Democrats have long pushed for taxes and fees to prevent the poor and minorities from owning guns. The likely gubernatorial nominee for Illinois and U.S. Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL) announced new legislation to increase federal excise taxes on shells and cartridges from 11 percent to 50 percent and an increase in taxes on the sale of pistols and revolvers from 10 percent to 20 percent. …
In 2013, LA Weekly obtained a list of the 341 concealed carry permit holders in Los Angeles County, California. That is only about 0.0045% of the 7.7 million adults living in the county in 2013. As of January this year, there were only 226 permits, about 0.0029% of the adult population. …
concealed carry, CPRC original research, impact of gun control on the poor, women
Dr. John Lott has started as a contributor for The Hill newspaper, which is read by members of Congress and their staff, though it has a somewhat broader audience. Lott’s first piece is on the Democrats consistently pushing fees and taxes that make it difficult for poor people, particularly minorities, to buy guns for protection. …
UPDATED: Democrats say that the support the poor, but when it come to letting the poor defend themselves, if it were up to Democrats in Texas, they would never have lowered the fees paid the state for permits. In Texas only Democrats voted against reducing the fee to get a concealed handgun permit from $140 to $40. …
concealed handgun permit fee, impact of gun control on the poor
Dr. John Lott has a piece in the Hartford Courant on Connecticut Governor Malloy’s push to raise the state’s concealed handgun permit fee from $140 to $370.
…Why do Democrats, self-proclaimed champions of the poor, make it so difficult for poor people to defend themselves? Democrats oppose even free voter IDs as imposing too much of a burden on the poor, but when it comes to guns, they don’t hesitate to impose fees, expensive training requirements and onerous background checks.
John Lott’s research shows that there are two groups of people who benefit the most from owning guns: 1) poor blacks who live in high crime urban areas (people who are most likely to be victims of violent crime) and 2) people who are relatively weaker physically (women and the elderly).…
John Lott’s newest piece at Investors Business Daily:
…Police aren’t always there to protect people — not in Baltimore, not in Ferguson and not when the average person has to confront a criminal.
This is particularly true in the poorest sections of town. Even police with the best response times seldom arrive until after the crime has been committed and the assailant has run off.
From C-SPAN: “John Lott talked about the new study put out by Pew Research Center which finds that support for gun rights have increased and, for the first time, protecting gun rights is more important than controlling ownership.”
Lott was originally supposed to be on for an hour on C-SPAN to discuss these issues with Ted Alcorn, the research director for Michael Bloomberg’s Everytown. …
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Malia Zimmerman’s piece contained this discussion:
…. . . . These tactics are a way for police departments or the government to make it more costly to own guns, said John Lott, an economist, leading expert on guns, and author at the Crime Prevention Research Center. Lott believes the illegal policies most hurt poor gun owners, who not only are less likely to afford to get their property back, but also typically live in neighborhoods where they are more vulnerable to crime.
