Ball State Study: Gun Deer Hunting Doesn’t Increase Gun Violence
With all the crime and tragedy swirling in America right now--what causes young males do such violent and unspeakable things?--the results of this 2019 study are interesting and relevant.—M.H. Paul Niekamp, a Ball State economics professor, analyzed daily crime data with statistics from deer hunting seasons spanning 20 years and 21 states for his study, “Good Bang for the Buck: Effects of Rural Gun Use on Crime.” “The results of this paper provide strong evidence that enormous increases in recreational long gun prevalence are not associated with any increase in violent crime,” he said. “In the least populous areas, where long gun prevalence increased 530%, estimates suggest that male violent crime actually decreased.” Niekamp’s study provides the first estimates of [...]