Economics With Guns

Much talk has been bandied about before, but especially after the school shooting in Littleton, Colorado, regarding guns and gun ownership. The National Rifle Association (NRA) is a strong political force in the United States. Guns mean big bucks to legitimate dealers and even bigger bucks to those who sell them on the streets. Guns are a source of great emotional turmoil to many - those who passionately oppose their existence and those who desperately want to keep them around. It almost seems like the politics of guns is threatening to surpass the abortion issue as the political issue of our time.
The day following the tragic shooting in Littleton the sponsors of a concealed weapons bill, Doug Dean (Colorado Springs) and Ken Chlouber (Leadville) let the bill die without ever getting the chance to let the legislators vote on it. Mr. Dean told the press about threats he and his family had received as a result of his sponsorship. Some callers told him that he killed the students at Columbine High School.
President Clinton and Elizabeth Dole have raced to the forefront of the public eye in declaring their support of certain restrictions on guns. Liddy Dole in an effort to completely alienate 90% of her republican support even declared her opposition to concealed hand-gun permits.
Professor John Lott, Jr. and David B. Mustard published a study in the January 1997 issue of Journal of Legal Studies using cross-sectional time-series data from 1977 - 1992. They found that when states allow citizens to carry concealed weapons it actually deters crime. It is curious to note that according to the professor's study nearly half of all home burglaries in Canada and Britain (where they face much more strict gun control laws) occur when the occupant is home. Yet in the United States (where gun laws are more relaxed) only 13% of burglaries occur when someone is home. Many American convicted felons admit to fearing armed occupants and spend far more time watching a house to determine when the owners will be gone than do Canadian and British felons.
Someone tersely commented to me after the Littleton massacre, that the killers wouldn't have dared go to a certain high school near downtown Denver because, They wouldn't have made it two feet into the school before someone else would have shot them because at (this school) they're all packing heat! Whether or not you find any ironic humor in this statement there is a certain truth to it. The Columbine killers knew very well they faced little or no danger from the students.
faculty, or staff at Columbine. Even the lone armed guard was no match for their superior fire power. The copyright of the article Guns and Economics in marketplace economics is owned by Beth Skinner. Permission to republish Guns and Economics in print or online must be granted by the author in writing

Lott and Mustard's results are startling. When counties adopted the state concealed handgun laws murders fell by 7.65% and rapes and aggravated assaults fell by 5 and 7%. Their study also indicates that murders in the United States would have declined by 1,414 if the counties studied had adopted state concealed handgun laws.
An interesting sidebar involving accidental deaths is that in 1988, 200 accidental gun deaths occurred. 22 of these were in states with concealed handgun laws and the remaining 178 took place in states without concealed handgun laws.
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The copyright of the article Guns and Economics in Marketplace Economics is owned by Beth Skinner. Permission to republish Guns and Economics in print or online must be granted by the author in writing. 

by  Beth Skinner