The Impact of Right-to-Carry Laws on Crime: An Exercise in Replication

Carlisle E. Moody (), Thomas B. Marvell, Paul R. Zimmerman and Fasil Alemante
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Carlisle E. Moody: College of William and Mary - Department of Economics, U.S.A.
Thomas B. Marvell: Justec Research, Virginia 23185, U.S.A.
Paul R. Zimmerman: U.S. Federal Trade Commission - Bureau of Economics, U.S.A.
Fasil Alemante: College of William and Mary, U.S.A.

Review of Economics & Finance, 2014, vol. 4, 33-43

Abstract: In an article published in 2011, Aneja, Donohue and Zhang found that shall-issue or right-to-carry (RTC) concealed weapons laws have no effect on any crime except for a positive effect on assault. This paper reports a replication of their basic findings and some corresponding robustness checks, which reveal a serious omitted variable problem. Once corrected for omitted variables, the most robust result, confirmed using both county and state data, is that RTC laws significantly reduce murder. There is no robust, consistent evidence that RTC laws have any significant effect on other violent crimes, including assault. There is some weak evidence that RTC laws increase robbery and assault while decreasing rape. Given that the victim costs of murder and rape are much higher than the costs of robbery and assault, the evidence shows that RTC laws are socially beneficial.

Keywords: Shall issue law; Right to carry; Gun control; Crime (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: K42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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