Data on homicide offenders by race from 1976 to 2005 is available here. After that the data is available from the annual FBI UCR reports. The bottom line is that while whites account for less than half of murderers, they are almost two-thirds of those who are...
CPRC original research
Massive errors in the Violence Policy Center’s “Concealed Carry Killers”
The Violence Policy Center regularly puts out the claim that concealed handgun permit holders are a danger to themselves and others. Right now they claim that concealed handgun permits have been responsible for 636 deaths from the entire United States over almost...
Comparing murder rates and gun ownership across countries
Charles Blow in the New York Times last year made the very common argument: “America has the highest gun homicide rate, the highest number of guns per capita . . . .” In another story, the New York Times quotes researcher David Hemenway as claiming: “Generally, if...
CPRC at Fox News: “Don’t believe mainstream media mistruths about firearms research”
John Lott's newest piece at Fox News starts this way: If we are to believe the mainstream media, the powerful NRA has used its political muscle to keep people ignorant of how guns impact our safety. They are supposedly to blame for the elimination of firearms...
MYTH: FIREARMS RESEARCH FELL AFTER THE NRA RESTRICTIONS ON FEDERAL FUNDING
The CPRC is proud to release a new study that is available here. Here is part of a news story on the report from Fox News: A forthcoming study is challenging claims, repeated over and over in the media, that federal restrictions effectively froze gun research over the...
Obama’s impact on US gun sales, a warning about using NICS checks to measure gun sales
Gun sales have exploded under the Obama administration even while crime rates have fallen. Jason Riley has recently made that point in the Wall Street Journal. NICS checks for guns are a rather imperfect measure of gun sales. People can buy multiple guns with one...
CPRC at Fox News: Media cherry picks Missouri gun data to make misleading case for more control
John Lott's newest piece at Fox News discusses the forthcoming study in the Journal of Urban Health that has been getting a lot of media attention. His piece starts this way: With headlines claiming “Study Shows Gun Control Works,” media outlets such as CBS, MSNBC,...
CPRC at Fox News: “Bloomberg’s latest stats on school gun violence ignore reality”
John Lott's newest piece at Fox News starts this way: Are schools and colleges dangerous places, with lots of gun violence? Some groups paint a picture of these places being particularly unsafe. Supposedly both murders and firearm suicides are very common at...
Michael Bloomberg’s two groups, Moms Demand Gun Sense in America and Mayors Against Illegal Guns claim that school shootings aren’t getting media attention
(Click on figure to make picture bigger.) Bloomberg's groups claim that shootings at schools are ignored and don't get media attention. Well, of 44 claimed cases the groups point to since Newtown, 24 of them were covered by USA Today. Five others were covered in at...
How has the number of people killed in non-gang, non-suicide shootings at K-12 schools changed over the last 20 years?
UPDATED INFORMATION is available here.. UPDATE: Problems with the Bloomberg claims on school shootings is available here. (Click on the figure to make it larger.) Using data from the National School Safety Center, Slate, and Michael Bloomberg shows a significant drop...
CPRC at Fox News: “ABC News reports on guns mislead Americans”
John Lott's piece at Fox News started this way: Gun control advocates not only push new fees and taxes on guns to reduce ownership, but they also employ another tactic: scaring people into not owning guns. Last week, on January 31, ABC News saturated its news programs...
Some notes on John Roman’s “Race, Justifiable Homicide, and Stand Your Ground Laws: Analysis of FBI Supplementary Homicide Report Data,” Urban Institute
A copy of Roman's report is available here. Apparently, the report was referenced extensively in last week's Senate testimony on Stand Your Ground laws. 1) If you were to do this study right, you would look at the change in justifiable homicides in each state...