The NRA’s Favorite Gun “Academic” Is A Fraud
The NRAs Favorite Gun Academic Is A Fraud
By Devin Hughes and Evan DeFilippis at Think Progress
https://thinkprogress.org/debunking-john-lott-5456e83cf326#.9hc64zrh2
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John Lott is, if not the most influential, certainly the most prolific academic in the gun debate. He has authored weekly columns in local newspapers on the horrors of gun free zones, published widely-distributed books on the ostensible benefits of right-to-carry laws, and his newest book The War on Guns has received rave reviews by prominent conservatives, like Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Newt Gingrich.
Before Lotts flurry of activity, it was difficult to find anybody arguing that widespread gun ownership made societies safer even the NRA was reticent to make such a bold claim, defending gun ownership with reference to the constitution, not criminology.
But Lotts recent successes belie a far more shadowy past. A little over a decade ago, he was disgraced and his career was in tatters. Not only was Lotts assertion that more guns leads to more safety formally repudiated by a National Research Council panel, but he had also been caught pushing studies with severe statistical errors on numerous occasions. An investigation uncovered that he had almost certainly fabricated an entire survey on defensive gun use. And a blogger revealed that Mary Rosh, an online commentator claiming to be a former student of Lotts who would frequently post about how amazing he was, was in fact John Lott himself. He was all but excommunicated from academia.
Despite his ethical failings, Lott rose from the ashes in the wake of the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School to once more become a prominent voice in the gun debate.
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guillaumeb
(42,649 posts)to study gun safety issues?
Oh well, the gun apologists need to find their experts somewhere.
billh58
(6,641 posts)and Second Amendment absolutists, the study of gun safety issues is only illegal if the results determine that guns are a major cause of gun violence. Results of this nature are not allowed by the Second Amendment.
If the study concludes that guns are completely safe and lead to a more polite society, then it's legal.
guillaumeb
(42,649 posts)Jerry442
(1,265 posts)Despite being dead.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)George Zimmerman (expert on what to tell police if one stalks, intimidates and murders an unarmed kid), and Ted Nugent their duly elected representative on the NRA Board or Directors.
Paladin
(28,724 posts)But he too lost his credibility and long ago joined the gun pimps like Lott.