May 9, 2003

'More Guns, Less Crime' Thesis Rests on a Flawed Statistical Design, Scholars Argue

By DAVID GLENN

UNDER THE GUN: Just as state legislatures in Ohio and Missouri prepare to vote this month on whether to make it legal to carry concealed weapons, two law professors have attacked a key body of research on how handgun laws affect crime rates.

In the April issue of the Stanford Law Review, the scholars assert that the well-known "more guns, less crime" thesis -- so named after a 1998 book of that title by John R. Lott Jr. and often cited by supporters of less restrictive gun laws

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