http://www.usatoday.com/news/washdc/ncswed20.htm
05/11/00- Updated 12:59 AM ET
Study: Gun-lockup laws can be harmful
By Martin Kasindorf, USA TODAY
Laws that punish parents for failing to lock guns away from children cause more violence than they prevent, a new statistical study concludes. Law enforcement officials and gun control advocates, however, dispute the findings.
In a study prepared for The Journal of Law & Economics, two researchers say that "child access-prevention" laws, which are on the books in 17 states, have failed to reduce accidental firearm deaths and suicides involving children.
And, crime rates increase as predators invade homes where self-defense weapons are hard to grab quickly, says John Lott Jr., a senior research scholar at Yale Law School, and John Whitley of the University of Chicago. "The only consistent impact of safe storage laws is to raise rape, robbery and burglary rates, and the effects are very large," the authors say.
In 1996, they estimate, 15 states with such laws suffered a combined total of about 3,800 more rapes, at least 21,000 more burglaries and at least 49,700 more robberies than they would have had without the laws.
Lott acknowledges that legislatures pass gun-lockup laws with "the best of intentions." In 1996, 138 children in the USA under age 15 died accidentally from gunfire, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.
Michigan has been considering adoption of a gun-storage law since Kayla Rolland, 6, of Mount Morris Township was fatally shot Feb. 29 by a classmate. The boy, 6, told authorities he had found the stolen .32 caliber pistol in a shoebox at his home. The boy's uncle and two other adults have agreed to plead guilty to federal firearms charges.
Florida in 1989 pioneered the prosecution of adults who leave a loaded firearm where a child finds it and harm ensues. Texas Gov. George W. Bush signed that state's law into effect in 1995. The laws are controversial because a grieving parent might face criminal charges.
"Obviously, there are bad things that happen with accidental gun deaths," Lott says. "But there are potential real costs for these laws. More lives are put at risk than you're going to save."
Douglas Weil, research director of the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence, says the study reflects the biases of Lott, a persistent critic of firearms regulation. "It's an example of John Lott pushing his pro-gun agenda under the guise of research," Weil says.
Weil says that Lott and Whitley's study is statistically flawed in lumping 15 states' laws together and gauging their five-year effect based on a common "year zero," though the laws were passed many years apart. High crime statistics result, Weil says, from the disproportionate influence of populous Florida's high and increasing violent crime from 1989 to 1993.
The study's finding that the laws have little impact on fatalities among children differs from the conclusion of a study published in 1997 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The earlier study, headed by physician Peter Cummings at the University of Washington, found that unintentional shooting deaths among children under 15 fell by 23% from 1990 to 1994 in 12 states with safe-storage laws. The impact was found to be greatest in California, Connecticut and Florida, states that allow felony prosecutions. In 10 states, prosecutors can file only misdemeanor charges.
Cummings says that, unlike Lott, he didn't explore the possibility that gun-storage laws actually cause crime. "I guess I wouldn't have, because it seems like a very implausible connection," Cummings says. "But I guess anything's conceivable."
Mike Jones, a spokesman for Bush, says he is skeptical of the study's assertion that criminals exploit the relative inaccessibility of weapons in states with storage laws. "The criminals are that smart, huh?" Jones says. Jones and spokesmen for the attorneys general of California and Florida say the storage laws are working well.
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http://second.amendment.homepage.com
05/11/00- Updated 12:59 AM ET
Study: Gun-lockup laws can be harmful
By Martin Kasindorf, USA TODAY
Laws that punish parents for failing to lock guns away from children cause more violence than they prevent, a new statistical study concludes. Law enforcement officials and gun control advocates, however, dispute the findings.
In a study prepared for The Journal of Law & Economics, two researchers say that "child access-prevention" laws, which are on the books in 17 states, have failed to reduce accidental firearm deaths and suicides involving children.
And, crime rates increase as predators invade homes where self-defense weapons are hard to grab quickly, says John Lott Jr., a senior research scholar at Yale Law School, and John Whitley of the University of Chicago. "The only consistent impact of safe storage laws is to raise rape, robbery and burglary rates, and the effects are very large," the authors say.
In 1996, they estimate, 15 states with such laws suffered a combined total of about 3,800 more rapes, at least 21,000 more burglaries and at least 49,700 more robberies than they would have had without the laws.
Lott acknowledges that legislatures pass gun-lockup laws with "the best of intentions." In 1996, 138 children in the USA under age 15 died accidentally from gunfire, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.
Michigan has been considering adoption of a gun-storage law since Kayla Rolland, 6, of Mount Morris Township was fatally shot Feb. 29 by a classmate. The boy, 6, told authorities he had found the stolen .32 caliber pistol in a shoebox at his home. The boy's uncle and two other adults have agreed to plead guilty to federal firearms charges.
Florida in 1989 pioneered the prosecution of adults who leave a loaded firearm where a child finds it and harm ensues. Texas Gov. George W. Bush signed that state's law into effect in 1995. The laws are controversial because a grieving parent might face criminal charges.
"Obviously, there are bad things that happen with accidental gun deaths," Lott says. "But there are potential real costs for these laws. More lives are put at risk than you're going to save."
Douglas Weil, research director of the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence, says the study reflects the biases of Lott, a persistent critic of firearms regulation. "It's an example of John Lott pushing his pro-gun agenda under the guise of research," Weil says.
Weil says that Lott and Whitley's study is statistically flawed in lumping 15 states' laws together and gauging their five-year effect based on a common "year zero," though the laws were passed many years apart. High crime statistics result, Weil says, from the disproportionate influence of populous Florida's high and increasing violent crime from 1989 to 1993.
The study's finding that the laws have little impact on fatalities among children differs from the conclusion of a study published in 1997 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The earlier study, headed by physician Peter Cummings at the University of Washington, found that unintentional shooting deaths among children under 15 fell by 23% from 1990 to 1994 in 12 states with safe-storage laws. The impact was found to be greatest in California, Connecticut and Florida, states that allow felony prosecutions. In 10 states, prosecutors can file only misdemeanor charges.
Cummings says that, unlike Lott, he didn't explore the possibility that gun-storage laws actually cause crime. "I guess I wouldn't have, because it seems like a very implausible connection," Cummings says. "But I guess anything's conceivable."
Mike Jones, a spokesman for Bush, says he is skeptical of the study's assertion that criminals exploit the relative inaccessibility of weapons in states with storage laws. "The criminals are that smart, huh?" Jones says. Jones and spokesmen for the attorneys general of California and Florida say the storage laws are working well.
------------------
http://second.amendment.homepage.com