass shootings happen in public places, which are gun-prohibited zones. So even if the Paris citizens in the theater could’ve had concealed carry permits, they couldn’t legally bring guns there. . . .
KCSR Radio AM 610 (Chadron, Nebraska), November 17, 2015
Also speaking in favor of change was Chadron High School senior Greg McCallum, a Boys State representative last summer. He cited conservative author and economist John Lott’s claim in the book More Guns, Less Crime that only one mass shooting had occurred since 1950 in an area where guns were not banned. McCallum said gun-free zones simply create areas where victims can’t defend themselves. . . .
Related posts
The War On Guns: Arming Yourself Against Gun Control Lies
More Guns, Less Crime (University of Chicago Press, 3rd ed, 2010)
Straight Shooting: Firearms, Economics and Public Policy
Stalked and Defenseless: How Gun Control Helped My Stalker Murder My Husband in Front of Me
Freedomnomics, see Chapter 4 for a general overview of the economics of crime
Dumbing Down the Courts: How Politics Keeps the Smartest Judges Off the Bench
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