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Rebuilding at Gunpoint: A City-Level Re-Estimation of the Brady Law and RTC Laws in the Wake of Hurricane Katrina

Murray State University, Kentucky

The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina saw a sharp spike in gun-violence, which necessarily re-focused criminological research on the persistent question of how best to prevent gun-related violence. However, a Critical Review published by a National Academy of Science Research Council strongly suggests that previous research evaluating gun-policy outcomes may be unacceptably flawed methodologically, casting serious doubt upon the validity of the results. The research here presented adjusts for those flaws to revise our current knowledge of the effects two of the most common gun-interventions— the Brady Law and "right to carry" Laws—may exert on gun homicide rates and total homicide rates. The Brady Law is found exert a slight but statistically significant effect on both outcomes whereas "right to carry" laws fail to exert statistically significant deterrent effects on either outcome, and both results provisionally contradict earlier gun-policy outcome research, much as the academy report critically suggests.

Key Words: Katrina • guns • Brady Law • RTC laws • homicide

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Criminal Justice Policy Review, Vol. 18, No. 4, 451-465 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0887403407299931


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This Article Abstract Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by La Valle, J. M. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?