Officials in Michigan are shocked -- shocked, I say -- that giving law-abiding citizens the right to carry guns did not result in a bloodbath, though that outcome is consistent with common sense and most observable experience:
John Lott, a visiting professor at the University of Maryland who has done extensive research on the role of firearms in American society, said the results in Michigan since the law changed don't surprise him.
Academic studies of concealed weapons laws that generally allow citizens to obtain permits have shown different results, Lott said. About two-thirds of the studies suggest the laws reduce crime; the rest show no net effect, he said.
But no peer-reviewed study has ever shown that crime increases when jurisdictions enact changes like those put in place by the Legislature and then-Gov. John Engler in 2000, Lott said.
People who seek to legally carry guns are not the kind of people who use guns for the wrong reasons, and word gets around in the criminal class that people they might accost might be packing. Duh.
