John R. Lott Jr.

About the author: John R. Lott Jr. has published more than ninety articles in academic journals and is the author of several books about crime, guns, and gun control laws. He was a senior research scholar at Yale University's School of Law and has held positions at the University of Chicago, Stanford University, UCLA, the Wharton Business School, and Rice University.

According to some studies, the widespread ownership of guns in the United States has actually made the country safer. In fact, it is estimated that every year over 2 million crimes are prevented by law-abiding citizens who brandish guns at would-be attackers. However, news stories concerning guns omit this statistic. Newspapers, magazines, and especially TV news shows run thousands of stories in which guns are used to murder...