Letter: Fewer guns doesn’t mean fewer crimes

It is curious that The Gazette continues to use Jeremy Brigham as a source for anti-gun comments. Brigham may be a nice fellow and can certainly be counted on for consistent anti-gun opinion. However, he and his organization, Iowans for the Prevention of Gun Violence, have been wrong more often than a convention of weathermen.

They were wrong in claiming the now-repealed 1994 semi-auto ban would reduce crime. Wrong again when they believed allowing concealed carry in Florida would turn it into 'The Gunshine State.” Misfired again when they backed a one-handgun-a-month policy in Virginia and South Carolina. Both states have repealed the laws as ineffective. Their Holy Grail of 'ballistic fingerprinting” was tried for 15 years in Maryland. Dropped last year after the system went 0-for-340,000 in solving crimes.

If you accept the basic premise of Brigham and his organization, that fewer guns in public hands would bring less crime, that is demonstrably untrue. Dr. John Lott's 'More Guns, Less Crime” is in its third printing. Read it. Gun ownership has exploded since IIowans for the Prevention of Gun Violence's inception, yet gun-related crime has dropped precipitously.

Tim Wentz

Marion