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Harvard gun study concludes gun bans don’t reduce the murder rate
Hotair ^ | 08/28/2013 | BRUCE MCQUAIN

Posted on 08/28/2013 12:59:00 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

In fact, it appears, bans may actually see them increase. Here’s a summary of the study’s findings:

The Harvard study attempts to answer the question of whether or not banning firearms would reduce murders and suicides. Researchers looked at crime data from several European countries and found that countries with HIGHER gun ownership often had LOWER murder rates.

Russia, for example, enforces very strict gun control on its people, but its murder rate remains quite high. In fact, the murder rate in Russia is four times higher than in the “gun-ridden” United States, cites the study. ”Homicide results suggest that where guns are scarce other weapons are substituted in killings.” In other words, the elimination of guns does not eliminate murder, and in the case of gun-controlled Russia, murder rates are quite high.

The study revealed several European countries with significant gun ownership, like Norway, Finland, Germany and France – had remarkably low murder rates. Contrast that with Luxembourg, “where handguns are totally banned and ownership of any kind of gun is minimal, had a murder rate nine times higher than Germany in 2002.

The study found no evidence to suggest that the availability of guns contributes to higher murder rates anywhere in the world. ”Of course, it may be speculated that murder rates around the world would be higher if guns were more available. But there is simply no evidence to support this.”

And, as the study points out, where guns are banned, murderers still find weapons with which to do their dirty work. The difference is that the victims potential means of self-defense. With guns available, one would assume their deterrent effect if not outright effectiveness in the self-defense realm would predictably knock the murder rate down. Criminals and murderers are less likely to attack if the possibility the potential victim is armed exists. Common sense 101.

The study found no evidence to suggest that the availability of guns contributes to higher murder rates anywhere in the world. ”Of course, it may be speculated that murder rates around the world would be higher if guns were more available. But there is simply no evidence to support this.”

And finally:

Further, the report cited, “the determinants of murder and suicide are basic social, economic, and cultural factors, not the prevalence of some form of deadly mechanism.” Meaning, it’s not guns that kill people.

People kill people.

Well how about that? The study is published in Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy. You can read it here. Pass it around to your anti-gun friends. Point out this isn’t some right-wing think tank that pumped out the study. Then appeal to their common sense. Of course that may be difficult to do with someone who actually believes that the simple act of banning a weapon will magically lower the murder rate because without that weapon, people just wouldn’t murder each other … or something.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: banglist; guncontrol; guns; gunstudy; harvard; secondamendment
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This Harvard study further corroborates the study made sometime back by John Lott Jr..


1 posted on 08/28/2013 12:59:01 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Maybe now that Harvard has confirmed it people will start believing it but you’re right that John Lott earlier has been making the case with compelling facts for years.


2 posted on 08/28/2013 1:00:55 PM PDT by AtlasStalled
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To: AtlasStalled

Here’s the original paper for those who want to read it:

http://www.law.harvard.edu/students/orgs/jlpp/Vol30_No2_KatesMauseronline.pdf


3 posted on 08/28/2013 1:01:34 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Good catch!


4 posted on 08/28/2013 1:01:46 PM PDT by stephenjohnbanker (The only people in the world who fear Obama are American citizens. KILL THE BILL!)
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To: SeekAndFind
Fewer cops, less crime: MLive investigation finds Michigan safer even as police numbers decline

It takes a while for them to get around to it but they eventually note that just maybe all the guns might just be the reason.
5 posted on 08/28/2013 1:07:01 PM PDT by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: SeekAndFind

Duh!


6 posted on 08/28/2013 1:07:59 PM PDT by Resolute Conservative
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To: AtlasStalled

I’m sure someone is waiting in the wings to toss a “hockey stick” into the equation ala prof. mann.


7 posted on 08/28/2013 1:11:08 PM PDT by rktman (Inergalactic background checks? King hussein you're first up.)
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To: AtlasStalled

More likely, the person at Harvard who did the study, will be sent to the reeducation camps for not being “progressive” enough or found to be no longer “useful”.


8 posted on 08/28/2013 1:16:18 PM PDT by Earthdweller (Harvard won the election again...so what's the problem.......? Embrace a ruler today.)
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To: Earthdweller

Can’t you hear all those libtards chanting “get with the program, man!”


9 posted on 08/28/2013 1:18:36 PM PDT by AtlasStalled
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To: AtlasStalled

Neah. It will disappear down the memory hole with the CDC study that found the same thing.
Doesn’t fit “The Narrative.”


10 posted on 08/28/2013 1:19:19 PM PDT by Little Ray (How did I end up in this hand-basket, and why is it getting so hot?)
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To: SeekAndFind

Speed of light:

186,000 mi/sec

How fast this story will be buried by the MSM:

186,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 mi/sec


11 posted on 08/28/2013 1:19:47 PM PDT by GrandJediMasterYoda (What do we want? Time travel. When do we want it? It's irrelevant.)
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To: cripplecreek

The MSM will bury this study


12 posted on 08/28/2013 1:20:17 PM PDT by stephenjohnbanker (The only people in the world who fear Obama are American citizens. KILL THE BILL!)
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To: AtlasStalled
No. There are still politicians who think that they need to “look busy” and pass a law, any law, when a tragedy happens and people who believe them when the critters promise that all problems will be solved if we just pass this new law.

BTW, I don't believe I have ever heard a politician promise that gun deaths will drop by x percentage if we pass this or that law. And if they do, no one immediately checks the cause and effect relationship and the statistics after the law is in place. And then holds the said politician accountable for their misrepresentation.

13 posted on 08/28/2013 1:23:35 PM PDT by dhs12345
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To: SeekAndFind

Irrelevant. Gun bans make liberals feel better about themselves. That’s all that matters (to the liberals)


14 posted on 08/28/2013 1:25:34 PM PDT by Personal Responsibility (Government: Slimy used car salesmen writing laws forcing you to buy their cars)
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To: SeekAndFind

Asymmetric gun bans don’t reduce crime. Disarming the law-abiding while leaving the criminals armed is going to increase crime.

A gun ban can reduce crime if it is done according to the “Singapore Solution” where any gun misuse (or sometimes possession) leads to brutal punishment, and crimes of force are treated severely. But if you go that route, you’d better hope that the government stays benevolent, because the populace is completely defenseless.

The 2A balances the two considerations of self-defense against criminals and self-defense against government.

Liberals are stupid on this.


15 posted on 08/28/2013 1:27:44 PM PDT by Pearls Before Swine
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To: SeekAndFind
Meaning, it’s not guns that kill people. People kill people.

Whenever the conversation turns to "gun violence" I mention "car violence". Some liberal will ask me what I'm talking about, and I tell them, if guns kill people, then so do cars, so it should be called "car violence", not "accidents".

The liberals all blink in their mis-comprehension.

16 posted on 08/28/2013 1:27:47 PM PDT by jeffc (The U.S. media are our enemy)
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To: Little Ray

You’re right. Anytime facts stand in the way of their agenda liberals just ignore them.


17 posted on 08/28/2013 1:32:13 PM PDT by AtlasStalled
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To: SeekAndFind

A well-armed society is a polite society. It’s the CODE OF THE WEST. And we knew that.


18 posted on 08/28/2013 1:32:24 PM PDT by cherokee1 (skip the names---just kick the buttz)
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To: SeekAndFind
Harvard gun study concludes gun bans don’t reduce the murder rate

Yeah, but gun bans increase the injustice rate. So the left will still be all for them.

19 posted on 08/28/2013 1:32:47 PM PDT by Steely Tom (If the Constitution can be a living document, I guess a corporation can be a person.)
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To: AtlasStalled

I do know that after imposing numerous stupid, ineffective ant-gun laws up there, our neighbor to the north is sometimes referred to as CanaDUH!!


20 posted on 08/28/2013 1:33:21 PM PDT by 2harddrive
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