Changes

Gun control potentially causes an increase in crime by restricting its main deterrent: self-defense.  In the United States, law-abiding uses of guns outnumber criminal uses by at least a factor of 100 to 1, and the removal of guns from everyone eliminates the lawful use of self-defense and its deterrent effect.  Some [[liberals]] nevertheless favor [[gun control]] as a way of increasing control by government, and disarming the citizenry has the effect of causing voters to rely more on government and [[liberal]] policies.

Gun control potentially causes an increase in crime by restricting its main deterrent: self-defense.  In the United States, law-abiding uses of guns outnumber criminal uses by at least a factor of 100 to 1, and the removal of guns from everyone eliminates the lawful use of self-defense and its deterrent effect.  Some [[liberals]] nevertheless favor [[gun control]] as a way of increasing control by government, and disarming the citizenry has the effect of causing voters to rely more on government and [[liberal]] policies.

Studies by [[John Lott]] and others indicate that gun control causes higher crime rates.<ref>http://www.johnrlott.com/</ref>  [[Washington, D.C.]] has one of the highest crime rates in [[America]] even though it completely bans private handguns.<ref>http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/dccrime.htm</ref>  Lott demonstrates that in [[Britain]], [[Australia]] and [[Canada]], increased gun control in the late 1990s led to increased crime, the exact opposite of what the proponents of the gun control promised.<ref>http://johnrlott.tripod.com/op-eds/IBDGunConFailure.html</ref>

Studies by [[John Lott]] and others indicate that gun control causes higher crime rates.<ref>http://www.johnrlott.com/</ref>  [[Washington, D.C.]] has one of the highest crime rates in [[America]] even though it completely bans private handguns.<ref>http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/dccrime.htm</ref>  Lott demonstrates that in [[Britain]], [[Australia]] and [[Canada]], increased gun control in the late 1990s led to increased crime, the exact opposite of what the proponents of the gun control promised.<ref>http://johnrlott.tripod.com/op-eds/IBDGunConFailure.html</ref>  [[Switzerland]] and [[Israel]] allow widespread gun ownership and have low crime rates; similarly, states in the [[U.S.]] having concealed-carry laws enjoy low crime rates.<ref>[http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=4706 Cato report]</ref>

[[image:Australia crime.gif|300px|thumb|<br /><small>The vertical line represents the timing of the gun control http://www.gunsandcrime.org/auresult.html</small>]]

[[image:Australia crime.gif|300px|thumb|<br /><small>The vertical line represents the timing of the gun control http://www.gunsandcrime.org/auresult.html</small>]]