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PAUL CRESPO
`More Guns, Less Crime’

According to some, guns have no purpose other than killing and should be tightly controlled. To them, more guns invariably lead to more crime and violence. Sounds good at first glance, except that the facts don’t support the theory. Were this true, peaceful, multicultural Switzerland, where virtually every household has an automatic assault rifle and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, should be the most violent country on Earth.

With gun-control legislation efforts stalled nationally, some anti-gun activists have instead focused their well-intentioned efforts on the civil courts under the guise of gun-safety. A Florida jury recently decided a $1.2 million judgment against a gun distributor for what jurors considered the distributor’s partial (5 percent) culpability in a murder involving one of its handguns. Jurors blamed the distributor for failing to provide an external lock, something that is not required by law (the pistol did have an internal safety to prevent accidental firing). This sympathy verdict was an American first. Many expect the decision to be reversed on appeal.

The use of this questionable product liability/safety litigation against gun companies raises some interesting legal issues. More important, though, is the belief that guns serve no valid purpose and, if owned at all, should be under constant lock and key. Firearms, therefore, should be controlled in Draconian ways that automobiles, which daily kill scores more innocent people than do guns, are not. To anti-gun activists, cars have a utilitarian purpose that guns don’t; so there is little talk of regulating car sales or restricting their ownership.

To these activists, the only apparent use for guns is for target shooting or hunting, which are ”trivial” hobbies. Hence, the focus on gun crimes and accidents. The national media may inadvertently help perpetuate the focus on guns by ignoring, for the most part, the tens of thousands of tragic car and other accidents annually, while reporting the far-less numerous gun incidents. This provides an emotionally wrenching but often skewed reality.

TO DETER CRIME

Fortunately, tens of millions of legitimate gun owners in America (roughly half the households in the country) know that guns serve a useful purpose. Well-documented studies support the view that guns are used much more often to prevent and deter crimes and save lives than by criminals or in accidents. But since these incidents are not crimes, they rarely get cataloged, much less reported. Also, a significant percentage of violent gun crimes in America are committed by repeat offenders often using the same small pool of illegal black-market guns.

In his book More Guns, Less Crime, Yale economics Professor John Lott describes the results of what is probably the most comprehensive study on the subject. He concludes that, on average, violent crime dropped 4 percent for each 1 percent increase in legitimate gun ownership in America. States that allowed individuals to carry concealed handguns had an even greater drop in crime rates — especially killings and violent crimes. Florida is one such state.

A BRUTAL MURDER

As for the idea that guns should be sold at least with locks and kept stored for safety, there is an important trade-off to consider. The brutal Aug. 23, 2000, Carpenter family multiple-murder in Merced, Calif., is a case in point. Here two young children were slaughtered by an intruder with a pitchfork while the parents were away. One of the surviving children, 14-year-old Jessica, who had been taught to shoot by her father, was unable to protect her siblings.

The father’s guns, pursuant to California safe-storage laws, were kept unloaded and inaccessible to the children. Had Jessica been able to reach a loaded weapon, she may have saved her little brother and sister. Unfortunately, this part of the story wasn’t reported. Rather it was presented simply as an unavoidable tragedy.

As with automobile safety, the gun issue needs to be evaluated rationally rather than emotionally. On balance, our Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms provides us more benefits than dangers. We should tread on it carefully.