Study Calls Popular Anti-Gun Proposals Into Question

By Tom Knighton

There are a lot of anti-gun proposals flying around right now. Most have already been addressed, to be sure. However, they’re still out there, and it seems we need a more scientific approach to addressing them.

Luckily, someone at the Rand Corporation decided to take a look. They went through thousands of studies, literally, to take a look at the available evidence, just to see if the 13 most popular gun control proposals would actually accomplish anything.

Out of those thousands of studies, they really could only use a handful. Most weren’t designed to identify causation, which was a key component necessary for Rand’s evaluation. That left 62 studies that worked. What did they find?

Rand found moderate evidence that dealer background checks may decrease firearm-related homicides. Of course, federal law requires every firearms dealer to conduct a background check on everyone purchasing a firearm. Rand deemed evidence concerning the effects of private-seller background checks on firearms-related homicides to be inconclusive and found limited evidence that background checks reduce violent crime and total homicides.

Rand identified “moderate evidence that laws prohibiting the purchase or possession of guns by individuals with some forms of mental illness reduce violent …Read the Rest

Source:: Bearing Arms