Do More Laws Equal Less Gun Violence?

Abstract

This paper is a critical evaluation of the research which supports the argument that more restrictive gun laws reduce gun violence. The paper correlates gun violence rates with state-level gun laws as developed by gun-control advocacy groups and utilized by public health scholars to argue a positive connection between legal restrictions and gun violence. This paper argues that such correlations are both misleading and often based on legal definitions which do not correctly explain the administration of the gun laws themselves.

Keywords: gun violence, right to carry, violent crime, crime rates

JEL Classification: I10, I18, K14