Note – This article originally appeared in The Trace Permit-to-purchase systems are backed by strong data. Is congressional legislation that would take the idea national the proposal more people should be debating? Earlier this month, Rep. Chris Van Hollen,…
Data, Debunking Myths, Long Read
How America’s Lax Gun Laws Aid Mass Murderers and Cripple Communities of Color
Note – This article originally appeared in VICE Gun Free Zones Don’t Attract Mass Shootings In the wake of the massacre at Charleston’s African Methodist Episcopal Church last month, gun rights advocates have been quick to seize the opportunity…
Data, Debunking Myths, Long Read
More Guns, More Crime: Yet Another Study Debunking the Myth
Note- This column originally appeared in The Trace A Gallup poll taken last October found that around 63 percent of Americans believe that having a gun in the house makes their home safer. It’s a perception in keeping with…
Data, Debunking Myths, Long Read
Debunking the Gun Free Zone Myth: “Mass Murder Magnets”
Note: This column originally appeared in The Trace In the wake of the Wednesday shooting at a Charleston, S.C., church that left nine people dead, John R. Lott Jr., the prominent researcher whose work is embraced in gun-rights circles, offered a…
Data, Debunking Myths, Long Read
Debunking the “Good Guy With A Gun” Myth: Guns Do Not Make You Safer
**Note: This column appeared in Slate on 1/26/2015 ** Wayne LaPierre of the National Rifle Association issued a passionate call to arms last year, painting a bleak picture of a dystopian America on the brink of collapse: We know, in the world…
The Myth of Defensive Gun Use **Note – This article appeared in Politico on 1/14/2015 In the early hours of Nov. 2, 2013, in Dearborn Heights, Michigan, a pounding at the door startled Theodore Wafer from his slumber. Unable to…
Data, Debunking Myths, Long Read
A Lott More Lies – Debating More Guns Less Crime
A Lott More Lies: Debating More Guns, Less Crime By: Devin Hughes and Evan DeFilippis John Lott and I had a debate on the David Pakman Show over the question of whether or not more guns decrease the crime…
I have a new article out in Slate Magazine, one of the most shared columns in the last several months. It is reproduced below. Co-authored with Devin Hughes Caroline Sparks was 2 years old. Her 5-year-old brother was playing nearby…
Had a long article published over at the Boston Review. The column is reproduced in full below: Why Did Chris Die? After his son Christopher was gunned down near the campus of the University of California, Santa Barbara on May…
Data, Debunking Myths, Long Read, Philosophy
Why Stop-and-Frisk Does Not Work
The Inconsistency of Our Outrage The stop-and-frisk debate is instructive in that it spotlights the inconsistency in outrage that both conservatives and liberals display over the violation of constitutional rights. Many conservatives appear completely insensitive to the empirical reality…