[Disarming law-abiding people makes it easier for criminals to commit crime Everywhere but in The Spectacle] Data shows States with higher rate of gun ownership don't correlate with more gun murders

From [HERE] Calls have rung out across the nation demanding gun control laws in a bid to curb violent crimes such as the recent series of mass shootings. Data, however, show that in states with higher percentages of households with at least one gun, crimes are not higher than in states with strict gun laws. 

"Gun ownership is higher in states with fewer restrictions, and homicide rates in these states are lower. People can protect themselves," George Mason University Professor Emerita Joyce Lee Malcolm told Fox News Digital of what she's found through her research. Malcolm pointed to a study on burglars from 1986 that found 34% of burglars interviewed reported "to having been scared off, shot at, wounded or captured by an armed victim."

Fox News Digital compiled FBI data from 2019 detailing murders and gun murders per 100,000 population for most states, as well as assembled Rand Corporation data released in 2020 showing the percentage of households with at least one firearm in 2016. The data does not reflect the skyrocketing violent crimes of 2020 and likely undercounts the current percentages of homes with at least one firearm as it does not reflect the influx of Americans who rushed to arm themselves in 2020. 

The data show that many states with higher percentages of gun ownership had lower or similar murder and gun murder rates to states with strict gun control. Montana and Wyoming came in the top spots for states with the highest percentages of gun ownership, with more than 66% of households with at least one firearm. However, the states also saw murder and gun murder rates similar to states with strict gun laws. 

In 2019, Montana recorded 1.5 gun murders per 100,000 population and 2.5 murders per 100,000 population. In Massachusetts - which tied with New Jersey for lowest gun ownership in the country at 14.7% of households with at least one gun - the state saw similar murder rates to Montana, at 1.25 gun murders per 100,000 people and 2.12 murders per the same population. 

In California, where just over 28% of households had at least one gun in 2016, there was a rate of more than four people murdered per 100,000 population and nearly three gun murders per 100,000 population in 2019. While in Maryland, where about 30% of households owned at least one firearm, according to 2016 data, murders per 100,000 population jumped to roughly nine, while more than seven people per 100,000 were victims of gun murders. 

Fox News Digital examined gun ownership in the U.S. in 2010 and found it was at about the same levels as in 2016. Gun ownership spiked in 2020 during the pandemic amid the summer's riots and protests, partially driven by first-time gun owners from different racial and political backgrounds. Gun sales have also spiked in states with strict gun laws, such as California, with firearm store owners in the Los Angeles area last year attributing the sales to the increase in violent crimes. 

John Lott, president of the Crime Prevention Research Center, examined the data compiled by Fox News Digital and said that though "graphs making comparisons across places are very common," "they are too simplistic as they don't account for many other reasons that crime rates can vary (such as law enforcement, drug gang problems, demographic, and cultural differences)."

He advised looking at a singular place over time to see how crime rates change "as gun ownership rates change and to compare them in many different places." He noted that there are places around the world that "have banned either all guns or all handguns, yet every single time that those bans have been enacted, murder/homicide rates have gone up."

"The explanation is simple: while you might take some guns away from criminals, if you primarily have law-abiding people obeying the ban, you mainly disarm law-abiding people and make it easier for criminals to commit crime," he said. 

A series of recent mass shootings rocked the U.S. and rekindled calls from elected officials and activists to enact gun control measures. [MORE]