Citation

Endorf RJ. J. Firearms Public Policy 2007; 19(1): 51-100.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, Second Amendment Foundation)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The District of Columbia’s handgun prohibition is the most-studied gun control measure in this country. After over thirty years there is still no reliable evidence to support the ban’s efficacy. There is no evidence that the gun ban has lowered violent crime, reduced the illegal gun supply, prevented any firearm accidents or suicides, or had any advantageous effect whatsoever. There is, however, good reason to believe that the gun ban has harmed the District by making law-abiding citizens helpless in one of the most crime-ridden cities in America. Supporters of the District’s gun ban say that it has helped counteract the plague of violence that has long afflicted the city; thirty years of research has proven such sentiments to be based on wishful thinking and political myths. Robert Endorf is a graduate of NYU Law School and is a lawyer in Kentucky.