Presentation at the St. Mary School's Issue Day in San Antonio

St. Mary's School in San Antonio has an issues day each year.  This year the issue was gun control.  This video below is a copy of Dr. John Lott's presentation at the event.  The presentation took place on March 3rd, 2017. The entire first part of the debate is available here (Dr. Lott's presentation starts at 51 minutes and 56 seconds into the video). Part 2 of the debate is available here. Part 3 of the debate with questions from the students is available here. 

Update on Constitutional Carry Bills becoming Law this Year, with good chances in at least three more states

From the Crime Prevention Research Center.

After New Hampshire enacted Constitutional Carry, similar bills are still under consideration and a chance in Alabama, Indiana, North Dakota, and South Carolina.  The bill is still under consideration in South Dakota, but the governor in South Dakota has already indicated that he will veto the bill.  As of right now, there is still a chance for 16 to 17 states having Constitutional Carry by the end of the year.

Alabama: Will likely be voted on in the state Senate during the week of March 13th.  Senate Judiciary Committee approved the bill, SB 24, with a 6-3 vote on March 1.

Indiana:  Passed the Indiana state House by a 72 to 26 vote.

Kentucky: Unlikely. The bill originally did look promising to pass.  But the bill's sponsor, Sen. Albert Robinson, R-London, said the bill was “on life support.”  And it will have to wait for another session to pass.

Montana: Vetoed. The bill, HB262, passed the state House by 60 to 39 and the state Senate by 31 to 18.  The votes were largely along party lines.  However, Democratic Governor Steve Bullock vetoed the bill on February 23, 2017.

New Hampshire: Enacted. The legislation passed the state House by 200 to 97 after passing the state Senate on a party-line 13 to 10 vote.  Gov. Chris Sununu signed the bill into law.

North Dakota: On February 21 the state House passed the bill by an 83 to 9 vote.  However, in the past two sessions, the state Senate killed the bills.  Governor Dick Burgum has not stated a position on this issue.

South Carolina: Bill approved by a 3 to 0 vote in the state House Judiciary Committee on Thursday, March 9th.  The two Democrats on the committee were both either out of town or out of the country, but both said that they would have voted against the bill.  Republicans outnumber Democrats in the state House by 80 to 44 and the state Senate by 28 to 18.

South Dakota:  The state House passed the bill 37 to 30 and the state Senate by 23 to 11.  Gov. Dennis Daugaard vetoed a similar bill in 2012, and he promises that he will veto it again.  Supporters claim that they believe they may have the votes need to override the veto, but it isn't clear how that is possible.

On The Real Side with Joe Messina talking about The War on Guns

Dr. John Lott appeared on The Real Side with Joe Messina talking about The War on Guns -- what the result will be for all the new gun regulations. (Friday, February 24, 2017, from 11:45 to 11:54 AM) [audio available here]

On the big WWL 870 AM in New Orleans to discuss permitted concealed handguns on College Campuses

Dr. John Lott talked to Don Dubuc about allowing permitted concealed handguns on college campuses. (Friday March 3, 2017, 12:10 – 12:27 PM) [audio avaliable here]

On WMAL with Larry O'Connor: federal 4th Circuit upholding an assault weapon ban and gun control disarming the poor

Dr. Lott talked to WMAL's Larry O'Connor about the federal 4th Circuit's decision upholding Maryland's assault weapon ban, Judge Neil Gorsuch's views on guns, the impact that gun control laws have on poor minorities being able to own guns, and the problems with background checks.  Unfortunately, the audio quality on Dr. Lott's microphone was pretty bad up until 6:45 minutes into the interview, though for some reason the quality of the sound on the radio was much better than what is recorded here. (Friday, February 24, 2017, from 3:15 to 3:30 PM) [audio available here]

On the Sandy Rios American Family Radio Show about Chicago's crime problems, how Dr. Lott came to do research on guns

Dr. John Lott talked to Sandy Rios about Chicago's crime problems, how Dr. Lott came to do his research on guns, how Democrats make it costly for the poor to defend themselves, California's new background checks on ammunition, political correctness in academia, and the federal 4th Circuit upholding Maryland's assault weapon ban. (Friday, March 3, 2017, from 8:05 to 8:20 AM) [audio available here]

On the Dave Elswick Show in Little Rock: Gun-free Universities and Chicago's crime problems

Dr. John Lott talked to Dave Elswick about the dangers of Gun-free universities, the federal 4th Circuit's decision upholding Maryland's assault weapon ban, and Chicago's crime problems. (Friday, February 24, 2017, from 4:21 to 4:30 PM ) [audio available here]

Talking to Cam Edwards and David Keene at the Conservative Political Action of Conference

Dr. John Lott is the research director of the Crime Prevention Research Center, and author of the book, The War on Guns: Arming Yourself Against Gun Control Lies. At CPAC 2017, he talks with Cam Edwards and NRA Past President David Keene about how poorly public health research tests the impact of gun control laws.

In the Daily Caller: "Court Upholds 'Assault Weapon' Ban With Incorrect Facts"

Dr. John Lott has a new op-ed at the Daily Caller on the new 4th Circuit Court opinion on Maryland's assault weapon ban:

Should “military-style rifles” be banned?  On Tuesday, the federal Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia – in a virtual party line vote – upheld Maryland’s assault weapons ban.  In the 10 to 4 En Banc decision,

Writing for the majority, Judge Robert King, a Clinton appointee, argued that the Second Amendment does not protect people owning “weapons of war.”  His opinion starts out by listing recent mass public shootings that have used AR-15-type rifles, guns that he also refers to as “military-style rifles,” in their attacks. 

The opinion argues that attacks using large capacity magazines and those using assault weapons are the most deadly and that they are used most frequently used weapons.  Yet, none of these points are correct.  King’s decision shows are real lack of understanding about guns and crime. 

Democrats have filled the courts with judges who will look for any reason to justify banning guns.  Decisions like this are being made across the country.  It also illustrates the possible impact of President Trump’s nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. 

The AR-15 looks like the M-16, which has been in use by the U.S. military since the Vietnam War. While the M-16 is a machine gun, the AR-15 is semiautomatic, meaning that it fires only one bullet at a time. Yet the AR-15 was covered by the 1994 federal assault-weapons ban (which expired in 2004). 

But people continue to ask: Why do people need a semiautomatic AR-15 to go out and kill deer? The answer is simple: Because it is a hunting rifle. It has just been made to look like a military weapon. 

The AR-15 uses essentially the same bullets as small-game hunting rifles, fires at the same rapidity, and does the same damage. 

The .223-inch rounds used by the AR-15 are actually small compared with what is usually used to hunt deer. Indeed, many states prohibit using bullets of that size for deer hunting. The concern is that the animal will suffer from its wounds rather than experiencing a quick death. 

But hunting isn’t the issue here. Semiautomatic weapons also protect people and save lives. Single-shot rifles that require manual reloading after every round may not do people a lot of good when their first shot misses or when they are faced by multiple attackers.

The Circuit court decision gives the false impression that the “assault weapons” used in Orlando and San Bernardino, Calif., are commonly used in mass public shootings. My book, The War on Guns, shows such weapons were used exclusively in only 12 percent of the mass public shootings from President Barack Obama’s 2009 inauguration through the end of 2015. In another 12 percent of shootings, a rifle was used in conjunction with a handgun or a shotgun.  Sixty-eight percent of the attacks just used handguns. 

That research shows that the highest fatality rate was actually in these attacks where multiple guns were used, not the presence of large capacity magazines.  In fact, the average number of people killed in these attacks where there were large capacity magazines and not multiple guns was 6, while attacks with multiple guns and not large capacity magazines was 8.3. . . .

The rest of the piece is available here.

CPRC on the Lars Larson Show: Obama administration's false claims on police that it's damage to minorities

Dr. John Lott talked to Lars Larson about how the Obama administration put out false claims on policing and the damage that it has done to crime in minority areas and how gun control is disarming poor minorities.

 [audio available here]

On The Daily Signal: Talks about the 4th Circuits decision on Maryland's Assault Weapon Ban, background checks, gun-free zones, and other issues

The Daily Signal's Robert Bluey interviewed Dr. John Lott on Maryland Assault Weapon Ban, how gun control advocates want to make costly for poor to buy guns, the problems with the current background checks, gun-free zones, and voter fraud. (Friday, February 24, 2017)