Discussion List for campus-based and allied personnel working to end gender-based violence on campus.

["Don Lazzarini" <>]

Herbert the columnist pointed out some masculinity and mental health
issues, but really blew it on the gun piece.

To save time I pulled these from a National Rifle Association FAQ sheet.
Not because the information comes from them but to allow all the budding
criminologist and opinion piece writers to look at the record and the
research. Kleck, Lott, Mustard and Kopel are very credible researchers
with a ton of information out there for those of us who want to save
lives. This is heavily peer reviewed stuff by people who don't like what
they found. Science has a way of doing that. Just ask Mythbusters.

"Citizens can defend themselves. Analyzing National Crime Victimization
Survey data, criminologist Gary Kleck found, "robbery and assault
victims who used a gun to resist were less likely to be attacked or to
suffer an injury than those who used any other methods of
self-protection or those who did not resist at all."11 In the 1990s,
Kleck and Marc Gertz found that guns were used for self-protection about
2.5 million times annually.12 The late Marvin E. Wolfgang,
self-described as "as strong a gun-control advocate as can be found
among the criminologists in this country," who wanted to "eliminate all
guns from the civilian population and maybe even from the police," said,
"The methodological soundness of the current Kleck and Gertz study is
clear. I cannot further debate it. . . . I cannot fault their
methodology."13 A study for the Dept. of Justice found that 34% of
felons had been "scared off, shot at, wounded or captured by an armed
victim," and 40% of felons have not committed crimes, fearing potential
victims were armed.14"

* RTC and crime trends. Studying crime trends in every county in the
U.S., John Lott and David Mustard found, "allowing citizens to carry
concealed weapons deters violent crimes and it appears to produce no
increase in accidental deaths. If those states which did not have Right
to Carry concealed gun provisions had adopted them in 1992,
approximately 1,570 murders; 4,177 rapes; and over 60,000 aggravated
assaults would have been avoided yearly....[W]hen state concealed
handgun laws went into effect in a county, murders fell by 8.5 percent,
and rapes and aggravated assaults fell by 5 and 7 percent."5

* False predictions. Dave Kopel has written, "Whenever a state
legislature first considers a concealed carry bill, opponents typically
warn of horrible consequences....But within a year of passage, the issue
usually drops off the news media's radar screen, while gun-control
advocates in the legislature conclude that the law wasn't so bad after
all."6 A article related to Michigan's RTC law said, "Concerns that
permit holders would lose their tempers in traffic accidents have been
unfounded. Worries about risks to police officers have also proved
unfounded....National surveys of police show they support concealed
handgun laws by a 3-1 margin....There is also not a single academic
study that claims Right to Carry laws have increased state crime rates.
The debate among academics has been over how large the benefits have
been."7

* RTC permit-holders are more law-abiding than the rest of the public.
For example, Florida, which has issued more carry permits than any state
(due to its large population and having had an RTC law since 1987) has
issued over 1.2 million permits, but revoked only 157 (0.01%) due to gun
crimes by permit-holders.

The academic research supports the importance of civilian self-defense.
Law enforcement knows their sphere of influence is limited to those in
their immediate presence as well as response times. Whitman's sniper
attack was responded to by citizen scoped hunting rifles which law
enforcement did not have. What would have been the toll if he had not
received return fire, more than 32? Ask any true professional out there
about what they would want if they knew a gunman was coming into their
building to kill as many people as he could, we would see them arming
citizens with the proper skills to defend the lives of those threatened.


It is so basic a concept, how do we not put this on the table of options
along side the research. I personally would like my university to be
known as a place where concealed carry by permanent employees was
allowed, even if special training and qualifications were required above
and beyond, the basics of concealed carry requirements. They are doing
it in the airlines. A massacre in such an environment would be very
difficult to sustain. It is not a very attractive target either. It is
hard to feel powerful and godlike in an environment where trained
citizens are using deadly force to defend against your attack.

We should be studying the reason these distorted young men go into
places they are guaranteed are gun free zones instead of walking into
the police station or a NRA convention where 60,000 people are wandering
around, many with a legally issued concealed weapons permit. Our
responsibility to inform stalking victims, domestic violence victims and
women concerned about sexual assault require us to take a serious look
at the research so we can adequately advise or point these women toward
peer reviewed research based options.

I realize this is a sexual assault list serve, but as a retired and
highly skilled firearms instruction with 18 years of law enforcement
experience I believe it is my responsibility to counter opinion with
research. If our retired military and law enforcement were allowed to
carry their permitted concealed weapons on campuses, the availability of
an immediate armed response to these campus shootings could be
implemented. Law enforcement is trained to shoot back when shot at. I
have trained and observed many civilian handgun shooters who possess
concealed weapons permits that have three times the shooting skills of
most law enforcement officers. Research will also reveal that officers
shot the wrong person much more often than the armed citizen. If we
compare the .01% figure above from Florida for permit holder gun crimes
and did a study to compare the gun crimes by officers, we might open up
our minds to having armed citizens available to deter attacks and
protect those who are uncomfortable with such tools.

Just some research-based food for thought.


Don Lazzarini M. Ed
Coordinator VAWOC Project
Resource Specialist
208-885-2956