Any Criminologists Out There?

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Mosin44az

New member
I get my info from a number of web sites, both left and right, and the ones on the left like Salon and Slate are really getting my blood boiling with their anti-gun articles these days, trying to drum up support for the Feinstein ban, etc.

One thing I have noticed is their continual citing of alleged "research" by all those supposedly neutral "public health researchers" who were exposed years ago as being essentially anti-gun crusaders rather than honest scholars. (See the brilliant article "Guns and Public Health" in the Spring 1995 U of Tennessee Law Review, which you can find online by googling, and which I think you can still buy a hard copy of from that school--it's their best-ever selling Law Review volume--or from the Second Amendment Foundation.)

These frauds seem to be legion, and they keep pumping out new garbage funded by the Joyce Foundation and Bloomberg, and broadcast by their lackeys in the media.

What disturbs me is how little of the real, credible scholarship, by real criminologists, seems to be out there these days.

The only criminologist who seems to keep showing up in online searches is Gary Kleck, and although distinguished, it seems his best work was about 15 years ago, and he seems to be all alone.

Where is the good new criminological research that can be used against the "public health" frauds? Where is it published? How can I find it? Does anyone know?
 
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mack59

New member
The best modern research is by Lott, his research has stood up to peer review, with the only real dispute being if the results show a decrease in crime from concealed carry or no statistically significant decrease. But Lott has been so thoroughly demonized by the left that using his research is not accepted by the left as they will just say it has been debunked and throw in a couple of quotes from gun control advocates without researching the fact the critics they quote are gun control hacks and that there has been no serious academic refutation of his data or research. However, what his research is still golden for is to use his criticisms of other research to point out the flaws and failures in the reports and research of gun control advocates.

There is however nothing wrong with Kleck or older research that has not been seriously refuted. The following referenced work on guns and gun control will give you all the ammo you need to refute any gun control argument.

Per the National Crime Victimization Survey from the Bureau of Justice Statistics - a firearm is the single most effective means of self defense and the only means of self defense that results in fewer injuries than non-resistance or not defending one’s self. A firearm is also the single most effective means of self defense when it comes to preventing the completion of a crime; particularly important when the crime is assault, rape, or murder. From research by Kleck


The National Academy of Sciences issued a 328-page report based on 253 journal articles, 99 books, 43 government publications, a survey of 80 different gun-control laws and some of its own independent study. In short, the panel could find no link between restrictions on gun ownership and lower rates of crime, firearms violence or even accidents with guns. The panel was established during the Clinton administration and all but one of its members were known to favor gun control. From the National Academy of Sciences.

The previous Assault Weapons and magazine ban per the governments own studies on its effects, (the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the National Research Council in 2004), concluded that they could find no significant measurable impact on reducing crime. From the CDC and NRC.

Surveys consistently show that hundreds of thousands of people if not millions use a gun to defend themselves every year. Thirteen surveys by researchers, (none of whom were affiliated with the NRA or other pro-gun organizations but some of whom were affiliated with gun control organizations), have found the anywhere from 800,000 to 2.5 million people use a gun in self-defense each year. The federal governments own survey for the Department of Justice resulted in an estimate of 1.5 million defensive gun uses per year.
From research by Kleck.

The salient points are:

Guns are the only truly effective means of self defense
Guns are often used in self defense by average citizens

There is no evidence that gun control laws reduce crime

Guncite is a website where you can start to glean information on research and find references for further research.
 
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Glenn E. Meyer

New member
If you are not hooked into university scholarly databases - you can use Google scholar to search on the issue.

There are criminological journals that discuss the issues quite a bit.
 
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Mosin44az

New member
Thanks to all of you for your help. Guncite looks good and I will start patrolling for the scholarly databases too.
 
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