Texas this year became the eighth state to require state colleges and universities to allow civilians with permits to carry concealed guns in public places. As a result, the University of Texas at Austin — a school that 50 years ago suffered the trauma of the nation’s first campus mass killing — must allow guns to be brought onto campus.
To those behind the campus-carry movement making such inroads in Austin and other state capitals, that’s a good thing. This effort is based on the belief that allowing more guns in public places will lead to less violence. But does the evidence support this premise? A new report released by Johns Hopkins University, with co-authors from Stanford University and the University of Massachusetts at Boston, surveys the best available research and says no.
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