The first time I met John Lott, founder and president of the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC), was at a cocktail party in Arlington, Va., about 20 years ago. He was speaking to an author who had a book coming out on the war in Iraq.
Lott said, “There is so much there to write about—so much data and investigation. How many times did you go to Iraq and how did you ever stop doing research long enough to write the book?”
The author shrugged and said, “What? No, I never went to Iraq. And research? Why? I already know what I think.”
Lott was befuddled by this man with a book contract, who was often on mainstream cable news outlets, but had no interest in seeking the truth, so I thought it safe to interrupt.
Our conversation quickly turned to guns and crime and that author faded away.
I have known Lott ever since as a researcher who is doggedly in search of real answers to crime, our Second Amendment-protected freedom, and related issues.
In this episode of the NRA’s The Armed Citizen Podcast, Lott gets into the statistics behind the precipitous drop in the murder rate as American citizens continue to buy, on average, about 1.2 million guns per month.
This data is not convenient to the gun-control lobby’s many efforts to further restrict Americans’ Second Amendment-protected rights. The gun-control group’s talking points argue that gun sales drive crime rates up, but the data shows it clearly does not do this.
Lott’s first book is, of course, More Guns, Less Crime. It was first published in 1998. He has written many books and research papers since. He also appears on a lot of media outlets and writes op-eds for various publications. The gun-control left has attempted to cancel Lott many times, but he keeps seeking the truth nevertheless.
“Last year we did have the lowest homicide rate since they started recording it,” says Lott in this interview. They’ve been recording homicides federally since 1900. The lowest previous homicide rate that we had ever had in the United States was 4.5 per 100,000. In 2024, it was uh 5 per 100,000. And this last year, it’s very slightly below 4 per 100,000.”
Lott attributes the drop mostly to higher arrest/conviction rates, longer sentences, armed self-defense, federal prosecutions (such as in D.C. under a new U.S. Attorney), and because of border enforcement, which has reduced illegal immigration-related crime.
It is, however, Lott’s explanations of how policy prescriptions from various administrations and from state and local governments impact crime rates that particularly drives the gun-control left crazy.
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