The BBC is reporting on a new study relating to the 2007 repeal of a Missouri gun control law that required purchasers to go through a vetting process and obtain a license before being able to purchase a gun.
The results? “the repeal resulted in an immediate spike in gun violence and murders.”
From the BBC…
“Coincident exactly with the policy change, there was an immediate
upward trajectory to the homicide rates in Missouri,” said Prof Daniel
Webster, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and
Research.“That upward trajectory did not happen with homicides that
did not involve guns; it did not occur to any neighbouring state; the
national trend was doing the opposite – it was trending downward; and it
was not specific to one or two localities – it was, for the most part,
state-wide,” he told BBC News.
Researchers say they also took into account changes in policing, incarceration and more, as well as controlling for factors like unemployment and poverty.
 Read the full story here.
