In 2023, New Orleans had the third highest per capita murder rate in the country according to the FBI. Last week, New Orleans Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick claimed that the city can lower this rate by creating a “firearm-free” zone encompassing the French Quarter and beyond. Kirkpatrick is particularly concerned about the dangers of Louisiana’s new Constitutional Carry law.
But Kirkpatrick’s proposed gun-free zone will create a magnet for criminals to commit crimes in that area. To criminals, gun-free zones make victims easy targets.
Police are critical to stopping crime. Academic research shows that policing is probably the most important factor in reducing it. But the police themselves realize that they virtually always arrive at the crime scene after the crime has occurred.
New Orleans simply can’t protect people. In 2023, with only 938 officers on the New Orleans police force, response times averaged an incredible three hours. Even for emergencies, it took 36 minutes for police to respond, though that is down to just over 22 minutes so far in 2024.
Compare that to Los Angeles and New York, where emergency response times were 5.7 and 4.6 minutes.
Even if a crime victim can call the police, six minutes is a long time when seconds matter. Twenty-two or 36 minutes is a lifetime.
Law enforcement officers understand the importance of allowing people to defend themselves. PoliceOne surveyed more than 15,000 police professionals across ranks and department sizes in 2013 and found that 91% of the members support liberally issuing concealed handgun permits.
The National Association of Chiefs of Police and Sheriffs is similarly supportive. Those are first responders who are on the scenes of these tragedies every day.
Academic criminologists and economists who have published peer-reviewed research on guns also agree. Surveys show that they had the same top four preferred policies for stopping murders and mass public shootings. This included letting people carry concealed handguns and abolishing gun-free zones.
Concealed carry permit holders are remarkably law-abiding. In the 19 states with comprehensive data, the average revocation rate for any reason is about one-tenth of 1%.
Louisiana’s data show an even lower rate of revocations, with only 207 revocations in 2023 out of over 270,000 permits. Permit holders are convicted of firearms-related violations at one-twelfth the rate that police officers are.
Research from the Crime Prevention Research Center has demonstrated that the two groups that benefit the most from carrying guns are the likeliest victims of crime — underprivileged Americans in high-crime, urban areas — and people who are physically weaker, such as women or the elderly.
People carrying concealed handguns deter criminals. If you still aren’t convinced, just read the manifestos and diaries from mass public shooters about why they picked the targets that they do.
The Biden administration has yet to release the Nashville school shooter’s manifesto, but Nashville Police Chief John Drake has seen it. “There was another location that was mentioned, but because of a threat assessment by the suspect of too much security, they decided not to,” said Drake. Instead, the murderer picked the Covenant School because it did not have anyone to fight back with a gun.
These murderers count on gun-free zones to ensure that they will be the only armed person present. The perpetrator of the 2022 Buffalo supermarket shooting wrote in his manifesto: “Areas where CCW [carrying a concealed weapon] permits are outlawed or prohibited may be good areas of attack.” He worried that someone with a gun there could stop him. Many other mass murderers have made similar explicit statements. But what is most telling is the simple fact that 94% of mass public shootings occur in gun-free zones.
Regarding Kirkpatrick’s concerns about Constitutional Carry, which allows permitless concealed carry, peer-reviewed research shows that violent crime rates fall after states pass these laws. Given her concerns about cities being different Ohio’s Attorney General found that firearm crimes fell in Ohio’s eight most populous cities by 8%.
Gun-free zones are magnets for murderers. Even the most ardent gun control advocates would think twice before putting “Gun-Free Zone” signs on their homes. Let’s finally stop putting them elsewhere.
Lott is the president of the Crime Prevention Research Center and served as the Senior Advisor for Research and Statistics in the Office of Justice Programs and then the Office of Legal Policy at the US Department of Justice.