John R. Lott Jr.

John R. Lott Jr. is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, as well as the author of More Guns, Less Crime and The Bias Against Guns, from which the following viewpoint is adapted. Lott maintains that guns are used to defend against crimes more often than they are to commit them. However, he notes, examples of defensive gun use are deliberately downplayed by the mainstream media. Lott cites specific examples of defensive gun use as well as an incident in which mainstream newspapers did not report on how defensive gun use ended a high-profile school shooting. The author contends that the pervasive pro–gun control bias in newspaper, radio, and TV reporting has caused most Americans to erroneously believe that gun ownership contributes to crime.

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