Anti-gun academics cannot be trusted

For several years, John Lott has been publishing papers and books, including the best statistical work, on the impact of allowing qualified citizens to carry concealed weapons. His results strongly suggest that the impact of passing these laws is to reduce murders and rapes. There appears to be little or no down side to such laws and a good deal of upside.

The response of some anti-gun academics has been to accuse Lott of incorrect statistical methodology and fabricating data. Lott’s response has been to explain, patiently, why the criticism is unwarranted and to show that it is the statistical studies put forth by these academic that are incorrect.

To illustrate, the lies (my opinion) spread about Lott’s work, consider the following quote from Steven Levitt’s book “Freakonomics.

Then there was the troubling allegation that Lott actually invented some of the survey data that supports his more-guns/less-crime theory. Regardless of whether the data were faked, Lott’s admittedly intriguing hypothesis doesn’t seem to be true. When other scholars have tried to replicate his results, they found that right-to-carry laws simply don’t bring down crime.

In fact, Lott’s results have been replicated and supported by other researchers. This was known in the field. Indeed one researcher sent the following email to Levitt.

I also found the following citations – have not read any of them yet, but it appears they all replicate Lott’s research. The Journal of Law and Economics is not chopped liver.

Levitt’s response was:

It was not a peer refereed edition of the Journal. For $15,000 he was able to buy an issue and put in only work that supported him. My best friend was the editor and was outraged the press let Lott do this.

According to Lott:

Levitt’s e-mail was false and defamatory because the Special Issue was, in fact, peer refereed, and he didn’t “buy” the issue. Nor did he “put in only work that supported him.” Lott says he invited scholars who both agreed and disagreed with him to provide articles.

Failing to obtain redress from Levitt through peaceful means, Lott is now suing Levitt. The most recent legal document filed by Lott’s attorney can be found here.

I am with Lott on this. I think his work is excellent.

Read Lott’s book, “The Bias Against Guns”. It is a good read and enlightening.