I got to meet John Lott Jr. tonight...

BigMike

New member
The wife and I were wandering through book stores here in Las Vegas. We have recently moved here and are trying to learn the town. We ended up at Borders Books on Rainbow and Cheyenne. While browsing the isles, I noticed a table set up with books and a bunch of chairs surrounding it. I walked up to see who had authored the books on the table and what did I see? More Guns, Less Crime, by John Lott Jr. I asked a girl at the counter when he had come(as this was 6:30 p.m. at night already, thinking I had already missed him), and she responded that he was scheduled to appear at 8 pm tonight. So yers truly sat down(front row/center), prouldly wearing my spiffy new TFL t-shirt and waited for it to begin.

Got to meet some interesting people who began assembling for the turn out: corrections officers, an attorney, a rancher, the President of the Nevada State Rifle and Pistol Club(who apparantly helped to pass the CCW "Shall Issue" law here in Nevada in 1995), off duty police, and regular nice people.

Dr. Lott showed up and began speaking to about 70 people who had gathered. I have read his book before, but I did not have a copy, but he rehashed some of the interesting facts of crime, gun ownership, and myths surrounding both. He is very interesting to listen to.

Well after about 45 min of talking, he stopped and began signing books. I got 2 of them signed. :)

My shirt did peak some interest from some people, and I did steer them to the site here. Many said that they have been surfing the web for years and never heard of TFL. Hopefully we'll get more members as a result.
:D

Funny, I was glad my wife was there to hear some of the myths debunked by Dr. Lott. She is not against me having guns, but she isn't as interested in them as I am. At one point she looked around and whispered to me,
"I don't know if this is safe. What if some wacko trys to take him(Dr. Lott) out because they don't like what he's saying?" I replied, "Are you kidding? See all these people around us? What do you think is in all the fanny packs around us? There's more people in this room carrying right now than you could ever imagine. This is the safest place in this part of town!" ;)

He shook everyone's hand and that was that. He appeared to be a very good speaker, and I wouldn't hesitate to hear him speak again. He didn't say when his next speaking engagement was but I can recommend to anyone that they won't be disappointed.

Mike

[This message has been edited by BigMike (edited September 15, 2000).]
 
Congratulations, Mike! That's terrific.

Last year I hoped to meet him at the Gun Rights Policy Conference in St. Louis, but no cigar. Perhaps he will appear this year in Arlington.

Congrat's again ... I'm jealous. Regards from AZ
 
I met him when he was testifying at a 1997 hearing in California on shall-issue CCW reform, it was a special meeting of the Assembly Public Safety Committee.

Ya, he can speak. He'll be in San Francisco Saturday this coming Saturday night, phone Gail NEIRA (415) 339-1290 OR (415) 821-4452 - I'm there :).

Details:

Saturday, September 16, 2000
6:15 PM – 8:30 PM
HOLIDAY INN at FISHERMAN’S WHARF
1300 Columbus Avenue
San Francisco, California
Parking will be validated upon sign-in
$20 per person

Lott actually started out as a grabber! He expected his study of CCW effects to show widespread gun carry led to problems...but he was honest enough to realize what the numbers were saying.

Clayton Cramer did the same this with David Kopel, for the same reasons, back around...1989. Their analysis was much simpler than the Lott/Mustard work, Clayton and David calculated the per-capita murder rate before and after shall-issue.

Me, I couldn't do statistical math to save my life :). So when I first got into this, I EMailed street cops in shall-issue states and asked them what their actual experiences were with armed citizenry. Y'all know what I found :).

Lott has indeed recieved death threats. People are willing to kill him in the name of pacifism. I mean, it's not *really* funny...but...ahh hell, it's HILARIOUS :D.

Jim
 
I met him at the SAS AIMM rally in DC on Mother's Day. He's one kewl dude :D

------------------
When women are disarmed, a rapist will never hear - Stop or I'll shoot!
Armed Citizens SAVE Lives!
<A HREF="http://www.wagc.com
http://sites.netscape.net/wagcga/homepage

Gun" TARGET=_blank>http://www.wagc.com
http://sites.netscape.net/wagcga/homepage

Gun</A> Control: The theory that a woman found dead in an alley, raped and strangled with her panty hose, is somehow morally superior to a
woman explaining to police how her attacker got that fatal bullet wound.

"Quemadmoeum gladis nemeinum occidit, occidentis telum
est" ("A sword is never a killer, it's a tool in the killer's hands")
Lucius Annaeus Seneca "the younger" ca. (4 BC - 65 AD)
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Jim March:
I'm there :).
[/quote]

WHile you are there, tell him we need:

A one page (both sides) handout that has the most compelling facts, boiled down for easy consumption. I am picturing something I can hand out while doing Walmart protests or other forms of pro-gun lobbying. I tried calling the GOA, but they don't have any handout literature, and neither does the NRA (WTF??). I would make one myself, but he would do a better job. :)

Once he has it, just post it to the web so we can all download it and use it as appropriate. He can even put a plug for his book on the bottom. :)

------------------
galt
Speak Out on the Net http://www.netcitizen.org
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by BigMike:
There's more people in this room carrying right now than you could ever imagine. This is the safest place in this part of town!"[/quote]


Don't you just love that feeling when you know nearly everyone around you is armed.

:D

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~USP

"[Even if there would be] few tears shed if and when the Second Amendment is held to guarantee nothing more than the state National Guard, this would simply show that the Founders were right when they feared that some future generation might wish to abandon liberties that they considered essential, and so sought to protect those liberties in a Bill of Rights. We may tolerate the abridgement of property rights and the elimination of a right to bear arms; but we should not pretend that these are not reductions of rights." -- Justice Scalia 1998
 
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