From: [REDACTED] at [hprnd.rose.hp.com] (Steve Kao)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.guns
Subject: NPR & Brady Bill
Date: 13 Apr 1994 15:12:08 GMT

This morning (13apr94), NPR interviewed a Professor Polesby (I think)
from Northwestern University about the effectiveness of the Brady Act in
particular, and gun control in general.  Polesby said that measuring the
effectiveness of the Brady Act or California's waiting period by the
number of people turned down, is a false measure.  He said there was no
way to tell what the people turned down did after being turned down;
it's quite possible they picked up a gun illegally, possibly even a more
deadly illegal gun than the legal gun they attempted to buy.

He said the real measure of the effectiveness of waiting periods is
whether or not the violent crime rate has gone down.  So far, no such
evidence is available, and California's had waiting periods for decades.

Polesby mentioned that violent crime rates in the US have been declining
since the early 1980's, but the number of guns and handguns in the US
has been increasing.  He said there does not appear to be any
correlation between the number of guns in circulation and violent crime
rates.

He said that the way to reduce violent crime and to get guns out of the
hands of criminals is to provide legal opportunities for young people
who would otherwise turn to crime.

Overall, I was pleased with NPR's handling of Professor Polesby.

- Steve Kao