CNN interviews me on "Why blacks should have more guns"

CNN's John Blake has a new article on how race and guns.  Bob Cottrol is also interviewed for the piece.  Here is part of the discussion where he discusses my work:

Some gun rights advocates say contemporary black communities could learn from that tradition of self-defense.

Restrictive gun control laws often victimize black people more than any other group because they suffer disproportionately from violent crime, says John R. Lott Jr., author of "More Guns, Less Crime: Understanding Crime and Gun Control Laws." 

A black person is 6.5 times more likely to become a murder victim than someone who is white; and 92% of black murder victims are killed by members of their own race, Lott says. 

"Given the anger about police in many black communities, it might make more sense to let the law-abiding citizens in those communities have a greater chance to defend themselves," says Lott, founder and president of the Crime Prevention Research Center, a group that examines the links between gun control and crime. 

There are some who say that gun laws actually discriminate against poor blacks by making it more difficult for them to buy guns for protection, he says. He says states do this by raising the costs of concealed gun permits, training and other fees that price out poor minorities. 

And gun restrictions don't help black people living in violent neighborhoods, he says. Every time guns have been banned, Lott says, murder rates have increased. When the state of Massachusetts increased the costs of gun ownership, the number of registered gun owners in the state plummeted -- and the state's murder rate rose. Other academics say Lott's research is faulty. 

"The big problem," Lott says, "is that law-abiding good citizens, not criminals, obey the gun control laws." 

But are gun proponents like Lott really promoting safety or, as one scholar says, are they selling fear? 

Gallagher, the sociologist, says gun producers and the NRA create a perpetual state of fear so that people can buy their products. An NRA spokesman, Andrew Arulanandam, was repeatedly contacted but declined to answer questions submitted for this article. . . .

Some media coverage of the gun debate

Here are actually a couple of the more civil discussions.  From Gil Spencer in the Delco County Times:

Pro-gun and Second Amendment advocates were invited on TV news shows, not just to have their views challenged but to be personally insulted, mocked and accused of murder. 

NRA president Wayne LaPierre, was declared “The Craziest Man on Earth” on the front page of the New York Daily News. 

Mild-mannered college professor John Lott, author of “More Guns, Less Crime” was shouted down and declared a liar by CNN’s Piers Morgan. 

Another New York newspaper, the Journal News, printed the names and addresses of every licensed gun owner in their coverage area, ostensibly so that their gun-fearing neighbors could take adequate steps to protect their children. 

And then a funny thing happened. Gun owners decided they weren’t going to take it anymore. At least, they weren’t going to take it lying down. . . .

On the other hand, David Frum makes a big deal out of what was undoubtedly a joke by some people who just wanted to let out their frustrations.

Militant exponents of the Second Amendment have put 80,000 signatures on a petition to deport CNN host Piers Morgan because they disapprove of the way he makes use of his rights under the First. The irony is almost too obvious to ridicule. Yet these are dark and daunting times. All of us can use any laugh we can get. So let's ridicule away. Please submit your entry in the comments below or via Facebook.

Some of the media reaction to my comments on gun-free zones

-- Facts, not emotions, must guide post-Newtown debate

-- Soledad O’Brien vs. John Lott

-- Gun Expert Lott: Let Teachers Carry Arms, Ban Gun-Free Zones to Halt Mass Shootings

-- Washington Post: "Do concealed-weapon laws result in less crime?"

-- Washington Examiner responds to WP: No evidence right-to-carry laws increase crime

-- LA Times: On Newtown, mourn first, then act

-- Village Voice: We Must Stop Pretending there are Two Sides to the Gun Control Debate
-- IBD: Lesson Of Sandy Hook, Clackamas — Ban Gun-Free Zones
-- Townhall: John Lott Destroys CNN's Soledad O'Brien on Gun Free Zones
-- Upworthy: Gun Expert Decides To Make Stuff Up. Reporter Decides To Shut Him Down

UPDATE:

-- Washington Post: Newtown: Why is gun advocate John Lott doing his best work on CNN?

Media Discussion of my pieces on Bob Costas

Regarding my first op-ed this last week at Fox News on Costas here is some of the reaction.  I will update this later when I have time to put in responses.

From Entertainment Weekly:

As you can guess, his commentary was closely scrutinized, and while some applauded his effort, many criticized him for broaching a politically taboo subject in the midst of Sunday Night Football. Second-Amendment advocates like Fox News’ John Lott dismissed Costas for his “emotional reaction,” and media-watcher Howard Kurtz said, “If Bob Costas wanted to urge gun control during NFL, he should have made his own case, not quoted a columnist.” In less decorous language, Deadspin’s Sean Newell called it a “sanctimonious horsesh-t” editorial that was “so laughably out of touch it almost has to be satire.” . . . .

I didn't dismiss Costas' comments because they were emotional.  The relevant part of the sentence where I made this reference read like this: "Bob Costas’ emotional reaction to the deaths of Belcher and Perkins is understandable . . . ."  My problem wasn't that he was emotional, it was that what he said was factually wrong.

The New Yorker:

John Lott, a anti-gun-control advocate, worried, in an attack on Costas atFoxNews.com, that statistics showing that most victims know their murderer might dissuade people from keeping a weapon in the house: “But this claim regarding domestic violence irresponsibly makes people afraid of those who they have no reason to be afraid of…. Acquaintance murders also include prostitutes and their pimps or Johns.” There are few things less helpful, in the case of guns and domestic violence, than the assumption that the right sort of people will never be hurt by either. 

Domestic, or intimate-partner violence, is a problem that goes well beyond guns. Some forty per cent of women who are murdered in America are killed by men with whom they are or were in relationships (the most dangerous moment is when she tries to leave). . . .

An op-ed by M.D. Harmon in the Press Herald:

As John Lott, author of the book, "More Guns, Less Crime," noted in a Fox News commentary Monday, "Whether people like Costas like it or not, the facts speak for themselves." 

The facts also disprove Costas' subsequent allegation that legally owned guns are greatly to blame for crime among minorities. Guns are used in inner city gang crimes, certainly, but they are almost all illegally acquired and possessed by their users. 

Indeed, gun crime rates are highest in the cities where legal gun possession is most strongly discouraged -- New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C., chief among them. 

But where guns are widely and legally possessed, crime rates fall. And studies have shown more than a million crimes are halted or prevented by legally owned firearms each year. Just the display of a weapon discourages most offenders, who look for easier targets to victimize. 

Therefore, gun crimes most often take place in places where criminals know they have a high probability of being the only person on the scene who is armed. 

Colorado and Virginia both permit carrying firearms, but the Aurora movie theater and the Virginia Tech campus where two of the nation's most famous recent mass killings took place both "banned" guns on their property. . . .

From Entertainment Weekly:

As you can guess, his commentary was closely scrutinized, and while some applauded his effort, many criticized him for broaching a politically taboo subject in the midst of Sunday Night Football. Second-Amendment advocates like Fox News’ John Lott dismissed Costas for his “emotional reaction,” and media-watcher Howard Kurtz said, “If Bob Costas wanted to urge gun control during NFL, he should have made his own case, not quoted a columnist.” In less decorous language, Deadspin’s Sean Newell called it a “sanctimonious horsesh-t” editorial that was “so laughably out of touch it almost has to be satire.” . . . .

The New Yorker:

John Lott, a anti-gun-control advocate, worried, in an attack on Costas at FoxNews.com, that statistics showing that most victims know their murderer might dissuade people from keeping a weapon in the house: “But this claim regarding domestic violence irresponsibly makes people afraid of those who they have no reason to be afraid of…. Acquaintance murders also include prostitutes and their pimps or Johns.” There are few things less helpful, in the case of guns and domestic violence, than the assumption that the right sort of people will never be hurt by either. 

Domestic, or intimate-partner violence, is a problem that goes well beyond guns. Some forty per cent of women who are murdered in America are killed by men with whom they are or were in relationships (the most dangerous moment is when she tries to leave). . . .

An op-ed by M.D. Harmon in the Press Herald:

As John Lott, author of the book, "More Guns, Less Crime," noted in a Fox News commentary Monday, "Whether people like Costas like it or not, the facts speak for themselves." 

The facts also disprove Costas' subsequent allegation that legally owned guns are greatly to blame for crime among minorities. Guns are used in inner city gang crimes, certainly, but they are almost all illegally acquired and possessed by their users. 

Indeed, gun crime rates are highest in the cities where legal gun possession is most strongly discouraged -- New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C., chief among them. 

But where guns are widely and legally possessed, crime rates fall. And studies have shown more than a million crimes are halted or prevented by legally owned firearms each year. Just the display of a weapon discourages most offenders, who look for easier targets to victimize. 

Therefore, gun crimes most often take place in places where criminals know they have a high probability of being the only person on the scene who is armed. 

Colorado and Virginia both permit carrying firearms, but the Aurora movie theater and the Virginia Tech campus where two of the nation's most famous recent mass killings took place both "banned" guns on their property. . . .

From the Heartland Institute on the Costas case:

Economist and author John Lott, Jr., was a guest on Mark Levin’s radio show Monday night, discussing his book, “More Guns, Less Crime.” Lott’s research and analysis on crime rates in states with and without stringent gun controls is epic. It demonstrates indisputably that crime decreases as gun possession – or the legal rights to it – increase. Heartland is a friend of Lott and interviewed him two years ago for this video. . . .

Other places such as Eddie Scarry at The Blaze and Timothy Johnson at Media Matters also put up posts.  It is interesting that Media Matters is constantly making false claims to attack the notion that people should be able to defend themselves with guns when David Brock, the founder of Media Matters, has had staff illegally carry guns for his personal protection.

My second op-ed, which hasn't gotten the same attention, is available here.

New York Times finally covering scandal involving their incoming president

From the NY Times:

Mr. Thompson, the BBC’s chief from 2004 to last month, was not in charge during the years when Mr. Savile is now said to have engaged in widespread pedophilia. But he was when Mr. Savile died at age 84 last October and two branches of the network set off in very different directions to examine the life of the eccentric host. . . . 

Precisely why an investigation by the BBC program “Newsnight” into pedophilia accusations against Mr. Savile was killed while a package of Christmastime tributes to the host was broadcast was at the heart of a parliamentary hearing on Tuesday that featured an uncomfortable and apologetic George Entwistle, the current director general. . . . 

In a statement released on Oct. 13, Mr. Thompson issued a blanket denial of any knowledge of the squelched BBC report. “I was not notified or briefed about the ‘Newsnight’ investigation,” he said, adding that “during my time as director general of the BBC, I never heard any allegations or received any complaints about Jimmy Savile.” 

But on Tuesday, in a letter in response to Mr. Wilson, the Parliament member, Mr. Thompson appeared to adjust his answer slightly, saying, “I was never formally notified about the ‘Newsnight’ investigation and was not briefed about the allegations they were examining and to what extent, if at all, those allegations related to Savile’s work at the BBC.” . . .

There are some questions in what Thompson was told.

BBC foreign correspondent Caroline Hawley said that she thought she had told Thompson the "broad context" of the axed Newsnight investigation into Savile at a pre-Christmas drinks party at BBC Television Centre in late 2011. . . . 

The changing sources of where people get their news

The drop in those who obtain news from TV, newspapers and radio is much greater than the increase in those who have gotten their news online.  But that is probably misleading because the sources of news add up to over 100 percent and those who get their news from the internet probably get it from more sources than those who get it from the other sources.  The PEW study claims:

The transformation of the nation’s news landscape has already taken a heavy toll on print news sources, particularly print newspapers. But there are now signs that television news – which so far has held onto its audience through the rise of the internet – also is increasingly vulnerable, as it may be losing its hold on the next generation of news consumers. . . .

Mai Martinez: One reporter who may end up saving a few lives

My research has convinced me that women benefit much more from owning guns then men do, and to the extent that news stories such as this encourage more women to own guns, particularly those in high crime rate places such as Chicago, to own guns, I think that there will be more lives saved.  A write up of this story at CBS Chicago can be found here.

Newspapers are having a hard time and the future continues to look bleak

From the Financial Times:

In recent weeks, LinkedIn, the networking website, and the Council of Economic Advisers have reported that the press is “America’s fastest-shrinking industry”, measured by jobs lost; the Newspaper Association of America has shown that advertising sales have halved since 2005 and are now at 1984’s level; and the Pew Research Center has found that for every digital ad dollar they earned, they lost $7 in print ads.
As media from television to billboards bounce back from the recession, newsprint is being left behind. Zenith Optimedia this week predicted that internet advertising would pass newspaper advertising next year around the world – but in the US, where internet penetration is high and newspaper audiences are shrinking, digital will overtake newspapers’ and magazines’ combined ad sales this year, eMarketer estimates.
“There’s no doubt we’re going out of business now,” one unnamed executive told Pew’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, which predicted a future of shrinking newsrooms, print deliveries only a few days of the week and more papers closing altogether. A USC Annenberg School study reached the stark conclusion that most printed US dailies would be gone in five years. . . .

More info is available here.

25 biggest US newspapers by daily circulation

A list of the newspaper by sales is available here.

Fox News website is the top news website

For a more detailed discussion and the sources for these numbers see here.

Is it really possible that there are more than three times as many PR people as journalists?

I suppose that given that there is so much at stake it isn't surprising that people will spend so much to influence the news.

In their recent book, "The Death and Life of American Journalism," Robert McChesney and John Nichols tracked the number of people working in journalism since 1980 and compared it to the numbers for public relations. Using data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, they found that the number of journalists has fallen drastically while public relations people have multiplied at an even faster rate. In 1980, there were about .45 PR workers per 100,000 population compared with .36 journalists. In 2008, there were .90 PR people per 100,000 compared to .25 journalists. That's a ratio of more than three-to-one, better equipped, better financed.

How much better?

The researcher who worked with McChesney and Nichols, R. Jamil Jonna, used census data to track revenues at public relations agencies between 1997 and 2007. He found that revenues went from $3.5 billion to $8.75 billion. Over the same period, paid employees at the agencies went from 38,735 to 50,499, a healthy 30 percent growth in jobs. And those figures include only independent public relations agencies -- they don't include PR people who work for big companies, lobbying outfits, advertising agencies, non-profits, or government. . . .

Stossel on "Are Undercover Video Stings Ethical?"

His show on this will air this Thursday at 10 PM.

The inaccuracies in the Valerie Plame Movie "Fair Game"

Even the Washington Post editorial page can't accept the distortions in this new movie.

We certainly hope that is not the case. In fact, "Fair Game," based on books by Mr. Wilson and his wife, is full of distortions - not to mention outright inventions. To start with the most sensational: The movie portrays Ms. Plame as having cultivated a group of Iraqi scientists and arranged for them to leave the country, and it suggests that once her cover was blown, the operation was aborted and the scientists were abandoned. This is simply false. In reality, as The Post's Walter Pincus and Richard Leiby reported, Ms. Plame did not work directly on the program, and it was not shut down because of her identification.

The movie portrays Mr. Wilson as a whistle-blower who debunked a Bush administration claim that Iraq had tried to purchase uranium from the African country of Niger. In fact, an investigation by the Senate intelligence committee found that Mr. Wilson's reporting did not affect the intelligence community's view on the matter, and an official British investigation found that President George W. Bush's statement in a State of the Union address that Britain believed that Iraq had sought uranium in Niger was well-founded.

"Fair Game" also resells the couple's story that Ms. Plame's exposure was the result of a White House conspiracy. A lengthy and wasteful investigation by a special prosecutor found no such conspiracy - but it did confirm that the prime source of a newspaper column identifying Ms. Plame was a State Department official, not a White House political operative. . . .

New York Times blames alcohol for article mistakes

Well, at least the NY Times as a believable reason this time for the mistake.

But it's especially painful when the slip-ups involve the highly read and heavily scrutinized White House pool reports.

The New York Times's Helene Cooper had her goof Wednesday night when she misidentified Sen. Bill Nelson in a report from President Obama's Miami fundraiser, calling him Sen. Ben Nelson. She also said that POTUS was the one with the wrong name, not her.

She quickly corrected the goof in an e-mail featuring the subject, "Ack! Pool correx."

"Turns out potus was right and pool was wrong," wrote Cooper. "Its bill nelson not ben. Blame the mojitos. Please disregard all refs to ben."

A little drinking on the job? An earlier pool report from Cooper on Wednesday evening declared, "your pool is awaiting their mojitos at the Fountainebleu" (aka Fontainebleau).

Does government funding give the government an advantage in shaping the news?

Great, so NPR has the resources to create new story lines that the rest of the media doesn't have.

As daily newspapers continue to shed Washington bureaus and severely slash their staffs, fewer reporters than ever are serving as watchdogs of the federal government. Rare is the reporter who is assigned to cover one of the many federal departments, agencies or bureaus that are not part of the daily news cycle. . . . Networks and cable television news outlets certainly have reporters in Washington, but they concentrate on politics and the story of the day out of the White House, the Capitol and the most visible departments, such as Defense, State, Justice and Homeland Security. National Public Radio has beefed up its Washington coverage the past several years, and its reporters--many of them former newspaper writers--do have time for enterprise. Yet when it comes to departments, it sticks to the same handful as television. . . .

Print circulation for newspapers continue to fall

Average paid daily newspaper circulation fell by 8.7% over this last year.

Top 25 List by Daily Circulation

Newspaper Circ as of 3/31/10/ % Change

1. The Wall Street Journal 2,092,523 +0.5%
2. USA Today 1,826,622 -13.58%
3. The New York Times 951,063 -8.47%
4. Los Angeles Times 616,606 -14.74%
5. Washington Post 578,482 -13.06%
6. Daily News (New York) 535,059 -11.25%
7. New York Post 525,004 -5.94%
8. San Jose Mercury News* 516,701 N/A
(1/1/10 To 3/31/2010)
9. Chicago Tribune 452,145 -9.79%
10. Houston Chronicle 366,578 -13.77%
11. The Philadelphia Inquirer** 356,189 N/A
12. The Arizona Republic 351,207 -9.88%
13. Newsday 334,809 -9.07%
14. The Denver Post*** 333,675 N/A
15. Star Tribune, Minneapolis 295,438 -7.71%
16. St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times 278,888 -1.49%
17. Chicago Sun-Times 268,803 -13.88%
18. The Plain Dealer, Cleveland 267,888 -8.14%
19. The Oregonian 263,600 -1.83%
20. The Seattle Times*** 263.468 N/A
21. The Dallas Morning News 260,659 -21.47%
22. Detroit Free Press 252,017 -13.31%
23. San Diego Union-Tribune 249,630 -4.45%
24. San Francisco Chronicle 241,330 -22.68%
25. The Star-Ledger, Newark, N.J. 236,017 -17.79%

TV’s ‘Human Target’ Gets Women Owning Guns Right

I would have picked a different title for this piece than what was used over at Big Hollywood, but people might find this interesting. My piece starts this way:

“Human Target” is a fun show to watch. Christopher Chance (Mark Valley) is an expert at self-defense and his job is to protect people from life-threatening situations. This episode is about the case that moved Chance from being an assassin to his current job of protecting people. In this case, he has decided to protect a witness named Katherine Walters (Amy Acker). The following exchange takes place at about the 12:50 mark.

Christopher Chance: [Hands Katherine Walters a gun.] Now you don’t have to take this. I am just saying . . .
Katherine pulls back the slide and turns off the safety on the gun.
Chance: Apparently you know what you are doing
Katherine: I’m single and I live downtown.
Chance nods his head approvingly.

It is nice to see a show accurately acknowledge what women benefit the most from owning a gun. My own research shows that women benefit much more from owning guns than men do. . . .

If the media had this many gripes with any other president, what would be the outcome?

The media apparently believe that this president is trying to control news coverage to an unprecedented level.

Ed Chen, a White House correspondent for Bloomberg News who is president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, said he asked for the meeting “to clear the air because in my 10-plus years at the White House, rarely have I sensed such a level of anger, which is wide and deep, among members over White House practices and attitude toward the press.” . . .

Among the issues discussed:

—More behind-the-scenes access for news photographers. Obama aides often post photos by White House staff photographers of scenes that in the past might have been recorded by a selected news photographer, or by the rotating “tight pool” of photographers that has more access than the general press.

—CNN’s Ed Henry, who represented the networks at the meeting, pushed for more bill signings and world leader meetings to be opened to cameras.

—Journalists have complained of instances in which the White House declared a “full lid,” meaning no more scheduled releases or travel for the day, then later puts out a newsworthy release such as a readout of a presidential call with a world leader. A White House official told POLITICO: “We vowed to ensure that full lid violations were rare.”

—Internet access on Air Force One is being explored. Currently, the White House staff has access to communications equipment. But except in extraordinary circumstances, such as a presidential trip to Iraq or Afghanistan, the press is not able to file while airborne. . . .

Single women and guns on TV

The TV show "Human Target" is a fun show to watch. Christopher Chance (Mark Valley) is an expert at self defense and his job is to protect people from life threatening situations. This episode is about the case that moved Chance from being an assassin to his current job of protecting people. In this case, he has decided to protect a witness named Katherine Walters (Amy Acker). The following exchange takes place at about the 12:50 mark.

Christopher Chance: [Hands Katherine Walters a gun.] Now you don't have to take this. I am just saying . . .

Katherine Walters: [Pulls back the slide and turns off the safety on the gun.]

Chance: Apparently you know what you are doing

Katherine Walters: I'm single and I live downtown.

Chance: [Nods his head approvingly.]

It is nice to see a show accurately acknowledge what women benefit the most from owning a gun. My own research shows that women benefit much more from owning guns than men do.

The reason is actually pretty simple. The vast majority of violent crimes are committed by men and when a man attacks a woman there is a much bigger differential in strength on average than when a man attacks a man. The presence of a gun represents a much bigger change in a woman's ability to resist an attack than it does for a man. Knives and baseball bats are particularly problematic, because women have to get very close to their attackers to use them, and male criminals tend to be much stronger physically than their female victims. When it comes to physical contact, women generally lose those fights. It turns out that pepper spray may not do you a lot of good when it is raining or snowing. A woman is just as likely to disable herself as the attacker when it's windy or when using the spray indoors.

The advantage of a gun is that it is ideal for keeping the criminal far away from the victim. And the victim isn't responsible for restraining the criminal, as police officers are when arresting suspects. A woman simply wants to keep the criminal away from her. In More Guns, Less Crime, I find that for each additional woman carrying a concealed handgun the drop in the murder rate for women by about 3–4 times more than one additional man carrying a concealed handgun reduces the murder rate for men.

Only one of the Human Target episodes seems to have strayed into liberal dogma. That episode had an obligatory bashing of private health care when the final vote on the government health care bill was about to take place in the House.

Apple Computer won't advertise on Fox News as protest over Glenn Beck

This is very disappointing. Apple is certainly within its right to do this, but it is still disappointing.

More than 200 companies have joined a boycott of Beck's program, making it difficult for Fox to sell ads. The time has instead been sold to smaller firms offering such products as Kaopectate, Carbonite, 1-800-PetMeds and Goldline International. A handful of advertisers, such as Apple, have abandoned Fox altogether. Network executives say they believe they could charge higher rates if the host were more widely acceptable to advertisers. . . .