John Lott with Crime Prevention Research Center on Talk Back

John Lott, President of the Crime Prevention Research Center appeared on the KGVO Talk Back program on Thursday to answer questions from listeners and talk about his work.

Lott, whose many books and articles often deal with firearms, said he has been researching the growth of ‘constitutional carry’ laws throughout the U.S.

“I've been dealing with constitutional carry in a number of states,” said Lott. “There are now 21 states that have it. Obviously Montana passed it earlier this year. There's a Supreme Court case that's coming up later this year that's going to be dealing with concealed carry from New York, where New York is one of seven states where you have to give good cause a good reason for why you get a permit.”

The criminals though, actually are attracted to those areas where guns are banned. Because if you want to go and create a lot of harm, if you want to go and kill lots of people, like these mass public shootings, you go to a place where your victims are defenseless and not able to protect themselves

Lott said states with high crime rates are also the ones with the lowest percentage of legal gun ownership.

“California, New York, those states only have about three tenths of 1% of their population with a permit,” he said. “In the rest of the country, it's like 10% of the adult population. So what the Supreme Court's going to say is do you have a good reason to be able to grant somebody a permit to carry or not. So we're going to be working on that.”

Lott said gun-free zones are the most attractive places for attacks by persons with firearms, and always have been.

“Who's going to obey those rules? The law abiding good people who you don't have anything to worry about,” he said. “The people you were talking about will obey the rules. The criminals though, actually are attracted to those areas where guns are banned. Because if you want to go and create a lot of harm, if you want to go and kill lots of people, like these mass public shootings, you go to a place where your victims are defenseless and not able to protect themselves.”

Lott said the Montana legislature has passed a law that makes constitutional carry legal in the state.

“Montana is now one of the 21 constitutional carry states now, however, what you find is that most people still get a permit because that allows them to go and carry in other states if they were to travel outside of Montana,” he said. “But, as of this spring, you don't need a permit to carry either concealed or open in Montana.”

Lott has also written about the 2020 election in Montana, and has appeared on Talk Back several times.

The entire conversation with Lott is linked here.