New research puts the 'good guy with a gun' idea to rest

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Loose concealed-carry laws are linked to more firearm homicides

The "good guy with a gun" theory goes like this: If more well-intentioned people carry guns, there's a higher chance of stopping a violent shooter.

Unfortunately, that's not how it works in real life, according to new research published in the journal Justice Quarterly. The study found that laws allowing more people to carry guns in public are associated with a rise in gun violence. The results also showed that the higher a state's gun-ownership rate, the more likely a mass shooting is.

Emma Fridel, an assistant professor at Florida State University who authored the study, measured the affects of gun ownership rates and concealed-carry laws in all 50 states from 1991 to 2016. She controlled for other factors that might influence mass shooting and homicide rates, like unemployment rates, poverty levels and states' mental health expenditures.

Her findings show that looser concealed-carry laws had little impact on mass shootings and increased a state's gun homicide rate by 11%. Higher rates of firearm ownership overall, meanwhile, was associated with a 53.5% increase in the likelihood of a mass shooting.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/research-puts-good-guy-gun-140100122.html

[kimbutgar]

1. There was a reason in the Wild West they made people turn in their guns to the sheriff if they

Entered a town.

Nothing good comes of a gun. People with guns are more likely to commit suicide or get it used against them. I grew up with a story of an great aunt who had a gun and she went out to the store and her boys got the gun and one shot the other dead. I remember there was always a sadness in this cousin.

[ProfessorGAC]

2. "Even The Wild West Wasn't The Wild West!"

I'm stealing that line from Demolition Man, but it is a fact.
The showdown in the street actually happened only a handful of times in 30 years!
Like you said, the vast majority were unarmed!

[keithbvadu2]

3. Good guy with a gun forgot to...

Good guy with a gun forgot to...