Citation

Lott JR. Sci. Am. 2013; 309(3): 6.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, Scientific American)

DOI

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PMID

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Abstract

In discussing gun control in "Gun Science" [Skeptic], Michael Shermer first cites a 1998 paper in the Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery concluding that guns in the home are much more likely to be used in criminal assaults or homicides than for self-defense. Oddly, that study accounted only for cases where criminals were killed or wounded and not the more typical scenario in which an attacker is scared away. Cases where the attacker is killed or wounded account for well less than 1 percent. Shermer ignores the 2004 National Academy of Sciences report that rejected the 1998 study and similar ones. As the NAS report noted, this type of public health research fails to account for the endogeneity problem--that it is especially people who feel threatened who tend to acquire guns. Fixing this reverses the claims.

Language: en