Study Suggests Restrictive Gun Laws Increase Murder Rates

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Study Suggests Restrictive Gun Laws Increase Murder Rates
More guns, less crime.

More guns, less crime.
More guns, less crime.
A new research study lends quantitative credence to what many firearms enthusiasts already take as common knowledge – more guns indeed equals less crime or at least murders.

Economist Marc Gius, of Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Conn., published his study, An Examination of the Effects of Concealed Weapons Laws and Assault Weapons Bans on State-Level Murder Rates, in Applied Economic Letters. In the study Gius found intriguing evidence suggesting restrictive guns laws do little to curb murders committed with guns. Instead, the data implied the opposite conclusion.

According to the study’s abstract, Gius found states with bans on so called “assault weapons” did not have significantly lower gun-related murder rates than other states. Furthermore, he found states with restrictions on concealed carry weapons had higher gun-related murder rates than other states.

Gius’ conclusion: “These results suggest that restrictive concealed weapons laws may cause an increase in gun-related murders at the state level.”

For anyone paying attention to the national news, this should come as no surprise. Cities with some of the nation’s most restrictive gun laws also boast among the highest rates of gun-related murders. It is only natural those sorts of micro-level trends would carry over to the macro level.


Recommended resources for concealed carry:

Gun Digest Book of Concealed Carry, 2nd EditionThe Gun Digest Book of Concealed Carry, 2nd Edition

The Gun Digest Book of Combat Handgunnery

Armed: The Essential Guide to Concealed Carry

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Elwood Shelton is the Digital Editor for Gun Digest. He lives in Colorado and has provided coverage on a vast spectrum of topics for GD for more than a decade. Before that, he was an award-winning sports and outdoors reporter for a number of newspapers across the Rocky Mountains. His experience has consisted of covering the spread of chronic wasting disease into the Western Slope of Colorado to the state’s ranching for wildlife programs. His passion for shooting began at a young age, fostered on pheasant hunts with his father. Since then, he has become an accomplished handloader, long-range shooter and avid hunter—particularly mule deer and any low-down, dirty varmint that comes into his crosshairs. He is a regular contributor to Gun Digest Magazine and has contributed to various books on guns and shooting, most recently Lever-Actions: A Tribute to the All-American Rifle.

1 COMMENT

  1. This is what we gun enthusiasts having been preaching to our gun control and anti-gun friends for years. Researchers have concluded on more than one occasion that more guns in the hands of law abiding citizens reduces crimes of all types and especially murders. I’m sending this article to all on my email and Facebook accounts and request they spread the word to refute what the anti-gun groups are trying to spread. We all have a duty and responsibility to lobby the gun control politicians and send articles like this to them.

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