Gun bans don't cut crime. (Scan).(Brief Article)

Guns are used defensively about 2 million times each year in the U.S., according to national surveys. Physically weaker victims (women and the elderly) and those most likely to be victims of crime (particularly the poor and blacks) benefit the most from owning a firearm.

Too often, gun laws that purport to make life safer actually do the opposite, because the rules are obeyed by law-abiding citizens, not by would-be criminals--which only makes committing crime easier. One would never know it from reading the news, but not a single academic study has shown that the federal Brady Law, state waiting periods, background checks, assault-weapons bans, one-gun-a-month rules, or safe-storage laws significantly reduce violent crime. Some research even finds that these regulations increase crime.

Advocates of "reasonable" gun laws need only look at Europe to see what the future holds. Europe has everything American gun-control proponents favor, but the three worst public ...