WAGCEVP
July 5, 2003, 04:41 PM
> Handgun-Free America Disavows Statement by NRA Spokesman John Lott
>
> Press Release
> Handgun-Free America
> 1600 Wilson Blvd., Suite 800
> Arlington, VA 22209
> www.handgunfree.org
>
> Contact:
> Chris McGrath
> Phone: 703-465-0474
>
> Washington, DC - In a New York Post article released June 26 "Armed and
> Safer Iraqis," American Enterprise Institute Scholar John R. Lott Jr.
> claims that an armed Iraqi populace is a safer Iraqi populace. Since
> publishing his 1998 book More Guns, Less Crime, Lott has served as the
> mouthpiece of the National Rifle Association (NRA), the primary lobby
> group of the gun industry.
>
> "The current situation in Iraq once again proves that Lott's conclusions
> are flawed," says Handgun-Free America Executive Director Chris McGrath.
> While a May proclamation by the Coalitional Provisional Authority (CPA)
> banned many types of large weapons and explosives across the country,
> Iraqi citizens are allowed to keep many weapons, including AK-47s, in
> their homes or businesses and are able to carry guns on the streets with a
> permit. Yet, despite Iraqis owning machine guns, the country is still not
> under control. "If Lott were right in asserting that more guns lead to
> less crime," asserts McGrath, "then a country with widespread machine gun
> ownership such as Iraq would be virtually crime-free. But instead, each
> day brings more reports of looting, murder, and chaos in that country."
>
> "Lott is obviously trying to export his flawed logic abroad after losing
> the majority of his credibility at home," McGrath continues. His
> organization, Handgun-Free America, is a nonprofit, grassroots group with
> offices in Washington. Its mission is to promote the banning of the
> manufacture, sale and possession of handguns and thus save thousands of
> lives from accidental deaths and murders resulting from their
> availability.
>
> John Lott lost what remaining credibility he had when he pretended he was
> a woman online (under the pseudonym Mary Rosh) to defend himself against
> critics of his research. As Mary Rosh, he tirelessly defended his work,
> once claiming, 'I have to say that [Lott] was the best professor I ever
> had' about himself. Additionally, Lott's critics have pointed to the
> controversy over the source of a statistic used on page 3 of More Guns,
> Less Crime, where Lott stated, '98% of the time that people use guns
> defensively they merely have to brandish a weapon to break off an attack.'
> Lott has claimed this figure originated from various sources, including
> The Los Angeles Times, Gallup and Peter Hart Research Associates. None of
> these sources conducted this survey, however. Finally, Lott claimed the
> 98% figure resulted from a phone survey he conducted, although he has been
> unable to produce any data from the survey due to a 'computer crash.'
>
> "Lott's misleading claims have already been used, with lethal results, to
> relax gun laws in state legislatures throughout the country. Now these
> same claims are being used to endanger the lives of our troops in Iraq,"
> says McGrath. "In Iraq, American soldiers are killed and ambushed with
> machine guns and AK-47s, and yet John Lott is still trying to convince us
> that machine guns aren't the problem. Newspapers and policy makers should
> see Lott's ideas for what they are, utter lunacy."
>
>
> Press Release
> Handgun-Free America
> 1600 Wilson Blvd., Suite 800
> Arlington, VA 22209
> www.handgunfree.org
>
> Contact:
> Chris McGrath
> Phone: 703-465-0474
>
> Washington, DC - In a New York Post article released June 26 "Armed and
> Safer Iraqis," American Enterprise Institute Scholar John R. Lott Jr.
> claims that an armed Iraqi populace is a safer Iraqi populace. Since
> publishing his 1998 book More Guns, Less Crime, Lott has served as the
> mouthpiece of the National Rifle Association (NRA), the primary lobby
> group of the gun industry.
>
> "The current situation in Iraq once again proves that Lott's conclusions
> are flawed," says Handgun-Free America Executive Director Chris McGrath.
> While a May proclamation by the Coalitional Provisional Authority (CPA)
> banned many types of large weapons and explosives across the country,
> Iraqi citizens are allowed to keep many weapons, including AK-47s, in
> their homes or businesses and are able to carry guns on the streets with a
> permit. Yet, despite Iraqis owning machine guns, the country is still not
> under control. "If Lott were right in asserting that more guns lead to
> less crime," asserts McGrath, "then a country with widespread machine gun
> ownership such as Iraq would be virtually crime-free. But instead, each
> day brings more reports of looting, murder, and chaos in that country."
>
> "Lott is obviously trying to export his flawed logic abroad after losing
> the majority of his credibility at home," McGrath continues. His
> organization, Handgun-Free America, is a nonprofit, grassroots group with
> offices in Washington. Its mission is to promote the banning of the
> manufacture, sale and possession of handguns and thus save thousands of
> lives from accidental deaths and murders resulting from their
> availability.
>
> John Lott lost what remaining credibility he had when he pretended he was
> a woman online (under the pseudonym Mary Rosh) to defend himself against
> critics of his research. As Mary Rosh, he tirelessly defended his work,
> once claiming, 'I have to say that [Lott] was the best professor I ever
> had' about himself. Additionally, Lott's critics have pointed to the
> controversy over the source of a statistic used on page 3 of More Guns,
> Less Crime, where Lott stated, '98% of the time that people use guns
> defensively they merely have to brandish a weapon to break off an attack.'
> Lott has claimed this figure originated from various sources, including
> The Los Angeles Times, Gallup and Peter Hart Research Associates. None of
> these sources conducted this survey, however. Finally, Lott claimed the
> 98% figure resulted from a phone survey he conducted, although he has been
> unable to produce any data from the survey due to a 'computer crash.'
>
> "Lott's misleading claims have already been used, with lethal results, to
> relax gun laws in state legislatures throughout the country. Now these
> same claims are being used to endanger the lives of our troops in Iraq,"
> says McGrath. "In Iraq, American soldiers are killed and ambushed with
> machine guns and AK-47s, and yet John Lott is still trying to convince us
> that machine guns aren't the problem. Newspapers and policy makers should
> see Lott's ideas for what they are, utter lunacy."
>