I just read the third edition of "More Guns, Less Crime". Lott expands the 1998 original edition, he also deals directly with the opponents. As Lott says in the preface to edition 3, "By now, dozens of academics have published studies on right-to-carry laws using national data. These studies have either confirmed the beneficial link between gun ownership and crime or at least not found any indication that ownership increases crime........Some claim no effect from these laws, but not a single refereed study finds the opposite result, that right-to-carry laws have a bad effect on crime." As to the critics of his book, Lott deals with them directly. For example, one critic claimed the inclusion of Florida in the analysis biased the results, and removing Florida would show Lott was wrong. Lott didnt argue or complain, Lott simply reran the entire analysis excluding Florida, the result - minimal change in the numbers, no change in the conclusion (all the data is in the 3rd edition of his book). Lott similarly destroys the rest of the critics and their studies. All of Lott's arguements are based on the data, not on emotion or unique tear jerker stories. He qualitatively takes apart the critics studies. Lott makes his data base available to all academics (including the Brady Campaign and other gun control groups) who wish to verify his conclusions. Many have used his data base (they are listed in his book). Most who receive the data are never heard from again. A few receive the data and publicly verify Lott's conclusions. One - John Donohue - received the data base and published a report in 2003 claiming Lott was wrong, but Lott destroys the Donohue study. If you search, you will find Lott is not shy about debating his opponents in public forums either. So for those that don't believe the debate is over, you haven't done your homework.
