| Dear Diogenes: Over the past two weeks, I have focused on correcting false claims about Australia's gun control laws and concealed handgun permit holders. After the Bondi Beach massacre, which left 15 people murdered and 43 wounded, Australia's gun laws returned to the spotlight. Democrats ranging from Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to Joe Biden have long held up Australia as a model for the United States, and Democrat Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer praised Australia's approach just two days after the attack. In response, I wrote an article for The Federalist and a shorter piece with an Australian academic for The Australian Spectator. Those articles explain why Australia's 1996–97 gun confiscation failed to deliver the benefits gun control advocates promise—such as lower firearm homicide rates, fewer firearm suicides, or a reduction in mass public shootings. In fact, the evidence shows that these regulations contributed to higher levels of these crimes. I discussed the the Australian and Brown University shootings on Real America's Voice television and on radio shows including Wisconsin's Vicki McKenna Show, Breitbart News Daily radio show, the Bill Martinez Show, Armed American Radio, and the What's On Your Mind radio show that covers North and South Dakota, Minnesota, and eastern Montana. Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal published a series of four lengthy front-page articles warning about the dangers of people carrying concealed handguns. Carl Moody and I submitted letters to the editor, but when it became clear that the Journal would not publish them, I wrote a detailed response in RealClearPolitics addressing the Journal's claims directly. Do people who legally carry concealed handguns accidentally shoot bystanders when defending themselves? No. Is it harmful that justifiable homicides increase when people gain the legal right to defend themselves? No—and, importantly, murder rates fell. Are Stand Your Ground laws racist because blacks are disproportionately involved in justifiable homicides? No, because blacks overwhelmingly use firearms defensively to protect themselves. The Journal also repeatedly fails to explain accurately when the law allows individuals to use a gun in self-defense. In a lengthy interview on Blaze TV's Stu Does America, I explained how gun control laws primarily harm minorities. On other radio shows, I addressed a range of related issues, including crime committed by illegal aliens, this year's sharp drop in murder and violent crime, whether firearms truly represent the leading cause of death among children, the dangers created by gun-free zones, and a dramatic case in which a woman used a firearm to save her own life. In other news, a congressional investigation shows that D.C. underreporting of crime was widespread across the district and the blame apparently occurred on the police chiefs direct orders. I hope to soon have some new research that we will soon be putting out on letting teachers carry guns at school and shootings. I think that th Twice a year, I ask for your support so we can continue our research and our work educating the public on crime and gun-control issues. I hope these recent examples show that we remain the only organization conducting this type of research. We simply couldn't do what we do without your support. If we can raise $80,000, I hope to hire and train a young researcher. Carl Moody is now 80, and I am 67—we urgently need to bring younger people into this work. I know I reached out for support in my last email and I tremendously appreciate the support we received, but donations are still down this year, even though much work needs to be done. If you can help, please follow this link. I finally have a video of a talk I gave in Brazil this past July. I explained to Brazilians how important allowing private ownership of guns is to making people safer. e have continued to document how television police shows portray crime-related issues. A recent episode of CBS's FBI briefly addressed the concept of marginal deterrence—an issue we have highlighted repeatedly across many areas of our research. Our list of defensive gun uses by people legally carrying guns in public that got media attention illustrates 25 cases from March. If you haven't already seen it, please watch our new video with John Stossel, which covers our new research showing errors in the FBI's active shooting reports. For those who haven't already done so, if you would like to help us get the information out to others, please consider posting reviews of our website on the Google business page that we have set up. The more positive reviews people post, the more Google will feature our webpage in their searches. Thank you very much! We need help getting our research out. It doesn't do us any good to do all this work if people don't see it. If you have friends you think might find our emails interesting, please encourage them to sign up by sending them the link here. Thank you very much. . Research . Op-eds . Recent Talks . Television/Podcast interviews . Radio interviews . Media Coverage . Amicus Brief . Televisions/Movie Show Bias on Guns . Defensive Gun Uses . Other Testimony . Other Crime Prevention Research Center 358 S 700 E, Ste B, B409, Salt Lake City, UT 84102
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