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'''John R. Lott''' (born 1958) is a scholar who published his research demonstrating that an increase in [[gun]] ownership results in a reduction in [[crime]], because guns save more lives through deterrence and self-defense than they kill.<ref>http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/493636.html</ref> The title of his 1999 book, which became a class on the issue of guns, is "More Guns, Less Crime."<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=K6dIvTFsDMkC&dq=John+R+Lott&prev=http://www.google.com/search&channel=s&hl=en&q=%22John+Lott%22 Lott's book on Google Books]</ref>

On December 21, 2020, John Lott published an article demonstrating an "excess" number of votes in the [[swing states]] totaling about 289,000.<ref>https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3756988</ref>

As Lott explained in an interview concerning his book:<ref>[http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/493636.html Interview with John Lott, author of More Guns, Less Crime]</ref>
{{cquote|Criminals are deterred by higher penalties. Just as higher arrest and conviction rates deter crime, so does the risk that someone committing a crime will confront someone able to defend him or herself. There is a strong negative relationship between the number of law-abiding citizens with permits and the crime rate—as more people obtain permits there is a greater decline in violent crime rates. For each additional year that a concealed handgun law is in effect the [[murder]] rate declines by 3 percent, rape by 2 percent, and robberies by over 2 percent.

Concealed handgun laws reduce violent crime for two reasons. First, they reduce the number of attempted crimes because criminals are uncertain which potential victims can defend themselves. Second, victims who have guns are in a much better position to defend themselves.}}

Lott also observed how large newspapers and major media outlets [[Media bias|consistently underreported]] the defensive use of guns to save lives.  He found that factual accounts of the defensive use of guns would be reported in small rural newspapers but omitted from stories in larger papers, and stories that appeared days or weeks later.<ref>[http://johnrlott.blogspot.com/ John Lott's Website]</ref>

Lott has responded to claims that guns result in tragic accidents, even against children, as follows:<ref>John Lott, Jr. More Guns, Less Crime: Understanding Crime and Gun Control Laws (1998).</ref>

:Children 14 to 15 years of age are 14.5 times more likely to die from automobile accidents, 5 times more likely to die from fire or drowning, and 3 times more likely to die even from bicycle accidents than they are to die from gun accidents.  In 1991, for example, only 145 children between the ages of 1 and 14 years died of accidental gunshot wounds, while 310 children died from choking (suffocation), 1,075 children died from fire and burns, 1,104 drowned, and 3,271 died from car crashes.  Firearm accident rates in the United States (including those for children) have been declining steadily since the turn of the century, particularly after 1975.

==Opposing views==

Some [[liberals]] have attempted to find flaws in Lott's work.<ref>Ian Ayres, John J. Donohue III: [http://islandia.law.yale.edu/ayers/Ayres_Donohue_comment.pdf The Latest Misfires in Support of the ''More Guns, Less Crime'' Hypothesis]</ref>

One professor, Michael Bellesiles, wrote a book supportive of the [[gun control]] position that was entitled Arming America, The Origins of a National Gun Culture (2000). Gary Wills praised it in The New York Times, but admitted later that "I was took. The book is a fraud."<ref>Jonah Goldberg, [http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/columnists/guests/s_501644.html ''Reports of the 2nd Amendment's death have been greatly exaggerated ...''] Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Apr. 8, 2007.</ref>  Bellesiles resigned from his position as Professor of History at Emory University in Atlanta when an independent committee of scholars examined his work and concluded that "his scholarly integrity is seriously in question."<ref>History News Network: [http://hnn.us/articles/1069.html Summary of the Emory Report on Michael Bellesiles]</ref>

Lott gained press scorn after using a [[pseudonym]]<ref>"Mary Rosh"</ref> to praise his book and teaching. Pretending to be a former student of Lott's, Lott called himself "the best professor I ever had".<ref>"Scholar Invents Fan To Answer His Critics", Richard Morin, ''Washington Post'', Saturday, February 1, 2003; Page C1</ref> He also earned criticism from conservative [[Michelle Malkin]],<ref>http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=30873</ref> who refused to engage in a radio debate with Lott.<ref>http://johnrlott.tripod.com/malkinsoped.html</ref>

==See also==
* [[Second Amendment]]
* [[Debacle]]

==References==
<references/>
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lott, John}}

[[Category:Academics]]
[[Category:Pro Second Amendment]]