There is a common theme among most gun activist arguments, and this is the idea that guns do not have a huge impact on crime. There are various arguments such as “guns do not kill people, people kill people” and “gun laws are ineffective” to “more guns equal less crime.” However, there have been various claims to refute this.
Michael Snyder claims in an article that, “There is a very strong positive correlation between more guns and less crime.” His article cites ideas from John Lott’s article in 1977 which first discussed this theory about less crime being associated with guns, which continues to be brought up time and time again by anti gun control supporters. Snyder then argues that crime drops when legal guns owners carry their weapons in public for reasons such as defending themselves or not knowing who else, such as criminals, have a gun. This article later ties in the idea that because of this statistic, gun control laws do not necessarily mean that our country could be safer.
However, a Washington Post article debunked this idea. Stanford’s Abhay Aneja picked apart this argument and reached another conclusion – “In other words, let more people carry concealed guns, and assaults go up.” Putting more guns into the hands of the public will only create more problems, the article later suggested.
The National Research Council review also completed research on the correlation between guns and crime. According to the article, “violence is positively associated with firearms ownership.” Furthermore, the article ends with the idea that putting more guns on the street will simply equals more homicides and other violent crimes. The more available that you make weapons, the easier it is for someone to kill others.
As we have stated in prior posts, imposing stricter gun laws will only lead to a safer environment for everyone. According to the White House, there are even many new actions being taken for smarter use of guns, which will lead to less crime. Some of these include increasing mental health treatment, shaping the future of gun safety and more thorough background checks.
Bite The Bullet 