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John R. Lott Jr., joining by phone from the University of Chicago Law School, presents findings that when states adopt non-discretionary concealed handgun permits — as 31 already have — murders drop by roughly 8%, rapes by 5%, and aggravated assaults by 7%, based on data covering all 3,054 U.S. counties from 1977 to 1992. The effect is especially pronounced for women, whose murder rate falls three to four times more per permit holder than men's. Cynthia Thielen, Minority Floor Leader of the Hawaii House, argues that Hawaii's island geography makes strict gun control unusually effective, that the Kellerman study shows a gun in the home triples the likelihood a family member is killed, and that higher arrest and conviction rates — which Lott's own study validates — are the more appropriate response. Roth notes that no permitted concealed-carry holder has been documented using a gun to commit murder across all 31 states; Lott confirms this. Thielen closes by asking listeners whether they would feel safer next to an armed stranger at a stadium, in a bar, or on a bus. Both guests had opinion columns in that morning's Honolulu Advertiser.
Transcript
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Companion newspaper commentaries
Commentaries by the guests, published in The Honolulu Advertiser around the broadcast.
