John Lott on the DC Gun Ban

John Lott, whose work I greatly respect and whose blog I regularly read, chimes in about the DC Gun Ban and its overturn by the DC Courts. He has this to say about the 'effectiveness' of DC's experiment with gun control:

But the long-term changes in crime rates before and after the ban are difficult to ignore. In the five years before Washington’s ban in 1976, the murder rate fell from 37 to 27 per 100,000. In the five years after it went into effect, the murder rate rose back up to 35. During this same time, robberies fell from 1,514 to 1,003 per 100,000 and then rose by over 63 percent, up to 1,635. The five-year trends are not some aberration. In fact, while murder rates have varied over time, during the 30 years since the ban, the murder rate has only once fallen below what it was in 1976.

Indeed. Gun bans only disarm law-abiding citizens. I have no problem with background checks or Conceal Carry licensing mechanisms which enable law abiding citizens to arm themselves while preventing felons from doing the same. But the gun banners don't want to compromise on this. They falsely believe that you can wave a magical legislative wand and all the guns will disappear. The recent history of Washington DC, the UK, and Australia show how wrong they are.