Brookings Institution tries to revive poorly researched CCW/Crime study

The Brookings Institution, a liberal research group based in Washington D.C., is attempting to revive interest in a flawed study on the effects of CCW on crime, entitled "Shooting Down the More Guns, Less Crime Hypothesis", by John J. Donohue III.

Donohue first issued his report in October of last year, but it received little attention. John Lott, author of More Guns, Less Crime, evaluated and responded to the Donohue report on December 9th. Click here to read the 48 page rebuttal from John Lott. This rebuttal quickly quieted what little buzz the report had generated.

So when the Brookings Institution announced this week that they were publishing a volume of various guns and crime studies entitled "Evaluating Gun Policy - Effects on Crime and Violence", we were disappointed to that the editors had decided to give a chapter to the Donohue report.

John Lott does an excellent job of explaining why the report is faulty: "Ayres and Donohue have simply misread their own results". We could presume to do no better than Lott at defending his own study, except to summarize that Donohue's research abstract provides enough proof of his bias as to damn the whole piece prior to reading it.

And thus we at OFCC PAC got to wondering: just who is John J. Donohue III?

Who is John J. Donohue III?

John J. Donohue III is a Stanford University Law Professor, who specializes in writing sociological research "studies". His entire resume, including education & employment history, is provided here.

In short, this guy appears to be yet another "researcher" who keeps a list of liberal conclusions in search of a cause. A quick look at his other social science studies indicates most favor what would be considered the traditional liberal hypothesis (whether it's abortion & crime, race & law enforcement, race & employment, or CCW & crime). Consequently, Donohue shows up on just about every ultra-left wing website's hero list for some study or another supporting their cause.

It is clear that Donohue begins his studies with the goal of either supporting a liberal position, or damning a conservative one, and his CCW study is no different. Lott & Mustard admit they started with his anti-gun agenda too, but were intellectually honest enough to admit that the statistics didn't support their agenda, and in fact told the opposite story.

CCW doesn't lower crime, but abortion does?

While Donohue refuses to admit that CCW lowers crime, in 1999 he published a study claiming that "legalized abortion appears to account for as much as 50 percent of the recent drop in crime."

By publishing reports like these, John J. Donohue III clarifies he is just what he first appears to be - a "researcher" with a list of liberal conclusions in search of a cause.