More Guns Less Crime by John Jr (ebook reader macos .txt) 📗

Habits of Some Texans, Poll Finds Supporters, Foes Disagree About What That Means," Dallas Morning News, Nov. 3, 1996, p. 45A. The number of people owning guns is examined in more detail in chapter 3.

2. For example, in Chicago 59 percent of police officers report never having had to fire their guns. See Andrew Martin, "73% of Chicago Cops Have Been Attacked While Doing Their Job," Chicago Tribune, June 17, 1997, p. A3.

3. Dawn Lewis of Texans Against Gun Violence provided a typical reaction from gun-control advocates to the grand jury decision not to charge Gordon Hale. She said, "We are appalled. This law is doing what we expected, causing senseless death." Mark Potok, a Texan, said that the concealed-gun law saved his life. "I did what I thought I had to do," (USA Today, Mar. 22, 1996, p. 3A). For a more recent evaluation of the Texas experience, see "Few Problems Reported After Allowing Concealed Handguns, Officers Say," Fort Worth Star-Telegram, July 16, 1996. By the end of December 1996, more than 120,000 permits had been issued in Texas.

4. Japan Economic Newswire, "US. Jury Clears Man Who Shot Japanese Student," Kyodo News Service, May 24, 1993; and Lori Sham, "Violence Shoots Holes in USA's Tourist Image," USA Today, Sept. 9, 1993, p. 2A.

5. Gary Kleck, Point Blank: Guns and Violence in America (Hawthorne, NY: Aldine de Gruyter Publishers, 1991).

6. John R. Lott, Jr., "Now That the Brady Law Is Law, You Are Not Any Safer Than Before," Philadelphia Inquirer, Feb. 1, 1994, p. A9. For a more detailed breakdown of police shootings in the larger US. cities, see William A. Geller and Michael S. Scott, Deadly Force: What We Know (Washington, DC: Police Executive Research Forum, 1992).

7. "Mexican Woman Who Killed Would-Be Rapist to Turn to Activism," Associated Press Newswire, Feb. 12, 1997, dateline Mexico City.

8. For many examples of how guns have prevented rapes from occurring, see Paxton Quigley, Armed and Female (New York: St. Martin's, 1989).

9. Newspaper stories abound. Examples of pizza deliverymen defending themselves can be found in the Chicago Tribune, May 22, 1997, p. 1; Baltimore Sun, Aug. 9, 1996, p. Bl; Tampa

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Tribune, Dec. 27, 1996, p. Al; and Los Angeles Times, Jan. 28, 1997, p. Bl. Another recent example involved a pizza deliveryman in New Paltz, NY (Middletown (New York) Times Herald Record, Jan. 25, 1997). Examples of thwarted carjackings (Little Rock Democrat-Gazette, Aug. 3, 1996) and robberies at automatic teller machines (York (Pennsylvania) Daily Record, April 25, 19%) are also common.

For a case in which a gun was merely brandished to stop an armed street robbery, see the Annapolis Capitol, Aug. 7, 1996. Other examples of street robberies that were foiled by law-abiding citizens using concealed handguns include the case of Francisco Castellano, who was shot in the chest during an attempted street robbery by two perpetrators but was able to draw his own handgun and fire back. Castellano's actions caused the robbers to flee the scene (Corey Dada and Ivonne Perez, "Armed Robbery Botched as Restaurateur Shoots Back," Miami Herald, Aug. 3, 1996, p. B6.) The following story gives another example: "Curtis Smalls was standing outside the USF&G building when he was attacked by two thugs. They knocked him down, robbed, and stabbed him. Mr. Smalls pulled a .38-caliber revolver and shot both attackers, who were later charged with this attack and two other robberies and are suspects in at least 15 more robberies." This story was described in "Gun Laws Render Us Self-Defenseless," Baltimore Sun, Sept. 27, 1996. See also Charles Strouse, "Attacker Killed by His Victim," Fort Lauderdale (Florida) Sun-Sentinel, Sept. 16, 1997, p. 4B; Henry Pierson Curtis, "Bicyclist Kills Man Who Tried to Rob Him," Orlando Sentinel, Sept. 19, 1997, p. D3; and Florence (Alabama) Times Daily, Dec. 27, 1996, for other examples. Examples of foiled carjackings can be found in "Guns and Carjacking: This Is My Car," Economist, Sept. 20,1997. Many other types of robberies have been foiled by people carrying concealed handguns. In at least one case, citizens carrying concealed handguns in Jacksonville, Florida may have saved a restaurant waitress from being shot ("Pistol-Packing Seniors in Florida Wound Robber," Reuter Information Service, Sept. 24, 1997, 6:15 p.m. EDT). For another example, see Clea Benson, "Wounded Barmaid Kills Gunman in Holdup," Philadelphia Inquirer, Jan. 23, 1997, p. Rl.

10. Stories involving defensive uses of guns in the home are featured even more prominently. For example, four intruders forced their way into the home of two elderly women, struggled with them, and demanded their car keys. The attack stopped only after one of the women brandished her handgun ("Pistol-Packing Grandmas Honored by Sheriff," Associated Press Newswire, Feb. 16, 1997 2:30 p.m. EST, dateline Moses Lake, WA). In another case a twenty-three-year-old burglar "pummeled" a 92-year-old man and "ransacked]" his house. The burglar left only after the elderly man reached his gun ("Burglar Puts 92-Year-Old in the Gun Closet and Is Shot," New York Times, Sept. 7, 1995, p. A16). Although the defensive use of guns in the home is interesting, my focus in this book is on the effects of allowing citizens to carry concealed handguns.

11. Not all news stories of defensive uses involve shots being fired. For example, the Arizona Republic reported the following: "In January 1995, a permit-holder who lives in Scottsdale pulled a handgun from a shoulder holster and scared off two men armed with aluminum baseball bats who attempted to rob him near