The Latest Misfires in Support of the More Guns, Less Crime Hypothesis
dc.contributor.author | Ayres, Ian | |
dc.contributor.author | Donohue, John | |
dc.date | 2021-11-25T13:34:15.000 | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2021-11-26T11:35:13Z | |
dc.date.available | 2021-11-26T11:35:13Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2003-01-01T00:00:00-08:00 | |
dc.identifier | fss_papers/1242 | |
dc.identifier.citation | Ian Ayres & John J Donohue III, The latest misfires in support of the more guns, less crime hypothesis, 55 STAN. L. REV. 1371 (2002). | |
dc.identifier.contextkey | 1679337 | |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13051/446 | |
dc.description.abstract | In our initial article—Shooting Down the More Guns, Less Crime Hypothesis—we reached two main conclusions: First, that there was no credible statistical evidence that the adoption of concealed-carry (or "shall-issue") laws reduced crime; and second, that the best, although admittedly quite imperfect, data suggested that the laws increased the costs of crime to the tune of $1 billion per year (which is a relatively small number given the total cost of FBI index crimes of roughly $114 billion per year). In their response to our article, Florenz Plassmann and John Whitley (PW) offer two sets of evidence in support of their view that that concealed-carry laws are beneficial: First, they argue that some of our regression specifications really buttress their position; and second, they analyze some new county data for the period 1977-2000. Their first method of proof fails because it simply overlooks—without even a single word of commentary!—the entire thrust of our paper: that aggregated specifications of the effects of these laws are badly marred by "jurisdiction selection" effects. We did not misread these aggregated estimates, as PW suggest; we simply showed that the PW claims based on these aggregated estimates are inaccurate and misleading. The data at every turn reject the idea that concealed-carry laws passed in different jurisdictions have a uniform impact on crime. Therefore, the results of disaggregated regressions must, counter to PW's claim, be taken as a more authoritative assessment of the overall impact of concealed-carry laws. | |
dc.title | The Latest Misfires in Support of the More Guns, Less Crime Hypothesis | |
dc.source.journaltitle | Faculty Scholarship Series | |
refterms.dateFOA | 2021-11-26T11:35:14Z | |
dc.identifier.legacycoverpage | https://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/fss_papers/1242 | |
dc.identifier.legacyfulltext | https://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2241&context=fss_papers&unstamped=1 |