A Response to the Media on Brazil

By John Lott

Although one wouldn’t know it from the media coverage of gun control, the best social science has shown that law-abiding citizens frequently deter criminals. But when ideology trumps facts, policymakers are easily led astray. The latest example is occurring in Brazil, where massive increase in gun ownership in recent years has prompted gun control advocates to reinterpret the data in ways that conform to their political views. In his first act in office last Sunday, newly installed President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed a decree freezing gun ownership and banning the sale of new ammunition. Lula also instituted other rules aimed at taking away the guns people acquired during the President Jair Bolsonaro administration.

Brazil's experiment in legal gun ownership is just the latest example of "more guns, less crime." Violent crime fell as criminals became afraid of armed citizens. But don't hold your breath for any news media outlets or gun control groups to admit they were wrong. [more...]