This message was from THOMAS JEFFERSON to ALL
originally in conference RTKBA on TENFORWD (Ten Forward)
and was forwarded to you by DAVID HANNON
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PLEASE ! EVERYONE who has internet access, CAPTURE THIS MSG in its
entirety ...AND UPLOAD TO THE PRESIDENT, ALL CONGRESSMEN, ALL NEWS
AGENCIES, ALL STATE GOVERNORS, and TO AS MANY LOCAL BROADCAST STATIONS
AS POSSIBLE !
BECAUSE PEOPLE WILL NOT HEAR OF IT ON THE ANTI-GUN BIASED NATIONAL
TELEVISION NEWSCASTS WHICH ARE BEING CONTROLLED BY THE FEDERAL
GOVERNMENT.
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---- DATELINE: Friday, August 2, 1996. U.S.A. Today - page 3a- (The
Nation's Newspaper) (http://www.usatoday.com)
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----                  STUDY: WEAPONS LAWS DETER CRIME
      -- Fewer rapes, murders found WHERE CONCEALED GUNS LEGAL. --
-- Murder, down 8.5 % - Rape down 5 % - Aggravated assault, down 7 % --
By Dennis Cauchon
    In a comprehensive study that may reshape the gun control debate,
researchers have found that letting people carry concealed guns appears
to sharply reduce murders, rapes and other violent crimes.
    The nationwide study found that  violent crime fell after states
made it legal to carry concealed handguns.
    The University of Chicago study, obtained by USA TODAY, is set to be
released next Thursday. But its impending release has already sent shock
waves through the gun control debate because of the effect it may have
on one of the most controversial areas of gun law.
    Since 1968, the number of states making it legal to carry concealed
weapons has grown from 9 to 31.
    The National Rifle Association has led this fight in state
legislatures, arguing that concealed weapons deter crime.
    Gun control supporters counter that these laws cost lives by
increasing accident deaths and impulsive murders.
    The study analyzed FBI crime statistics in the nation's 3,054
counties from 1977 to 1992 to see if the introduction of
concealed-weapon laws had any effect on crime.
    The RESULTS OVERWHELMINGLY SUPPORTED THE IDEA THAT THESE LAWS
DETER VIOLENT CRIME.
    The drop isn't primarily caused by people defending themselves
with guns, says John Lott, the study's author. Rather, criminals
seem to alter their behavior to avoid the possibility of coming
in contact with a victim with a gun.
    Concealed-weapons laws have drawbacks, too, the study found.
Auto theft and larceny increased. Criminals shifted to property
offences, in which contact with a victim is rare, says Lott.
    "The policy implications ARE UNDENIABLE: IF YOU'RE INTERESTED IN
REDUCING MURDER AND RAPE, THEN LETTING LAW-ABIDING, MENTALLY COMPETENT
CITIZENS CARRY CONCEALED WEAPONS HAS A POSITIVE IMPACT," says Lott.
    Gun control backer Josh Sugarman of the Violence Policy Center
blasted the study: "Anyone who argues that these laws reduce crime
either doesn't understand the nature of crime or has a preset agenda."
    Lott, who spent Two years on the study, says he sent his research
to scholars who might disagree with him and made changes to satisfy the
critics.
    David Kopel, a gun control scholar who did a smaller study on the
same issue, says "Lott's study is so far ahead of all previous studies
that it makes them all worthless.
[IT APPEARS THAT THE ANTI-GUN CONGRESSMEN AND ANTI-GUN GROUPS HAVE BEEN
LYING TO THE AMERICAN PUBLIC ABOUT THIS ISSUE ALL THIS TIME.]
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