Seeker of Truth
05-25-2003, 05:36 AM
Author Accuses Media of Intentional Bias Against Guns
By Jeff Johnson
CNSNews.com Congressional Bureau Chief
May 20, 2003
Capitol Hill (CNSNews.com) - The author of the most comprehensive and controversial research on civilian use of firearms against criminals defended his latest work in Washington on Monday.
Dr. John Lott is an economist and former Yale University School of Law researcher best known for his book More Guns, Less Crime: Understanding Crime and Gun Control Laws. In that book, he detailed research arguing "allowing citizens to carry concealed weapons deters violent crimes, without increasing accidental deaths." (See related story.)
Lott - now a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think-tank - said Monday that he understands why some negative stories about the use of guns get more coverage than stories about people using guns to stop crimes.
"Suppose you're the director of a news bureau, and you have two stories. In one case, there's a dead body on the ground, a sympathetic person, a victim," Lott began. "In the other case, let's say, a woman has brandished a gun, the would-be attacker has run away, no shots are fired, no dead body on the ground, no crime actually committed.
"I think virtually anybody who would look at that would find the first news story to be considered a lot more newsworthy than the second," he continued.
The research Lott conducted appears to support this thesis. In an examination of New York Times stories from 2001, Lott found 104 articles related to the use of guns by criminals, totaling 50,745 words. He excluded court case coverage, crimes committed with bb or pellet guns, guns recovered at crime scenes but not used in the crime under investigation, wrongful shootings by police and the illegal transportation or sale of guns.
Much more @ cnsnews.com (http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=\\Nation\\archive\\200305\\NAT 20030520b.html)
By Jeff Johnson
CNSNews.com Congressional Bureau Chief
May 20, 2003
Capitol Hill (CNSNews.com) - The author of the most comprehensive and controversial research on civilian use of firearms against criminals defended his latest work in Washington on Monday.
Dr. John Lott is an economist and former Yale University School of Law researcher best known for his book More Guns, Less Crime: Understanding Crime and Gun Control Laws. In that book, he detailed research arguing "allowing citizens to carry concealed weapons deters violent crimes, without increasing accidental deaths." (See related story.)
Lott - now a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think-tank - said Monday that he understands why some negative stories about the use of guns get more coverage than stories about people using guns to stop crimes.
"Suppose you're the director of a news bureau, and you have two stories. In one case, there's a dead body on the ground, a sympathetic person, a victim," Lott began. "In the other case, let's say, a woman has brandished a gun, the would-be attacker has run away, no shots are fired, no dead body on the ground, no crime actually committed.
"I think virtually anybody who would look at that would find the first news story to be considered a lot more newsworthy than the second," he continued.
The research Lott conducted appears to support this thesis. In an examination of New York Times stories from 2001, Lott found 104 articles related to the use of guns by criminals, totaling 50,745 words. He excluded court case coverage, crimes committed with bb or pellet guns, guns recovered at crime scenes but not used in the crime under investigation, wrongful shootings by police and the illegal transportation or sale of guns.
Much more @ cnsnews.com (http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=\\Nation\\archive\\200305\\NAT 20030520b.html)