… The gun injury rate actually fell by nearly 20 percent nationwide during NRA conventions. More precisely, on convention dates, the national gun injury rate was 1.2 per 100,000 — compared to 1.5 per 100,000 during the control dates. In the states hosting the conventions, the drop was even more dramatic — from 1.9 to 0.7 per 100,000.
… The lead author of the study, Harvard Medical School professor Anupam Jena, told Vox in an email that the tumbling gun injury rate during the NRA convention is the result of “a brief period of abstinence in gun use.” Gun owners are away at the convention, and venues where guns are commonly used — like ranges or hunting grounds — are also temporarily closed while staff are at the convention.
So: When the “good guys with guns” skip town — thereby increasing the number of “gun-free zones” in the U.S. — the country as whole becomes dramatically safer.
In light of this finding, the NRA is sure to reexamine its entire worldview, and not at all likely to redouble its efforts to suppress research into the consequences that a loosely regulated gun market has for public health.
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