WHERE ARE THE D.C. SHOOTOUTS?

After the Washington, D.C., gun ban went into effect in 1976 Washington's murder rate skyrocketed. As Reason magazine's Brian Doherty pointed out last week, "Washington's per-capita murder rate has exceeded the rate in 1976 every year but one since then. For 10 of the last 30 years, its murder rate was more than twice as high as in 1976."

"New Jersey adopted what sponsors described as 'the most stringent gun law' in the nation in 1966; two years later, the murder rate was up 46 percent and the reported robbery rate had nearly doubled."

New Hampshire's rate of gun ownership is more than twice Massachusetts's rate. But Massachusetts's murder rate is a percentage point higher than New Hampshire's. FBI studies have shown that only 26 percent of violent crimes involve a weapon -- and only about 6 percent involve a firearm.

Clearly, murders and other violent crimes are not the result of average people having firearms at hand. Still, some people are and always will be terrified of guns. That cannot be helped. What we need to avoid is letting those irrational fears guide public policy...

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