Houston group giving away shotguns

[Syntyr]

A Houston group is giving away shotguns to people in high crime areas to test if more guns equals less crime.

I am not even sure where to go or what to think on this one. Sounds like they are require background checks and passing a training course. It's single shot 20 guage shotguns. Interesting article...



http://houston.cbslocal.com/2013/02/20/ ... s-reduced/

[John75]

Good idea and I'm interested in the results. I wonder how many shotguns they can actually provide though. Considering the cost and how many people would be eligible. Will it be enough to make a difference?

[RPB]

interesting
link in article is wrong, but ...
http://www.armedcitizenproject.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[CainA]

I read this earlier and thought it had already been posted here so I didn't bother posting it. One barrel shy of Biden's defense gun.
I'm interested in the results too.

[psijac]

Single shot weapons do not leave a lot of room for error

Although some people will be bitten by the gun bug and start their one small cache of weapons and ammo. So i approve

[StewNTexas]

Unless they are also giving out some ammo, it may not make any difference.

My local Wal-Mart has empty shelves. The manager of that department told me that people start coming in around 4:30 to 5:00 AM, just wander the store until it is close to 7:00 AM, when any overnight shipments of ammo might be available.

[tiviti]

The local Walmarts I have been checking seem to be well stocked in shotgun ammo and some 40/45 but out of 9mm, 22lr and .223 ammo.

[Charles L. Cotton]

I don't know what the true goal is of this project, but it certainly doesn't come close to being a "study." Just a few of the problems are 1) crimes don't occur just in the home; 2) single-shot shotguns won't be carried outside the home, so overall crime rates won't be impacted; 3) they don't have enough money to purchase a large enough quantity of guns to come even close to collecting meaningful results. I could go on for a while.

I suspect everyone knows the end result is that they will find "no impact on the Houston crime rate."

Chas.

[RX8er]

Their argument will be that the criminals stole all the guns and caused more crime. Or, that all the owners sold their guns to criminals to buy crack, ah, err, food for their babies and this caused more crime.

But, maybe they haven't heard from the VP yet about shotguns.....

[Z1166]

Selection bias alert! One could assume, although I don't know how accurately, that there are a lot of people in high crime areas who are not legally allowed to possess a firearm. Of course, the shotguns in this "study" will surely be pawned or traded for crack or meth soon after receipt.

[TexasCajun]

I don't see this ending well. A single shot 20ga is hardly tactical. It's not likely to be used outside the home. I don't think they'll be able to provide enough guns to create a valid sample. And a year isn't long enough to provide enough data. Besides, how many people that live in high crime areas will be able to satisfy the background checks in the first place??

[bizarrenormality]

Besides, how many people that live in high crime areas will be able to satisfy the background checks in the first place??

The victims?