Lott's main analysis was of a
data set of crime, arrest, income and demographics for each county in
the US for the period 1977 to 1992. During that period, several
states passed ``right-to-carry'' laws that made it easier for citizens
to obtain permits to carry a concealed weapon. He performed a
multivariate regression and concluded that the laws had caused an 8%
reduction in murder, a 5% reduction in rape, and a 7% reduction in
aggravated assault. He argues that criminals were deterred from
committing crimes by the additional risk they faced in facing permit
holders carrying concealed weapons. The ``more guns'' in the title of
Lott's book mostly refers to more guns being carried in public by
permit holders.
However, as the next sections will show, it does not seem that these laws caused there to be
significantly more guns, whether you use Lott's meaning
for ``more guns'', or some other one.
