Posted on 12/30/2004 4:21:31 AM PST by Lazamataz
National Academy of Sciences, Justice Dept. reports find no benefits to restricting ownership of firearms
WASHINGTON – While it is an article of faith among gun-control proponents that government restrictions on firearms reduces violence and crime, two new U.S. studies could find no evidence to support such a conclusion.
The National Academy of Sciences issued a 328-page report based on 253 journal articles, 99 books, 43 government publications, a survey of 80 different gun-control laws and some of its own independent study. In short, the panel could find no link between restrictions on gun ownership and lower rates of crime, firearms violence or even accidents with guns.
The panel was established during the Clinton administration and all but one of its members were known to favor gun control.
"Policy questions related to gun ownership and proposals for gun control touch on some of the most contentious issues in American politics: Should regulations restrict who may possess firearms? Should there be restrictions on the number or types of guns that can be purchased? Should safety locks be required? These and many related policy questions cannot be answered definitively because of large gaps in the existing science base," said Charles F. Wellford, professor in the department of criminology and criminal justice at the University of Maryland and chairman of the committee that wrote the report.
However, the National Research Council decided even more thorough research on the topic is needed.
Many studies linking guns to suicide and criminal violence produce conflicting conclusions, have statistical flaws and often do not show whether gun ownership results in certain outcomes, the report said.
A serious limit in such analyses is the lack of good data on who owns firearms and on individual encounters with violence, according to the study.
The report noted that many schools have programs intended to prevent gun violence. However, it added, some studies suggest that children's curiosity and teenagers' attraction to risk make them resistant to the programs or that the projects actually increase the appeal of guns.
Few of these programs, the report concludes, have been adequately evaluated.
The report calls for the development of a National Violent Death Reporting System and a National Incident-Based Reporting System to begin collecting data.
The study by the Research Council, the operating arm of the National Academy of Science, was sponsored by the National Institute of Justice, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Joyce Foundation, Annie E. Casey Foundation and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.
"While more research is always helpful, the notion that we have learned nothing flies in the face of common sense," said John Lott, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and a critic of gun-control laws. "The NAS panel should have concluded as the existing research has: Gun control doesn't help."
Meanwhile, a study released by the Justice Department suggesting background checks at gun shows would do little to keep firearms out of the hands of criminals.
The study noted the number of criminals who obtained guns from retail outlets was dwarfed by the number of those who picked up their arms through means other than legal purchases. The report was the result of interviews with more than 18,000 state and federal inmates conducted nationwide. It found that nearly 80 percent of those interviewed got their guns from friends or family members, or on the street through illegal purchases.
Less than 9 percent were bought at retail outlets and only seven-tenths of 1 percent came from gun shows.
The Justice Department's interviews also showed so-called "assault weapons" are not a major cause of gun violence. Only about 8 percent of the inmates used one of the models covered in the now-expired assault weapons ban, signed into law by the Clinton administration in 1994.
ie, there are still some funds left in the government tills.
Yes, but what did you do in the afternoon?
Troll-hunter extraordinare.
< James Bond Voice> ...Mataz.... Laza Mataz....</James Bond Voice>
Only from the unconstitutional viewpoint.
Global warming, disarming the citizenry, UN mandates, one world government, etc. etc..
Will someone, anyone, take the garbage out?
To which I say...
It is a Bill of Rights, not a Bill of Needs.
That's because they only deal in feeeeeeeeelings.
Our deck is private except up and back. No houses behind us just a creek and a dairy farm. Seriously often the airliners illuminate the back yrad as the lower their gear with landing lights on.
Nor privileges.
Sorry wrong post. Yep my neighbors are real nice folks.
...and no doubt still do!
If there were any possibility of finding a link, they would have found it and trumpeted it from the highest rooftops!
The fact they gave a "neutral" report speaks volumes that actual conclusions are anything but "neutral". A "neutral" report no doubt stems from their anti-gun attitude. An honest conclusion would undoubtedly support a strongly pro-gun outcome.
We mustn't think for a moment this Clinton appointed panel issued an honest report on this subject and came to a genuinely "neutral" conclusion. All they are doing is murking up the issue and trying their best not to do their own side any damage.
They'll just keep asking different questions until they get an answer they want.
Damn - just missed a troll again. I feel so deprived...
LOL I live in a trailer park. If I walked around my yard like that, well me and some Santa Cruz County Sheriffs Deputies would be having a chat right quick. Most of the police in the area are pro-2A, despite the towns lib reputation. I think that's pretty universal though.
LOL Your reply still fit.
I live in the Substicks sort of like the Suburbs but further out.
I guess I wasn't sarcastic enough.
LOL - I have jealous guns, too. They tell me I don't give them enough target practice! :-)
Never been over there. I think it's about an hour in the shower!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.