Gun Issue Research Sites

[TooTaxed]

It is critically important that we all have specific, referenced information on gun control issues so that we can more effectively counter the arguments. It's well worth a few minutes of research...

One excellent site is the NRA-ILA website articles. They provide specific research data on where criminals obtain their guns, including a study done on over 1800 inmates in six different penitentiaries. (And no, they do not get them from gunshows or licensed dealers...they don't even try because they know they can't pass the background checks!)

Other topics include the statistical effects of increased...and relaxation of...gun control laws on crime, both internationally and locally. The impact of concealed carry on crime. Impact of gun registration on criminals (none). Criminal preference on selecting homes to burglarize...i.e., homes occupied by gun owners or non-owners. The number of times guns are used for self defense (2.2 to 2.4 million times per year, far more often than they are used by criminals). The infeasability of microstamping (including a video interview between an NRA-ILA rep and the president of the company that claims they can do it).

Interestingly, much of the statistics came from studies commissioned by anti-gun groups...who pick out data they can use and suppress the rest! The NRA-ILA obtained the complete studies through the courts by using the Freedom of Information Act.

If you know of other specific references, please let us know of them!

 

[Phil Lee]

In your statement:

One excellent site is the NRA-ILA website articles. They provide specific research data on where criminals obtain their guns, including a study done on over 1800 inmates in six different penitentiaries.

you provide no links to these research studies. Please provide links.

 

[TooTaxed]

The NRA-ILA website has such a huge amount of articles that it can be difficult to find something until you get familiar with their system.

The NRA-ILA website: http://www.nraila.org

To start, use the "search" link at the upper right corner of the NRA-ILA screen to find your desired issue.

A search on "Criminals and Guns" will get you to http://www.nraila.org/search/keyword=criminals%20and%20guns, a LONG list of articles on the general subject. Also, note the "find similar" button to the right of each article.

I quoted from three articles in this list:
"The Armed Criminal in America", a summary report on the interview of 1,874 imprisoned felons in ten states across the nation, regarding their firearms and use thereof. http://nraila.org/issues/articles/read.aspx?id=117

"Armed Citizens and Crime Control". Americans use guns for self-defense as often as 2 to 5 million times a year...that's 3 to 5 times more often than they are misused by criminals. http://nraila.org/issues/articles/read.aspx?id=125

"Fables, Myths, and Other Tall Tales" (about guns), a list of 15 myths about guns frequently and unquestioningly quoted by anti-gun folks. http://www.nraila.org//issues/articles/read.aspx?id=209

A few others located by search: "Encoded Ammunition/Bullet Serialization" http://www.nraila.org/issues/factsheets/read.aspx?id=227

"Would Banning Firearms Reduce Murder and Suicide?" http://www.nraila.org/issues/articles/read.aspx?id=247&issue=007

"Crime Statistics for the US, the 50 States, and DC" http://www.nraila.org/issues/factsheets/read.aspx?id=128

"More Guns, Less Crime" http://www.nraila.org/issues/factsheets/read.aspx?id=206

Have fun similarly researching your topic of interest! Actively spread this around, and make us proud!

 

[TooTaxed]

Sorry, folks...in the post above the initial search "Criminals and Guns" search link gets you nowhere.

For some reason I was unable to correct this in the first post...I had correctly entered it originally, but it persists in printing wrong in the post. Go figure! Possibly the link is too long.

Suggest you perform the search...or copy this: http://nraila.org/search/keyword=criminals and guns

 

[Phil Lee]

I can't make your new link work either.

My first comment on this NRA offering is that the search tool is a bit hard to find. When I did and entered "criminals and guns" at the top right of the NRA-ILA link you provided I was led to a page saying "We are unable to process your search request. Try changing some of the words in your query." After I removed the quotes, the search provided 1328 articles. It isn't clear what order these documents are listed and there are too many for efficient research.

I examined the first several articles to evaluate content.

The first article (http://www.nraila.org//Issues/Articles/Read.aspx?ID=117) in the search for "criminals and guns" is an evaluation by Dr. Blackman, an employee of the NRA, of research by Wright and Rossi as explained at the end of the article. No link is supplied to the original Justice Dept. report (or how it may be obtained) prepared by Wright -- not even a link to the summary of that report. The summary may be found at:
http://rkba.org/research/wright/armed-criminal.summary.html or
http://rkba.org/research/wright/armed-criminal.summary
nor was the link to the Wright-Rossi 1983 data provided at:
http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/cocoon/ICPSR/STUDY/08357.xml

Since the original report was issued by the Federal Government and is currently available only in paper format (it is an old report), it would have been helpful for the NRA to obtain it, convert it to an electronic form and post it to support fact checking from their article. Links such as the ones I provided are more than just conveniences to the users of these postings. The NRA is an advocacy organization so its statements are suspect. If you want to do more than preach to the choir, using documents such as this one from the NRA need to be supported by sources with more impartial and credible credentials. That is why the sources of information should be linked or provided whenever possible.

Also, genuine research should provide sources to support additional research. Unfortunately, this article does not provide these links or references as well as it might.


The second article (http://www.nraila.org//Issues/Articles/Read.aspx?ID=209) hardly passes for "research". Rather is is a summary of "facts" or, perhaps more accurately, "claims" according to the NRA. It might serve as a background for research effort by others, but such researches are made more difficult by the lack of links in the references supplied. For example, for Fable III, reference [6] is to Bureau of Justice Statistics, "Changes in Criminal Victimization, 1994-1995," April 1997, NCJ-162032, p. 7. This report in two formats is linked from http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/ccv95.htm. However, the NRA posted article provides no link.

The third article (http://www.nraila.org//Issues/Articles/Read.aspx?ID=48) is unclear about its author (it appears to be the NRA) and lacks sources for assertions contained in it. For example it displays a chart showing "Federal Prosecutions of Criminal Uses of Guns" but does not identify where the data displayed is obtained. Such incompleteness and vagueness about the author of the article detracts from the articles credibility and usefulness.

The fourth article (http://www.nraila.org//Issues/Articles/Read.aspx?ID=237) isn't research at all, but an editorial by Daniel D. Polsby. He doesn't even try to document the sources backing his statements. For example, Polsby says

Peter Reuter and Mark Kleiman, drug-policy researchers, calculated in 1987 that the average crack dealer's risk of being killed was far greater than his risk of being sent to prison. (Their data cannot, however, support the implication that ownership of a firearm causes or exacerbates the risk of being killed.)

But Polsby doesn't identify who employed Reuter and Kleiman for the subject report for or its the title and publisher.

It may be that the NRA has some genuine research properly referenced and with desirable links to support additional research efforts, but I've not seen them in the first four documents provided by the suggested search.

When I have a moment, I'll provide you with some examples of better developed research sources.

 

[Librarian]

Thinking only of the United States, try these:
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/ -- Bureau of Justice Statistics
http://www.ncjrs.org/ -- National Criminal Justice Reference Service
http://www.albany.edu/sourcebook/ -- the Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics

ETA and how could I forget
http://www.guncite.com/ and

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/626381/posts
a rather dated site consisting of most of the "2nd Amendment Law Library" no longer maintained, but with many linked journal articles.

 

[Phil Lee]

Sites I frequently use and a few examples of research I've placed on my site.

Constitution Society http://www.constitution.org/

Jefferson http://etext.virginia.edu/jefferson/

US History http://www.law.ou.edu/ushistory/

Lexington and Concord and other Revolution history http://www.patriotresource.com/documents/brit0419/gageorder.html

James's Liberty file collection index http://jim.com/

Story's Commentaries http://www.utulsa.edu/law/classes/rice/Constitutional/Storey/00_story_vol1_intro.html

Annals of Congress http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwac.html

Second Amendment Project (Dave Kopel) http://www.davekopel.com/

Testimony of Eugene Volokh on the Second Amendment http://www.law.ucla.edu/volokh/beararms/testimon.htm

Guncite
http://www.guncite.com/
See especially Guncite's collection of 2nd Amendment Articles at (replacing the Law Library that has disappeared):
http://www.guncite.com/journals/

Skeeter's Home Page (Canada) http://homepage.usask.ca/~sta575/cdn-firearms/main2.html

Sporting Shooters Association of Australia http://www.ssaa.org.au/newssaa/political%20archive/politicalarchive.htm

Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics http://www.albany.edu/sourcebook/

NATIONAL CENTER FOR POLICY ANALYSIS -- CRIME http://www.ncpa.org/iss/cri/

Gun Control Resources in Pollak Library http://guides.library.fullerton.edu/GunControl/

Gary Mauser http://www.sfu.ca/~mauser/index1.html

Maryland research
http://www.mcrkba.org/Briefs.html (several research articles are linked here)
(specifically see the linked article: http://www.mcrkba.org/LEOsKIA.pdf )
http://www.mcrkba.org/OpEds.html specifically see http://www.mcrkba.org/garnertrialreport.html and http://www.mcrkba.org/Miller_Delity.html
http://www.mcrkba.org/Testimony2000to_.html specifically under "2007 Gun Bills" the responses to "EVERY 48 HOURS"

 

[TooTaxed]

Thanks for the list, Phil! I've printed the list for my file and am researching the individual sites to make notes on specific content items for future use.

One thing you may be able to help me with in current arguments with anti-gun groups...Right to Carry/Concealed Carry. Specifically, statistics on crime committed by RTC permit holders, and specific referenced instances where RTC holders cut short mass shootings...I remember a lady cutting short a shooting at a church, I believe this last December, and a university shooting some years ago (Pennsylvania?)...others?

Again, Thanks!

 

[TooTaxed]

Thanks for the links, Librarian! The FBI annual crime statistics and the "guncite" listings are particularly useful.

There appears to be some rather perplexing "holes" is a lot of the FBI statistics, however...for example in the "Crime and Victim" section, the table for "defensive action by victim" doesn't categorize the type of defensive action...merely to what extent it was effective for different types of crimes! Go figure...

 

[Blaster]

http://www.gunfacts.info