Scientific American recently ran a 6,000-word article claiming that more guns mean more crime by Melinda Wenner Moyer, who works for Michael Bloomberg's The Trace. Dr. John Lott wrote a letter responding to some of the many errors and the author wrote a response to...
Letters that we submitted
Letter responding to attacks in the Los Angeles Times, Discussing President’s Election Integrity Commission
The Los Angeles Times had a news article by Lauren Rosenblatt attacking Dr. John Lott's testimony to the President's Election Integrity Commission. John Lott, head of the gun rights advocacy group Crime Prevention Research Center, suggested such a process would ease...
Letter responding to Seattle Times’ article by Julie Wise’s piece “Trump’s election commission long on rhetoric, short on integrity”
Julie Wise, the King County Elections Director, had an op-ed attacking Dr. John Lott's testimony One particularly egregious presentation was given by Dr. John Lott of the Crime Prevention Research Center. Relying on data from 1996 to 2004, Lott made the case that...
Letter responding to Philip Bump’s “Let’s see what happens if we take the unserious background-checks-for-voters idea seriously”
Philip Bump had an article in the Washington Post attacking Dr. John Lott's testimony before the president's Election Integrity Commission. The Post did not publish Lott's letter, but this is what was sent in: Dear Letters Editor: Philip Bump doesn’t understand how...
Replying to Christopher Ingraham’s attacks in the Wash Post on CPRC’s testimony to Commission on Election Integrity
On September 12, 2017, the Washington Post's Christopher Ingraham had an article attacking Dr. John Lott's testimony before the President’s Advisory Commission on Election Integrity (video is available here and Lott's op-ed on the testimony is here). Here is part of...
UPDATE: Letter in the Des Moines Register: “Gang activity plays a large role in gun-related violence”
UPDATE: The Des Moines Register has published a debate that we have had in the pages of their Sunday paper over the last couple of weeks. Original post: This past Wednesday the Des Moines Register ran an editorial calling for more gun control as a way of saving...
Letter in the Arizona Capitol Times: Responding to article criticizing the CPRC’s work updating Arizona prison study
Dr. John Lott wrote a letter to the Arizona Capitol Times responding to a news article on August 11th titled "Controversial researcher hired to update prison population study." Dr. Lott's response is available here (published online August 17, 2017): Dear Editor: A...
Letter sent to the Boston Globe responding to an op-ed claiming support for background checks on private sales of guns
This letter wasn’t published, but it was sent to the Boston Globe after an op-ed by Comedy Central's Jordan Klepper claiming support for background checks on private sales of guns. The piece also makes bizarre attacks on gun owner's “masculinity." Dear Letters...
In the Wall Street Journal on how law-abiding concealed handgun permit holders are
The Wall Street Journal ran a lead letter that extensively discussed the Crime Prevention Research Center's work. The letter appeared as follows: Regarding James P. O’Neill and Cyrus R. Vance Jr.’s “Don’t Mess With New York’s Gun Laws” (op-ed, March 24): The authors...
Responding to Bloomberg Group’s attack in the Minneapolis Star Tribune
On March 10th, Rachael Joseph, the Director of Outreach for Protect Minnesota and who works with Bloomberg's Everytown, had a piece in the Minneapolis Star Tribune attacking Dr. John Lott. The piece was supposedly about Lott's op-ed on Stand Your...
The New York Times’ false claims about what the public and their selective experts think about gun control
On January 10, 2017, the New York Times had an article claiming that both the public and their selective experts favored more gun control. From their article: The academics in our panel — many of the country’s best empirical researchers on gun policy — were far more...
CPRC Response to Washington Post article on guns in statehouse buildings
As we have previously discussed, the Associated Press used our research on state capitols that allow people to carry firearms. Here is the letter that we sent into the Washington Post: Dear Letters Editor: Your article grossly exaggerates the risks of concealed...