Dr. John Lott debated Michael Shermer at FreedomFest in July 19, 2019. Because of copyright restrictions this post only provides Dr. Lott side of the presentation. Dr. Lott won the audience vote by 83% to 17% and won the jury vote by 10 to 2.
On Victory News: How can we reduce violent crime? Who are the victims of crime? Who supports more police?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATPEVGNbhVQ Dr. John Lott on a wide range from a violent crime in Michigan to socialism to who are the people don't like the socialist views on reducing crime. A deep dive into murder victim data is available here and to violent crime...
Dr. Lott’s presentation is spot on. The police cannot protect citizens from violence. Tighter Gun Controls promote increased violent crime.
I am betting Dr. Lott is probably kicking himself though for failing to mention this following point. When Shermer in his usual smirking style put up those two pictures, one of a group of navy seals followed by same size group of “regular joes”. Followed by the comment would one (joes) have a chance against the other (seals). I would have said how many navy seals are there (~2000); how many gun owners are there (~80-100 million). So easily a thousand to one in favor of joes vs seals. So how would 5 Navy seals do against 5000 regular joes?