John Lott replies: Steven Toby asks whether most murders involve individuals who are close to each other. His fear may stem from FBI statistics that indicate that about 50 percent of murders are committed by "acquaintances." But that is a broad term; most of those murders involve drug buyers and pushers, gang members, and prostitutes.
The typical citizen does not become a murderer. About 90 percent of adult murderers already had a criminal record. Murderers are overwhelmingly young males with low IQs who find it difficult to get along with others.
Also in regard to Mr. Toby's question, in my book More Guns, Less Crime I find that murders among strangers as well as among acquaintances fall after the right-to-carry laws are adopted. Mr. Toby is surprised that concealed handgun laws deter crime since murder is "a failure of self-control." However, just as higher arrest or conviction rates or longer prison sentences can deter criminals, allowing potential victims to defend themselves also appears to work. Surveys of criminals indicate that they avoid victims known to be armed.
Mahmood Elahi makes the common but nonetheless false claim that the areas with the highest gun ownership rates have the highest murder rates. There is no such positive correlation in the U.S. or other nations. The U.S. states with the highest gun ownership rates actually tend to have the lowest violent crime rates. More importantly, those states with the biggest relative increases in gun ownership have had the biggest drops in violent crime.
Mr. Elahi's claim about Texas is wrong: In 1996, Texans owned guns at slightly below the national rate. Texas is a relative newcomer to concealed handgun laws, not enacting its law until 1996. It has both the highest permit fees and one of the longest training requirements. Despite this, Texas has seen crime rates fall.
Karl Black argues that I have been too tough on the NRA. This is true, in part; the NRA is the only organization large enough to effectively fight gun control. Yet, while informing its members about defensive gun uses is valuable, most Americans hear little about the defensive benefits. Arguing that gun laws are not being enforced is shortsighted because, unless you also point out the benefits of gun ownership, the response will be: "Let's enforce the old laws and enact some new ones."
Crop Circles
I've just finished reading "Crop Busters" (January 2000) and wanted to thank Michael Fumento for voicing the opinion of so many of us in the biotech/seed production industry.
I am a researcher for a major seed producer and was involved in a corn trial that was vandalized last fall. The destruction was financially minor but I had spent a good portion of my summer in that particular field and was furious when I discovered the damage. Although disgusted by the vandalization, I felt lucky after I heard of the damage done to my colleagues' greenhouses down the road that same night.
I fear that this is only the beginning of the "nonviolent decontaminations" in the U.S. At my facility, we are fortunate to have the resources for nighttime security, but what about the smaller research firms and graduate students?
The researchers doing this work aren't making six-figure salaries, as many of our opponents would like to believe. Many, such as myself, grew up on farms and ranches and know how hard it is to make a living in agriculture. Anything we can do to make America's farms more productive is a reward in itself. The idea of returning to organic farming or using native lines of seed to feed the earth's 6 billion people is not only ridiculous, but impossible.
Bart Wink
Northern California (city withheld)
Michael Fumento inadvertently raises several broad issues in his article. The first is public outrage. In the past 15 years, the Food and Drug Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have slowly evolved a policy that allows the development, testing, and marketing of genetically engineered food crops without review by any government agency and without requiring the food sold to the public be labeled as genetically engineered. There is only one exception: an FDA restraint on foods with suspected allergens.
Surveys and hearings show that many people object to being unwitting test subjects for research projects, so it should be no surprise that there is a form of riotous behavior to genetically engineered foods.
Next, Fumento uses a deceptive simile: that genetic engineering is the same as breeding. Genetic engineering is not like breeding. It is a new scientific venture with new risks and a wide range of new consequences. Most intelligent human beings are offended by deceptive similes used as political weapons and recognize their abuse in this instance.
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