Violence Prevention and Concealed Weapons Laws

To the Editor: In his article on firearm violence prevention, Dr Wintemute¹ inaccurately describes the research on laws regarding concealed handguns and other gun laws. Wintemute declares that "Laws requiring concealed weapon permits to be issued essentially on demand were associated with a modest decrease in violent crime in 1 study, but substantial flaws in that work have been identified. Other studies have found opposite effects." There are 3 major mistakes in these 2 sentences. Fourteen studies have found that concealed handgun laws reduce violent crime,^2-5 only a few of the academic analysts who have looked at the national data have criticized my research, and no national study has found a significant adverse effect of right-to-carry laws. (The references to the other research are available from me upon request.)

I have provided the data from my research to academic researchers at 42 different universities. Of the …