Guns and violence

Public policy should be informed by information, research and science to come up with the most effective solutions to our problems. Obviously, there are Constitutional considerations for all policy, but without information and reason, we'll never have effective laws.

In 1997, researchers John Lott and David Mustard asserted that more guns meant less crime; it was an influential argument that likely contributed to states passing right-to-carry laws. Ever since, there’s been a debate over the effects of this legislation on violent crime.

But with an updated paper by legal scholars John Donohue and Abhay Aneja and economist Kyle Weber, there’s a new consensus: Right-to-carry laws actually increase the rate of violent crime. Ten years after a state passes a right-to-carry law, violent crime—which includes murder, manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault—will be 13 to 15 percent higher than if the state had done nothing.  (emphasis added) Link

Regardless of your political position on gun control, it's important to know the facts. And the fact seems to be that right-to-carry laws INCREASE violent crime. Once we have that fact, solutions start to suggest themselves.

If only America was lead with facts and reason.