Cold Comfort: An Interview with John R. Lott

Reason ^ | January 2000 | Jacob Sullum and Michael W. Lynch

[neverdem]

Economist John Lott discusses the benefits of guns--and the hazards of pointing them out.

Until recently, when he bought a 9-mm Ruger after his own research impressed upon him the value of gun ownership, John Lott had no personal experience with firearms, aside from one day of riflery in summer camp when he was 12. That fact did not stop a reviewer of Lott's 1998 book, More Guns, Less Crime (University of Chicago Press), from labeling him a "gun nut." Writing in The American Prospect, Edward Cohn also identified Lott as "a leading loon of the Chicago School of economics, known for its ultra-market ideology." But that was gentle--a backhanded compliment, even--compared to the attacks from anti-gun activists, who accused Lott of producing his landmark study at the behest of the gun industry.

Lott, now a senior research scholar at Yale Law School, used to be the John M. Olin Law and Economics Fellow at the University of Chicago. That position, like similar ones at other major universities, was endowed by a foundation based on the personal fortune of the late John M. Olin, former chairman of the Olin Corporation. Among many other things, the Olin Corporation makes Winchester ammunition. These facts led Kristen Rand of the Violence Policy Center to conclude that "Lott's work was, in essence, funded by the firearms industry"--a charge that was echoed by other gun control ad-vocates, including Charles Schumer, then a Democratic representative from New York and now a senator...

[richardb72]

Who are you Gondring? Who are you hiding behind this name “Gondring”?

[Gondring]

Who are you Gondring?

Someone who was fighting Tim Lambert's false claims online more than 15 years ago (yes, before the WWW existed). And you?

[richardb72]

Well, assuming that you aren’t Lambert, it is strange that someone “who was fighting Tim Lambert’s false claims online more than 15 years ago” would cite him uncritically in a post. For your interest, Richard is my name. Should I assume that “Gondring” is yours also? Clearly, your answer also allows you to continue hiding behind your pseudonym. Is there a reason why you are using a pseudonym?