Published Research: Do Right to Carry Laws Still Reduce Violent Crime?

The CPRC has some new research published in Academia Letters. The research finds statistically significant reductions in murder from the adoption of Constitutional Carry laws (see Table 3).

Conclusion

Late adopting states issue fewer permits than early adopting states, implying less of a risk to criminals and a smaller reduction in murder rates. Limiting the sample to recent years causes the estimated coefficient on the right-to-carry dummy to switch from negative to positive, making it appear that these laws increase murder rates when in fact the coefficient is reflecting the smaller reduction in murder rates associated with fewer permits. Researchers studying the effect of right-to-carry laws should use all the data available and limit the comparison states to primarily may-issue states.

Carlisle Moody and John R. Lott, Jr., “Do Right to Carry Laws Still Reduce Violent Crime?” Academia Letters, February 2022.