Quote of the day—Mark Duggan, Randi Hjalmarsson, and Brian A. Jacob

We find no evidence that gun shows lead to substantial increases in either gun homicides or suicides. In addition, tighter regulation of gun shows does not appear to reduce the number of firearms-related deaths.

If anything, we find  evidence of a modest decline in the number of homicides following the average gun show.

Mark Duggan, Randi Hjalmarsson, and Brian A. Jacob
October 2008
The Effect of Gun Shows on Gun-Related Deaths: Evidence from California and Texas
[Via email from Mark M. who sent me a link to this NYT article which referenced the paper I quote above.

Again, we have to ask Just One Question of the anti-gun people. One of the few remaining domains they believe they can gain traction on is the “gun show loophole”. Yet the evidence is that such regulation has, at best, zero benefit. If they were to base their legislative agenda on facts and reason they would be force to look at some other domain of firearm law. But from the Brady Campaign’s own website their stated goals are restricting gun shows, banning “assault weapons”, “giving law enforcement new legal authority to crack down on corrupt gun dealers” (I don’t know what this means and I’m not sure they do either), and “one gun a month” laws. Yet where and when they have been implemented none of their legislative goals has ever demonstrated an increase in public safety. Hence we can only conclude one of two things: 1) Public safety is not their true goal; or 2) Data and reason are irrelevant to them—they are bigots.

I find it interesting that although they don’t list restrictions on the carriage of firearms in public as part of their goals they do frequently whine about it and push back against it when it does come up before the legislatures. It could be that they realize that is a losing issue. They fought that battle for 25 years with the result being they slowly lost essentially the entire country:

RightToCarry

The force of darkness has been pushed back. We must now drive it into political extinction no matter how much they whine.—Joe]

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6 thoughts on “Quote of the day—Mark Duggan, Randi Hjalmarsson, and Brian A. Jacob

  1. I love seeing that map. it’s amazing how much progress has been made in my lifetime. Next up, let’s see New Jersey civilized!

  2. The Chicago Machine runs the entire state (even though most of the rest of the state is pretty sane), so I don’t expect much to change unless/until the Supremes force the issue.

  3. BTW there are a couple of loopholes, although I wouldn’t try them in or near Chicago:

    If you get a hunting license, it’s open season all year on coyotes. You can claim to be on your way to or from hunting them if stopped by a LEO.

    The statute on transport requires that the gun be unloaded and enclosed in a case (actually broken down is not required, but standard practice in case of an overzealous officer). In theory you can therefore “transport” it on your person in a fanny pack as long as it’s unloaded and the magazines are in a separate compartment. There isn’t much in the way of case law on this, however.

    Basically, trying any of these methods involves a certain risk if caught–it really depends on the officer.

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