CPRC in the News: Chattanooga Times Free Press, Topeka Capital Journal, Valdosta Daily Times, America’s First Freedom, and others

Nov 6, 2016 | Featured

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Chattanooga Time Free Press, October 31, 2016

Since 2007, concealed carry permits for women have increased by 270 percent nationwide, according to the Crime Prevention Research Center. But the fashion aspect of carrying is not just for the sake of fashion, it’s also for convenience and an extra level of safety. . . .

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Topeka Capital-Journal, October 31, 2016

John Lott’s new book, “The War on Guns: Arming Yourself Against Gun Control Lies,” provides some interesting statistics regarding “what is.” His research shows that, between 1950 and 2010, not a single mass shooting occurred in an area where citizens could arm themselves in self-defense. During the period from 1950 through the early months of 2016, only 1 percent of mass shootings occurred where people could legally arm themselves outside of “gun-free zones.”

In other words, 99 percent of mass shootings occurred, during that period, in “gun-free zones.” These included schools, churches and theaters (to name just a few), leading rational people to conclude that mass shooters’ targets of choice would seem to have been places where they knew they would receive no armed opposition.

Lott’s research includes factual assessments of several shooters and their decision processes for choosing a location. For example, Khalil Abu-Rayyan, a would-be attacker in Detroit, admitted he wanted to attack a church “because people are not allowed to carry guns in church.” I thank God that the church I belong to does not have such a policy. I also thank God that a wiretap spoiled his plan. Dylann Roof first planned to attack the College of Charleston, but switched his target to the Emanuel AME Church when he discovered that the college had armed guards. Aurora theater gunman James Holmes recounted in his diary that he chose not the closest or largest theater for his attack, but a theater known to prohibit concealed handguns.

Attacking in a gun-free zone gives the aggressor the one thing needed to accomplish the most carnage, and Lott illustrates that with the case of Nidal Hassan who was able to fire 220 shots with just a semi-automatic pistol and a revolver because none of his victims were armed. . . .

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Bearing Arms, October 29, 2016

GOESER: My personal philosophy is to train & keep training. It is just like anything else, if you want to be proficient, you must practice/train. Part of training is understanding the costs and benefits of firearms. As Communications Director for the Crime Prevention Research Center, I encourage those interested in firearm ownership to visit our website at www.crimeresearch.org. The CPRC is a research and education organization dedicated to conducting academic quality research on the relationship between laws regulating the ownership or use of guns, crime, and public safety; educating the public on the results of such research and to provide an objective and accurate scientific evaluation of both the costs and benefits of gun ownership as well as policing activities.

For those who do not own firearms, it is still important to understand the costs & benefits of firearm ownership and receive very basic safety instruction. Especially if you have family members or friends you are around who do own/carry firearms. Firearms can be very dangerous if people around them do not understand basic safety rules and follow those rules. . . .

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The Valdosta Daily Times, October 30, 2016

Corruption has long been the keynote of the Democratic Party and most major cities have been run by liberal Democrats for decades. According to the Crime Prevention Research Center, Democratic run cities with murder increases between 2011 and 2016 include Baltimore 37 percent plus, Chicago 64 percent plus, D.C. 30 percent plus, Milwaukee 66 percent plus, Newark 10.6 percent plus and St Louis 34 percent. . . .

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Tahlequah Daily Press, October 30, 2016

Many celebrity guests will be in attendance. Meet actor Buck Taylor, who played Newly on the TV series “Gunsmoke” and is now a top-rated artist; John Lott, a second amendment champion and author of 10 books including “War on Guns,” “More Guns Less Crime” and “Freedomnomics”; Jim West, star of Animal Planet’s series “Wild West Alaska.” . . .

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Guns.com, November 7, 2016

Two prominent, and often conflicting, gun researchers weighed in on Nevada’s background check ballot initiative, Question 1, over the weekend.

Dr. John Lott, founder of the Crime Prevention Research Center and author of “The War on Guns,” published an 800-word editorial in the Reno Gazette-Journal Friday questioning the logic behind the ballot measure, which would require background checks on private gun sales and transfers in Nevada, with limited exceptions for blood relatives.

“Virtually every time the government stops someone from buying a gun, it is done mistakenly,” he wrote. “ We’re not talking here about preventing guns from falling into the wrong hands — these are people who are legally eligible to buy a gun.”

Lott picks apart a popular statistic he says gun control groups tout as proof universal background checks work — a system he says is broken and disproportionately impacts minority and low income gun owners.

“Gun control advocates constantly claim nationwide background checks have stopped 2.4 million prohibited people from buying a gun,” he said. “But what they should really say is there were 2.4 million ‘initial denials.’ And over 96 percent of ‘initial denials’ are errors that are dropped during just the first two stages of review. More cases are dropped later.”

“It is one thing to stop a felon from buying a gun. It is quite another to stop a law-abiding citizen from buying a gun simply because his name is similar to that of a felon,” he added.

Lott claims the “massive errors” in background check denials stem from the federal government only focusing on two pieces of information for every applicant: name and birthday. . . .

Lott also takes aim at the placing the cost of background checks on the shoulders of the gun owner. The fees range from $50 in Oregon to over $125 in Washington D.C.

These costs can present a very real obstacle to poor people living in high-crime, urban areas,” Lott wrote. “The most likely, law-abiding victims of violent crimes are usually least able to afford these costs. It isn’t like gang members are going to pay these fees.” . . .

The rest of the article is available here.

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Bearing Arms, October 26, 2016

Following the release of the report, NYPD CommissionerJames O’Neill voiced his support for the Attorney General.

There’s no question: one of the biggest challenges this department faces are guns, and in particular handguns, that are trafficked into New York from out-of-state. Attorney General Schneiderman’s report and gun tracing tool provide invaluable insight into where these guns come from and how law enforcement and lawmakers can act to protect New Yorkers.

“That’s like finding out a lot of cars in New York come from another state,” said John R. Lott Jr., President of the Crime Prevention Research Center. “Pick a state in the South — you’ll find a lot of guns from those states come from out of state originally. Products move around.”

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America’s 1st Freedom, October 31, 2016

Speaking to the philosophical and erudite nature of the law, economist and conservative commentator John Lott, author of The War On Guns, provided the audience facts and figures as proof of Lund’s arguments.

Lott addressed the current “mess” that is the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), and the persistent efforts of progressive liberals and Democrats to leave it in disrepair.

“You can go to Hillary Clinton’s website—and she’s said this many times—that there’s 2.4 million dangerous prohibited people that have been stopped from buying guns because of the [Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act],” Lott said. “That’s simply false. What she should say is that there have been 2.4 million in initial denials, and there’s a huge difference between those terms.”

Lott noted one of the reasons for some initial denials is that the system relies on, among other things, a phonetic check of an applicant’s name.  This can lead to a “false” denial when someone who has a name similar to an individual with a disqualifying record attempts a purchase.

“Forty percent of Vietnamese in the United States have the same last name. Hispanics tend to have names similar to other Hispanics,” Lott said. Thus the current NICS system can discriminate based on ethnicity by complicating an attempted firearm purchase for those who do not have a disqualifying record, but who have names identical or similar to those who do.

However, Lott does not believe that expanding the current system is the answer. The “universal” background check laws being pushed, Lott argued, would not have stopped any of the mass shootings that have occurred.

Clarke.Moreover, as Lott pointed out, background checks can be costly, especially for those with limited means. In jurisdictions like Washington state, Oregon and Washington, D.C., private firearm transfers cost anywhere from $55 to $125.

Lott recalled an instance a few years back when members of the Colorado legislature requested his input on how to remedy that situation. He recommended that those at or below poverty level be exempted from firearm transfer fees, an idea which was met with resistance and was not passed. A similar situation occurred in Maryland. . . .

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America’s 1st Freedom, October 31, 2016

Earlier this year, federal data revealed that accidental gun deaths jumped sharply in Tennessee. In fact, numbers from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) showed 105 accidental gun deaths, compared to only 19 the year before.

The revelation prompted gun-ban advocates—who often like to call themselves “gun safety proponents”—to go into a feeding frenzy. They believed that they finally had the “facts” they needed to convince state legislators that more restrictive gun laws are absolutely necessary—and right now.

“The dramatic jump in unintentional shootings deaths in our state is a cause for alarm and a call to action,” Jonathan Metzl, research director of the Safe Tennessee Project, said at the time. “This data truly should be a wake-up call for lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.”

The only catch: It simply wasn’t true.

And nobody would have ever known if it weren’t for John Lott, author of More Guns, Less Crime, and president of the Crime Prevention Research Center. Lott looked into the situation and learned that the number of deaths hadn’t risen exponentially, as the CDC numbers indicated, but had actually fallen from 19 to five.

And according to Lott, the misreported number also drastically changed this critical statistic on a national level, giving those who push for more federal gun control an opportunity to try to capitalize on the increase. . . .

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