The Debate on Right-to-Carry Concealed Weapons Laws
Carlisle Moody () and
Thomas Marvell ()
Additional contact information Carlisle Moody: Department of Economics, College of William and Mary
Thomas Marvell: Justec Research
Abstract:
There are a large number of studies indicating that “shall-issue” laws reduce crime. Only one study, by Ayres and Donohue, implies that these laws lead to an overall increase in crime. We apply an improved version of the Ayres and Donohue methodology to a more complete data set. We find that Ayres and Donohue’s results, projected beyond five years, and our own analysis imply that shall-issue laws decrease crime and the costs of crime and are therefore socially beneficial.