In 2007 the Missouri legislature repealed a requirement that all handgun purchasers had to get a permit by undergoing a background check, in person, at a sheriff’s office.
Last year the legislature dropped the legal age for caring a concealed gun to 19.
To paraphrase Sarah Palin, how’s that working out for you?
Evidently, not so well. The director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research found that in the six years after controls were loosened, the homicide rate was 16% higher than in the six years before.
The share of guns linked to crimes soon after they were bought doubled between 2006 to 2010.
Of course, you can always find skeptics who argue that the statistics are flawed, that crooks will always be able to get guns, that California’s toughest gun laws didn’t stop the San Bernardino tragedy, etc., etc.
In the meantime, Congress, bowing to NRA pressure, will not permit any federal studies of homicide rates and crimes related to guns.
Information for this post came from “Gun Killing Rise as Controls Ease Across Missouri,” New York Times, Dec. 22, 2015, p. 1, A14. The snide comments about the N.R.A. are mine alone
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