Joint Economic Committee Testimony on: Gun Violence in America September 18, 2019

1. John R. Lott, Jr. Joint Economic Committee Testimony on: Gun Violence in AmericaSeptember 18, 2019 See our research at crimeresearch.org

2. Trade-offs • Guns make it easier to kill people, but they also make it easier to protect people and keep them from being harmed. • It makes no more sense to count only people killed or injured by guns then it does to count only lives saved or injuries prevented — the question is what is the net effect. • The same is true of estimates of the cost of gun violence. • If guns are a net cost to society, why is it that every place in the world that has banned either all guns or all handguns has seen homicide rates go up? Can you name one place that banned these guns and seen homicide rates even stay the same? No.

3. Surveys indicate that on average people use guns defensively 4 to 5 times more frequently to stop crime than to commit it. • If you think that strict gun regulations will reduce gun violence, look at Mexico • Only one gun store in the country since 1972, the most powerful rifle that you can buy is a .22-caliber, and only about 1 percent of Mexicans are licensed to own guns. • Yet, this Mexico has had well over 21,000 murders during the first seven months of the year, and they are facing a murder rate that is over six times the rate in the US. • As to suicides, it is simply not realistic to assume that eliminating guns will significantly reduce suicide. There are lots of close substitutes methods of committing suicide.

4. 4,117 cases of completed suicide in Los Angeles County during the period 1988-1991,

5. How to quickly pass Universal Background Checks • Continually called for after mass public shootings • It would not have stopped any of the mass shootings we have seen in this century. • Frequent claim is: Background checks have stopped 3.5 million dangerous or prohibited people from buying guns. • Virtually all of these false positives • Hurts minorities • “This incredibly high rate of false positives imposes a real burden on the most vulnerable people,” said Reagan Dunn, the first national coordinator for Project Safe Neighborhoods, a Justice Department program started in 2001 to ensure gun laws are enforced. • Easy fix

6. Costs • In Washington, DC, background checks on private gun transfers cost $125. In New York City, it costs at least $125. • Democrats who think that voter ID laws are unfairly onerous for poor minorities ought to appreciate the obstacles presented by background check fees • Discriminatory against the very people who need guns the most for self-defense • If you want to encourage people to do these background checks on private transfers, why would you make them pay a tax to do it? • Simple fix – if you believe that this reduces crime for everyone, then everyone should pay for it. • Concern about a national registry being created • Simple fix – have a time limit on how long information can be held. • Details on who you can transfer to

7. Survey of Academic Researchers • Academic researchers broadly think that eliminating gun-free zones, such as where the attack in San Bernardino occurred, is a promising policy change that could save lives. • Criminologists and economists are the most interested in that solution, while public health researchers tend to favor traditional gun control methods. But outside of economists who favor eliminating gun-free zones, none of the groups are significantly above the midpoint (5.5) in supporting any type of gun control.

9. Assault Weapons Ban • The Assault Weapon Ban would only have caused the use of assault weapons to decline during the ban and then rise after the ban ended in 2004. • In fact, the use of other types of guns would likely to be expected to rise during the ban. In fact, while the share of mass public shooting using assault weapons fell during the ban, they fell even further in the ten years after the ban ended