Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2024
Abstract
This Essay estimates factors within States that are associated with per capita firearms ownership and the extent of legal restrictions con-cerning firearms. The metrics are: for the former, a proxy consisting of the fraction of suicides with a firearm; for the latter, Giffords Law Center’s ratings of the restrictiveness of a State’s regulation of fire-arms. For each, the Essay estimates the relationship between it and each of the levels of vices and freedom.
The Giffords score (more restrictions scored higher) is negatively related to the Cato Institute’s measure of overall freedom and regula-tory policy freedom but positively related to Cato’s measure of per-sonal freedom (after backing-out the gun rights component). The as-sociation of each with the proxy for per capita firearms ownership is of the opposite sign. The relationships between each and the compo-nents of personal freedom vary, with the signs changing depending on the aspect of personal freedom. Lastly, States that want the public to be populated with illegal immigrants wish to curtail substantially the right of members of the public to defend themselves with firearms.
Prior work has found that, among countries, freedom is positively related to per capita firearms ownership. The results in this Essay are consistent with the following view: Where a high level of per capita firearms ownership assures substantial freedom within a country, the relationship between per capita firearms ownership and components of personal freedom form a complex mosaic. The relationship may be positive as to some components of freedom and negative as to others.
The Giffords score is positively related to vanity and, if two influ-ential States are removed, laziness. It is negatively related to excesses and vices. The proxy for per capita firearms ownership is negatively
Recommended Citation
Royce de R. Barondes,
Guns, Vices and Freedom, Oh My: A Preliminary Empirical Investigation, 8 Business, Entrepreneurship & Tax Law Review 1
(2024).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.missouri.edu/facpubs/1195