In Wyoming’s Cowboy State Daily: A Letter to the Editor Defending Research on Gun-free Zones
Dear editor:
Linda Burt’s letter to the editor criticizing my opinion piece with state Senator Cheri Steinmetz is riddled with errors (“Gun Lobby Pushing Gun Bills Wyoming Citizens Don’t Want,” February 11, 2025).
Burt cites a “peer-reviewed research paper” in the Lancet to argue that active shootings are more likely in places that allow guns (in other opinion pieces, Burt linked to this source: The Lancet).
However, this “research paper” is actually a book review, not peer-reviewed. The books discussed aren’t peer-reviewed either, and the review never mentions data on shooting rates in gun-free zones.
She also references Michael Bloomberg’s Everytown, which claims only 10-20% of mass shootings occur in gun-free zones.
Yet, Everytown ignores the FBI’s definition of mass public shootings — those occurring in public places without another crime like robbery or gang-related violence.
Most of Everytown’s examples involve drug gang fights, many of which happen in private homes.
The FBI distinguishes these incidents because their causes and solutions differ from attacks targeting schools or malls to murder law-abiding civilians. I and other academics use the FBI’s definition.
Peer-reviewed research highlights the dangers of gun-free zones, including Carl Moody’s 2023 paper in Economics, Law, and Policy, and my book More Guns, Less Crime (University of Chicago Press, 2010).
Putting aside academic debates, Burt claims our statement that “Only at schools where guns are banned have people been wounded or killed in school shootings” has been “debunked.”
Yet, despite thousands of schools with armed teachers, she fails to cite even one example where such a shooting occurred.
Sincerely,
John R. Lott, Jr., Ph.D.
President
Crime Prevention Research Center
