Speaking out against John Lott

Discredited gun researcher John Lott Jr. has been writing and speaking on gun issues for years. Sadly, his evocative sound bites are not based on accurate data. Lott wields influence because of his platform with NRATV and other opinion journalism. In his article in this paper’s editorial page on July 30, Lott said “guns are used to stop crime about five times more frequently than they are used to commit it.” But where do his numbers come from?

The FBI keeps painstaking records of episodes of firearms used in self-defense and in crime, and so do many others. Academic researchers have genuine data to draw on. A Harvard University study of five years of data from the federal National Crime Victimization Survey, covering the period between 2007 and 2011, uses those facts and notes that the opposite of Lott’s claim is true.

For every person who uses a gun in self-defense, nearly six people use a gun to commit a crime. Lott is not just slightly mistaken, what he states is dangerous disinformation. Sadly, John Lott, like his friends in the NRA, is only interested in making or manipulating statistics that support the gun industry.

This is not a new approach for John Lott. His 1998 book is called More Guns, Less Crime. His point in the book is that crime rates decreased in states that passed concealed carry laws, allowing for increased guns.

But in 2002 researchers Ian Ayres of Yale Law School and John Donohue of Stanford Law School published a report that showed that instead of a reduction in crime, in each of 14 jurisdictions that passed concealed carry laws, every type of crime that Lott had studied actually increased. More guns, more crime, as you might expect. Lott’s political appointment to the Department of Justice ended three months after it began, and he has since returned to his long-standing job as the head of the Pro-NRA “Crime Prevention Research Center,” which he created. It is time that the rest of us recognize that this organization does not publish research, but sound bites that reflect pro-NRA theories in support of the gun industry.

There are already 120 guns per 100 persons in the US. And 108 Americans are shot to death each day. The problem is not John Lott. The problem is that we are not paying attention to the difference between reputable research that can inform our actions, and disinformation that enriches firearms manufacturers, but kills Americans.

Today gun crime and gun suicide are increasing, following the buying of 17 million new guns in the US in the past year. Though no one is trying to take legal guns away, let’s be honest: guns don’t make us safer. The risk of suicide is three times higher for all household members, when there is a gun in the house.

And partners affected by domestic violence are five times more likely to die if there is a firearm in the house. It is also a myth that gun reform means taking guns away from law-abiding gun owners. The opposite is true. Gun reform takes dangerous weapons out of dangerous hands. Closing loopholes in background checks stops felons and those convicted of domestic violence from buying firearms. It is time to speak up about the dangers of disinformation.

Judy Young is a retired United Methodist pastor and a member of Gettysburg for Gun Sense.