~STUDY SHREDS ANTI-GUN THEORIES

By Neal Knox

   WASHINGTON, D.C. (Nov. 9) -- If the anti-gun groups ever
succeeded in eliminating privately owned handguns, the firearms
murder rate would at least double due to criminals switching from
handguns to more-deadly sawed-off shotguns.

    The evidence can be found in a new $400,000 Justice Department study,
"The Armed Criminal in America," in which Prof. Jim Wright of the
University of Massachusetts at Amherst queried 1,874 felons in 11
state prisons about their attitudes toward guns and gun laws.

    Three of four handgun-using criminals said that if for some
reason they couldn't get a handgun, they would switch to a
sawed-off shoulder gun -- which other studies have shown to be 2.5
to three times as lethal.

     A whopping 82% said "gun laws affect only law-abiding
tle or no difficulty for them
to obtain a gun within a few hours after leaving prison.

     What makes this study particularly credible is that Prof.
Wright, and his principal colleague, Peter Rossi, were strong
supporters of additional gun laws when they launched their
landmark study of the effectiveness of gun laws in 1978, funded
by $287,000 from the Carter Administration Justice Department.  With rare
candor, they wrote that they could find no evidence that any gun
law had reduced the crime rate.

s that criminals worry about running into armed citizens.  An
exceptionally high 81 percent agreed "a smart criminal always
tries to find out if his potential victim is armed," and 56
percent said he wouldn't "mess around" with an armed victim.
Three-quarters agreed that one reason burglars avoid houses where
someone is home is because "they fear being shot during the
crime."

    One-third said they had been "scared off, shot at, wounded or
captured" by an armed victim -- which supports another study
(commissioned by an anti-gun group) which indicated that 300,000
times per year someone uses a gun to defend himself or herself,
their family or their property.

   The greatest fallacy of "gun laws" is that they attempt to
limit criminal acquistion of firearms by regulating commercial
sales.  Asked about their most recently obtained handgun, 84
percent of the criminals said they had stolen it or obtained it
through non-commercial channels.  Most of the criminals who had bought
from a dealer were among the 50 percent studied who had never
used a gun to commit a crime; gun-armed criminals "rarely went
through customary retail channels."

    The study is loaded with such gems of information.  I urge
Šyou to obtain a free copy by writing the National Criminal
Justice Reference Service, Box 6000, Rockville, MD 20850, or
calling them on their toll-free number, 800-732-3277.  Ask for
report number NCJ-97099.

    Unfortunately, there are no more free copies available.  The
Firearms Coalition is raising money to reprint more copies and
distribute them.  If you want to help you can send contributions
to BULLET'N BOARD, 6112 Thomas Drive, Springfield, Va. 22150.