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Roth convenes two economists and a local journalist to weigh John R. Lott Jr.'s newly published book, More Guns, Less Crime. Lott argues that his analysis of FBI crime data across more than 3,000 counties over 18 years shows that states adopting right-to-carry concealed handgun laws saw consistent drops in violent crime, with women and minorities benefiting most. Women who resist an attack with a gun, he says, are 2.5 times less likely to be seriously injured than those who behave passively. Jens Ludwig challenges the methodology directly: researchers at the University of Kentucky and Carnegie Mellon reanalyzed Lott's data and found that the statistical model cannot account for differences between states like Idaho and California that existed before any law changed—making it impossible to attribute the observed crime trends to the laws themselves. Ludwig also questions survey-based estimates of defensive gun use, citing the same polling unreliability that produces mass UFO sightings. Jerry Burris, calling in briefly before leaving, argues that Hawaii's island geography and already low violent crime rate make it a good candidate for a handgun ban. Callers debate the moral right to self-defense, lessons from Japan, and whether cultural violence is the real problem.
Transcript
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Companion newspaper commentaries
Commentaries by the guests, published in The Honolulu Advertiser around the broadcast.
