Gun Shows Don't Kill People....

Brian Doherty | October 20, 2008

...says a new study from academics from the Universities of Michigan and Maryland. The press release:

The researchers analyzed data from Texas and California, chosen because they are the nation's two most populated states, have large numbers of gun shows, and are at opposite ends of the spectrum regarding gun show regulation. California has some of the most aggressive gun show regulations, including background checks for all gun show purchasers and a 10-day waiting period to obtain the firearm. Texas has no similar regulations.

Data came from the dates and locations of more than 3,400 gun shows, and firearm-related deaths from 1994 to 2004. More than 105,000 homicides and suicides were reported in the two states during the 11-year period.

To determine the impact of gun shows, the authors traced the number of gun-related deaths in ZIP codes close to where gun shows took place, looking at how the number of deaths changed leading up to and following the shows. Researchers looked at the gun-related deaths in the weeks immediately after gun shows and actually found a small decline in the number of homicides following shows in Texas.

"The absence of gun show regulations does not increase the number of gun-related deaths as proponents of these regulations suggest," said [Brian] Jacob, [a professor at the University of Michigan's Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and] director of its Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP).

The press release has a link to a .pdf of the full study as well; I'm not linking it here directly, because, for reasons specific to some Adobe problems I'm having today, attempting to re-open that document has been making my Firefox crash.

Hat tip: Ryan Posly.

Comments

xx|10.20.08 @ 4:45PM|#

I'm glad someone pointed out the obvious.

|10.20.08 @ 4:49PM|#

To open up Adobe in firefox without crashing.
1. Go to options
2. Go to Applications

From there you can tell firefox to open Adobe files with acrobat rather than in firefox.

|10.20.08 @ 5:03PM|#

I was explaining the relative ease of gun ownership to my foreign cooworkers today.

They seemed horrified, but then I told them about zombies. I think they understand.

LarryA|10.20.08 @ 5:11PM|#

"The absence of gun show regulations does not increase the number of gun-related deaths as proponents of these regulations suggest," said [Brian] Jacob

[snark] That's because, as everybody knows, all the criminals who buy guns at Texas gun shows take them to Mexico, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. giving them high murder rates. [snark]

I was explaining the relative ease of gun ownership to my foreign coworkers today.

I was explaining our Texas laws to a couple at a Columbus Day event. They were aghast that we didn't have common sense crime-control gun laws like Massachusetts does. Turns out they left Boston because of the high crime rate. [sigh]

|10.20.08 @ 5:15PM|#

"The researchers offered two caveats to their analyses. The study focused on the geographic areas surrounding the gun shows, and would not capture the effect when weapons were transported more than 25 miles away. In addition, the data tracked the effects only up to four weeks after the gun shows, which would exclude later gun-related deaths."

Those are pretty big caveats. Essentially the study found that gun shows do not result in more murders within 25 miles and four weeks of the show.

It does make me think that any "waiting period" for gun show purchases would be pretty pointless though.

|10.20.08 @ 5:17PM|#

Co-worker: How can you do that...shoot shambling, slow-moving zombies??

Phalkor: It's easy, ya just don't lead 'em as much!

|10.20.08 @ 5:30PM|#

Those are pretty big caveats.

They are, true, but the scope of the study is a rough fit with the regulations being studied.

The counter-study, showing that gun show regulations reduce crime, is, where, exactly?

|10.20.08 @ 6:00PM|#

The counter-study, showing that gun show regulations reduce crime, is, where, exactly?

The gun phobic do not require studies or evidence to claim the need for "common sense regulations".

Joel|10.20.08 @ 6:22PM|#

Alch | October 20, 2008, 4:49pm | #
To open up Adobe in firefox without crashing.
1. Go to options
2. Go to Applications

From there you can tell firefox to open Adobe files with acrobat rather than in firefox.

Thanks! That's been a problem.

Kap|10.20.08 @ 6:34PM|#

California has some of the most aggressive gun show regulations, including background checks for all gun show purchasers and a 10-day waiting period to obtain the firearm. Texas has no similar regulations.

It would probably not be an exaggeration to state that >99% of the guns for sale at the Texas gun shows I frequent are being sold by Federal Firearms License holders, i.e. professional gun shops. These guns require the Brady check (unless you have a Texas CHL, which is proof of firearm ownership eligibility).

Gun shows in general aren't flea markets, they're shopping malls; the booths are mostly manned by actual bricks-and-mortar professional gunshops who travel the show circuit on the weekends. The "gun show loophole" is a myth.

That new Glock you buy for $450 at the gunshow will get a $550 price tag put on it as its slid under the glass on Monday. This is the purpose of gun shows: price differentiation between the aficionado frequent buyer vs. the recently-scared-suburbanite who will never buy a second gun.

The Bearded Hobbit|10.20.08 @ 7:37PM|#

.. wait a minuite .. 10 days??

.. assume for a moment that you're not dealing with a B&M gunshop such as Kap mentions and that you're buying from some guy with some extra firearms .. do you really have to hunt this guy down a week and a half later to get your merchandise??

.. and this is for all weapons??

.. no PRC for me ..

.. Hobbit

Dave W.|10.21.08 @ 9:27AM|#

I only have called the police due to a man with a gun once. Specifically, a man was backing a young woman into a corner of my backyard at gunpoint. The woman was clearly terrified. The man was about 10 feet away from me, standing my my picture window, until I noticed him. He could well have shot her. He could well have shot me.

I would like to thank the Dallas (Texas) police for coming out real quick when I called, but, really neither they nor a handy firearm would have saved my life if the man with the gun had noticed me before I noticed him.

And what is the news from Texa|10.21.08 @ 9:49AM|#

A Wharton County man accused of killing a Texas game warden after a lengthy police chase "intended to commit a massacre," firing at least 38 shots from two guns, a prosecutor told jurors Monday.
But James Garrett Freeman, 27, was suicidal, his attorney said, suggesting the unemployed welder tried to provoke officers into killing him.
Freeman is the first defendant to face a potential death sentence in nearly 30 years in Wharton, a town of 9,200 people located 60 miles southwest of Houston. He could be sent to death row if convicted of capital murder in the shooting death of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department game warden Justin Hurst last year.
As the trial began Monday, jurors saw police video of Freeman bolting from his pickup on a dark rural road and firing several shots at the officers chasing him during the early morning hours of March 17, 2007, in his hometown of Lissie.
Freeman emptied all 11 rounds from a Glock .357-caliber pistol before grabbing a semiautomatic AK-47 rifle from his truck and opening fire again, taking cover behind his pickup, prosecutor Kelly Siegler said.
Game warden hit twice
Only three rounds were left in the AK-47's 30-round clip when the weapon was recovered, she said.
One video segment viewed by the jury ended abruptly, causing the screen in the courtroom to static, because the armed man had shot a police car's dashboard video camera.
"He shot right-handed and left-handed," Siegler told the jury in her opening statement. "He acted just like a military-trained or law enforcement-trained officer would. He knew exactly what he was doing."