What Do We Really Know About Guns and Violence?

Now that the Supreme Court appears to be widening the meaning of the 2nd Amendment to cover just about every so-called use of a firearm, particularly using a gun for self-protection or what Gun-nut Nation refers to as being ‘armed,’ I thought I would take a look at the research which is being cited as explaining why a gun is not only a good thing to have around, but deserves Constitutional protection not afforded to any other consumer product which is bought or sold.

I am referring here to a survey conducted by a faculty member at Georgetown’s Business School, William English, whose 2021 online survey was taken by more than 50,000 men and women, of whom almost 17,000 identified themselves as owners of guns.

This document has been cited by the Supreme Court in its recent Bruen decision which basically revised the meaning of the words ‘keep and bear arms’ in the 2nd Amendment to include carrying a gun outside the home.

English’s survey follows from a long line of scholarly inquiry going back to the 1990’s, when our friend Gary Kleck published a paper which asked a pool of survey respondents whether they had ever used a gun to prevent what otherwise might have been a crime. The paper appeared shortly after Bill Clinton’s assault weapons ban was passed, and it defined the basic contours of the continuing gun debate…