Book on How Guns Stop Crime

While some view guns as contributors to violent crime, others hold the opinion that more guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens actually deter violent criminals.

In fact, John R. Lott, Jr., a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, has written a book about how guns stop crime. The book is called More Guns, Less Crime: Understanding Crime and Gun Control Laws.

Mr. Lott contends that criminals are most effectively deterred by higher penalties. Those penalties can include getting shot or killed by a law-abiding citizen with a gun.

Lott points to the statistic that for every additional year that a concealed-weapons permit law remains in effect, the murder rate drops by three percent. Likewise, rapes and robberies decrease by two percent.