Statistics
Jan
29
Gun Control Research-Wright and Rossi-armed citizens deter criminals
January 29, 2009 | Tagged Armed citizens deter criminals, Handgun bans may increase felon rifle and shotgun use, Wright and Rossi | 1 Comment
Professors James D. Wright and Peter Rossi of the Social and Demographic Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts conducted a study in 1982 and 1983 paid for by the U.S. Department of Justice. (Professor Rossi was a former President of the American Sociological Association.) The researchers interviewed 1,874 imprisoned felons in ten states.
Professors Wright and Rossi initially believed that strict gun control deterred crime. The results of their research led them to the conclusion that armed citizens have a beneficial effect in reducing criminal behavior and that harsh laws, such as handgun bans could result in criminals using sawed off rifles and shotguns with more deadly results. 88% of the criminals surveyed by Wright and Rossi agreed with the statement that, “A criminal who wants a handgun is going to get one.”
A 1986 review of the professors’ work, Armed and Considered Dangerous, by Raymond G. Kessler of the Department of Criminal Justice of Memphis State University, concluded, “Although Armed and Considered Dangerous is not free of methodological problems, it is the best policy-oriented study of criminals and their guns available. Gun control proposals that seemed relatively straight-forward a few years ago must now be reconsidered.”
Wright and Rossi reported that:
81% of interviewees agreed that a “smart criminal” will try to determine if a potential victim is armed.
74% indicated that burglars avoided occupied dwellings, because of fear of being shot.
57% said that most criminals feared armed citizens more than the police.
40% of the felons said that they had been deterred from committing a particular crime, because they believed that the potential victim was armed.
57% of the felons who had used guns themselves said that they had encountered potential victims who were armed.
34% of the criminal respondents said that they had been scared off, shot at, wounded, or captured by an armed citizen.
Based on this government-funded research by Wright and Rossi, it would appear that armed citizens do have a deterrent effect on crime.
Wright, James D., Rossi, Peter H., Daly, Kathleen, Under the Gun, Weapons, Crime, and Violence in America, Aldine de Gruyter, New York, 1983.
Wright, James D., Rossi, Peter H., The Armed Criminal in America, U.S. Department of Justice, 1985.
Wright, James D., Rossi, Peter H., Armed and Considered Dangerous, a Survey of Felons and their Firearms, Aldine de Gruyter, New York, 1986.
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[...] Gun Control Research-Wright and Rossi-armed citizens deter criminals : Defense Mechanism From Link: Wright and Rossi reported that: 81% of interviewees agreed that a