The Evidence Continues to Pile Up: Shall Issue Doesn’t Increase Crime

By Dan Zimmerman

Across the country news media both new and old are talking about a study recently published in the Journal of Criminology (which, according to their ‘About Us’ page is “a peer-reviewed, open access journal that publishes original research articles as well as review articles in all areas of criminology”). Authored by Charles D. Phillips of the Department of Health Policy and Management at Texas A&M University, Concealed Handgun Licensing and Crime in Four States is not the sort of study we usually see from academics in the health policy field. Don’t get me wrong, it contains much of the junk science we have come to expect from such researchers; assumptions presented as facts, cherry-picked data and data sets, ignoring inconvenient data, etc. . . .

Just as one example, in their introduction the authors state (vis-à-vis shall-issue laws):

However ambiguous the results of the research on this topic may be, the effect of the passage of CHL legislation is, in reality, no longer a pressing policy issue.

Ambiguous? I think Chuck needs to invest in a good dictionary; as Dr. Lott pointed …Read the Rest

Source:: Truth About Guns