Legislation & Lobbying
Prof Says D.C. Handgun Ban Didn’t Affect Number of Murders
Posted Jun 30, 2008, 08:29 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
A Florida State professor says the handgun ban in the District of Columbia did not affect the murder rate.
Gun control advocates argue handgun bans are needed to keep the weapons out of criminals’ hands. Gun control opponents, on the other hand, say the bans take guns away from law-abiding citizens who can use the weapons to deter crime.
Neither side is right, according to a study by Gary Kleck of Florida State’s College of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Kleck concludes in an interview with the New York Times that “the law itself had no effect one way or the other.”
The issues were highlighted last week when the U.S. Supreme Court held the D.C. law violated the Second Amendment.
Kleck studied the murder rates in Washington, D.C., which adopted its handgun ban in 1976, and Baltimore, a city similar to the District that did not enact a similar ban, the Times story says. Kleck says the crime rates in both cities were similar in a before-and-after study, proving that the ban didn’t have an effect.
Kleck says one measure that does work is statewide background checks of would-be gun owners.
Another study cited by gun proponents found that the seven nations with the most guns per capita had 1.2 murders for every 100,000 people, while the nine nations with the fewest guns had 4.4 murders per 100,000 people, according to the story.
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