From: [C reuters] at [clari.net] (Reuters) Newsgroups: clari.news.issues.guns,clari.news.issues.misc Subject: Concealed gun laws cut crime, U.S. study says Organization: Copyright 1996 by Reuters Date: Thu, 8 Aug 1996 14:00:08 PDT Expires: Thu, 15 Aug 1996 14:00:08 PDT WASHINGTON (Reuter) - Allowing private citizens to carry concealed handguns reduces murders and other violent crimes, according to a study made public Thursday by two University of Chicago professors. ``We find that allowing citizens to carry concealed weapons deters violent crimes and it appears to produce no increase in accidential deaths,'' John Lott of the law school and David Mustard of the economics department said. Their findings were made public by the Cato Institute, a private, Washington-based research center. The study compared crime rates in the 29 states that allow concealed weapons with those that do not. Ten of those states adopted concealed weapons laws between 1977 and 1992. The two professors said the possibility that potential victims might be armed often deterred criminals. ``By the very nature of these guns being concealed, criminals are unable to tell whether the victim is armed before they strike, thus raising criminals' expected costs for committing many types of crimes,'' they said. ``Surveys of convicted felons in American reveal that they are much more worried about armed victims than they are about running into the police.'' They said if all states had laws allowing concealed weapons, there would have been 1,570 fewer murders and 4,177 fewer rapes in 1992, the year they surveyed. The study said there were 1,409 accidential U.S. gun deaths in 1992, with 546 of them in states that allowed concealed handguns and 863 in states without such laws. The Center to Prevent Handgun Violence challenged the study, saying it failed to take into account gun control laws and other crime prevention steps that affected the crime rate. ``We really do not believe Dr. Lott's results,'' Douglas Weil of the center said. -- C O P Y R I G H T * R E M I N D E R This article is Copyright 1996 by Reuters. All articles in the clari.* news hierarchy are Copyrighted and licenced to ClariNet Communications Corp. for distribution. Except for articles in the biz.clarinet.sample newsgroup, only paid subscribers may access these articles. Any unauthorized access, reproduction or transmission is strictly prohibited. We offer a reward to the person who first provides us with information that helps stop those who distribute or receive our news feeds without authorization. Please send reports to [r--wa--d] at [clari.net.] [Use [i--o] at [clari.net] for sales or other inquiries.] Details on use of ClariNet material and other info can be found in the user documentation section of our web page: . You can also read ClariNet news from your Web browser.