Actor Vince Vaughn: Guns Should Be Carried In Public, In Schools, And To Defend Against “Abusive Government”

Vaughn Advocates For Permissive Gun Rules In Interview With British GQ. In an interview published on May 29 in British GQ, Vaughn said, “I support people having a gun in public full stop, not just in your home,” argued “of course” guns should be allowed in schools, and claimed that mass shootings typically occur where guns are not allowed:

On the American right to own a gun: “I support people having a gun in public full stop, not just in your home. We don't have the right to bear arms because of burglars; we have the right to bear arms to resist the supreme power of a corrupt and abusive government. It's not about duck hunting; it's about the ability of the individual. It's the same reason we have freedom of speech. It's well known that the greatest defence against an intruder is the sound of a gun hammer being pulled back. All these gun shootings that have gone down in America since 1950, only one or maybe two have happened in non-gun-free zones. Take mass shootings. They've only happened in places that don't allow guns. These people are sick in the head and are going to kill innocent people. They are looking to slaughter defenceless human beings. They do not want confrontation. In all of our schools it is illegal to have guns on campus, so again and again these guys go and shoot up these f***ing schools because they know there are no guns there. They are monsters killing six-year-olds.” On whether guns should be allowed in schools: “Of course. You think the politicians that run my country and your country don't have guns in the schools their kids go to? They do. And we should be allowed the same rights. Banning guns is like banning forks in an attempt to stop making people fat. Taking away guns, taking away drugs, the booze, it won't rid the world of criminality.” [British GQ, 5/29/15]

Fox Hosts Praise “Courageous” Vaughn For Having “Actual Facts” On Gun Violence

Fox News Host Greg Gutfeld: Vaughn Had “Actual Facts.” During the June 2 edition of Fox News' The Five, Gutfeld sought to contrast Vaughn with other celebrities, stating, “GQ had asked for Vince's opinion and he gave it. But unlike most stars, he did so with actual facts. No wonder the media freaked out; they didn't know what to make of a star who actually reads.” Gutfeld added that “conservatives like me are clapping our hands like seals because it's so refreshing or rare to hear this ... we never get to hear this kind of honesty.” [Fox News, The Five, 6/2/15]

Fox News Host Kimberly Guilfoyle: Vaughn Was “Courageous” To Talk About Guns And Make “Factually Correct” Comments About Mass Shootings. [Fox News, The Five, 6/2/15]

Fox News Host Sean Hannity: Vaughn Took “A Very Bold Stand In Favor Of The Second Amendment, He's Advocating For Guns In Schools, I Think He's Right.” [Fox News, Hannity, 6/2/15]

Fox News Contributor Katie Pavlich: What Vaughn Said “Was Very Refreshing And Actually Very Factually True.” [Fox News, Hannity, 6/2/15]

Fox News Host Brian Kilmeade On Vaughn Making Comments To UK Magazine: “Your Serve, Brits. You Started It. We Had To Get Rid Of You. And Now We're Keeping The Guns.” During the June 2 edition of Fox & Friends, co-host Steve Doocy also said that Vaughn gave it to Europeans “double barrel” with his gun comments. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 6/2/15]

FALSE FOX CLAIM: Mass Shootings Typically Happen In “Gun-Free Zones”

Fox's Guilfoyle: Vaughn's Was Right That Mass Shooters Target Places Where Guns Are Not Allowed. During the June 2 edition of The Five, Guilfoyle defended the accuracy of Vaughn's claim that perpetrators of mass shootings “go for soft targets” where there are no guns:

GUILFOYLE: For somebody like Vince Vaughn to come forward, perhaps others will. What he is stating is a fact. What he is stating is what the law and the Second Amendment hold -- that we have the right to bear arms and to be able to defend ourselves. And what [Gutfeld] mentioned in your monologue is also factually correct. These type of predators go for soft targets where they will not meet the other end of a gun to resist their oppression and their violence. [Fox News, The Five, 6/2/15]

Fox's Pavlich Cites Vaughn's False Mass Shooting Claim. During the June 2 edition of Hannity, Pavlich said, “The fact is, as Vince Vaughn cited, since 1950 only two mass shootings have occurred outside of gun-free zones.” [Fox News, Hannity, 6/2/15]

Frequent Fox Guest David Webb: Perpetrators Of Mass Shootings Pick “Soft Target[s].” From the June 2 edition of America's Newsroom:

WEBB: It's time we stop getting into wrong arguments and false arguments with those who want to -- maybe they can't remove and they never will remove the Second Amendment -- but they want to restrict your rights. A criminal is opportunistic, a criminal will go after the soft target or the softer target, they will look for where they can be most effective, whether it's a mass shooting or a robber. In this case we are talking about predominantly the mass shootings. [Fox News, America's Newsroom, 6/2/15]

Fox's Eric Bolling: Vaughn Is “100 Percent Right” To Say Every Mass Shooting Has Occurred In “Gun-Free Zones.” During the June 1 edition of The Five, Bolling said of Vaughn, “He's right. It's everything we've talked about. Every time there is a mass shooting -- the movie theater shootings, the kindergartens, whatever -- they're gun-free zones. He is 100 percent right.” [Fox News,The Five, 6/1/15]

REALITY: There Have Been At Least 95 Mass Shootings Since 2009 In Places Where Guns Were Allowed

Analysis Of Mass Shooting Circumstances Disproves Vaughn And Fox News' Talking Points. According to an analysis of mass shootings between January 2009 and July 2014 conducted by Everytown for Gun Safety, “Seventy-seven of the 110 incidents (70%) took place wholly in private residences. Of the 33 incidents in public spaces, at least 18 took place wholly or in part where concealed guns could be lawfully carried.”

[Everytown for Gun Safety, “Analysis of Recent Mass Shootings,” July 2014]

Analysis Of 62 Mass Shootings In Public: No Evidence Mass Shooters Pick Their Targets Because Of Gun Carrying Rules. According to a Mother Jones analysis of 62 public mass shootings that happened over the past 30 years, the claim that mass shootings only occur where civilians are not allowed to carry guns “makes for slick sound bites” but “its underlying assumptions are contradicted by the data” :

With its overtones of fear and heroism, the argument makes for slick sound bites. But here's the problem: Both its underlying assumptions are contradicted by data. Not only is there zero evidence to support them, our in-depth investigation of America's mass shootings indicates they are just plain wrong. Among the 62 mass shootings over the last 30 years that we studied, not a single case includes evidence that the killer chose to target a place because it banned guns. To the contrary, in many of the cases there was clearly another motive for the choice of location. For example, 20 were workplace shootings, most of which involved perpetrators who felt wronged by employers and colleagues. Last September, when a troubled man working at a sign manufacturer in Minneapolis was told he would be let go, he pulled out a 9mm Glock and killed six people and injured another before putting a bullet in his own head. Similar tragedies unfolded at a beer distributor in Connecticut in 2010 and at a plastics factory in Kentucky in 2008. [Mother Jones, 4/1/13]

FALSE FOX CLAIM: Higher Gun Ownership Rates Linked To Less Violence

Fox's Bolling Defends Vaughn By Claiming Higher Gun Ownership Rates Are Linked To Lower Violence Levels. Bolling baselessly correlated falling crime rates since the 1990s with the dubious claim that gun ownership rates have increased over the same time period, arguing, “Even when you add suicides, the numbers still play out that the higher the frequency of gun ownership, the lower the -- whether it's a city, a state, or the country in general -- the lower the homicide” rate:

BOLLING: [Fox News contributor] Julie Roginsky was here saying that there is no correlation between gun ownership and violent crimes. [Right-wing gun researcher] John Lott called me last night and said you got to -- I said, “John, there is only a certain amount of time you can do this.” So I looked up the numbers and here are the numbers. You want facts? Here are the facts. Since 1993, gun ownership has gone up by 50 percent. It's gone from under 200 million to over 300 million firearms owned in America. In that same period of time, Geraldo, murder has gone, the murder rate has gone down by 50 percent, robbery has gone down by 57 percent, and forcible rape has gone down by 37 percent. Those are the facts. You can't argue with those facts. [...] BOLLING: Even when you add suicides the numbers still play out, that the higher the frequency of gun ownership, the lower the -- whether it's a city, a state, or the country in general -- the lower the homicide, violent crime rates go down as gun ownership, firearm ownership goes up, even with the suicides, add 'em in. [Fox News, The Five, 6/2/15]

Frequent Fox Guest Webb: Gun Violence Has Gone Down Because Of Well-Trained Gun Owners. During the June 2 edition of America's Newsroom, Webb linked gun ownership with a decline in the rate of gun violence:

WEBB: [Vaughn] brings up an important point. Gun violence has gone down over the decades. There are exceptions, mass shootings and otherwise, there always will be an exception. But in fact it's gone down and it's largely because we have a well-trained, law-abiding population, for the most part, that respects our Second Amendment rights and acts appropriately. [Fox News, America's Newsroom, 6/2/15]

REALITY: Higher Gun Ownership Overwhelmingly Linked To More Violence

American Journal Of Public Health Study: Correlation Exists Between Gun Ownership Rates And Gun Homicide Rates. A 2013 study that covered 30 years of data “found a 'robust correlation' between estimated levels of gun ownership and actual gun homicides at the state level, even when controlling for factors typically associated with homicides” :

The study, covering 30 years (1981-2010) in all 50 states, found a “robust correlation” between estimated levels of gun ownership and actual gun homicides at the state level, even when controlling for factors typically associated with homicides. For each 1 percentage point increase in the prevalence of gun ownership, the state firearm homicide rate increases by 0.9 percent, the authors found. [...] Regression analysis was used to examine the relationship between state levels of gun ownership and firearm homicide rates, while controlling for a range of potential state-level confounding variables, including: age, gender, race/ethnicity, urbanization, poverty, unemployment, income, education, divorce rate, alcohol use, violent crime rate, nonviolent crime rate, number of hunting licenses, age-adjusted non-firearm homicide rate, incarceration rate, and suicide rate. The regression model predicted that each 1 percentage point increase in gun ownership increases a state's firearm homicide rate by 0.9 percent, translating into a 12.9 percent increase in the gun homicide rate for each one standard deviation increase in gun ownership. All other factors being equal, for example, the model predicts that if the gun ownership estimate for Mississippi were 58 percent (the average for all states), instead of 77 percent (the highest of all states), its firearm homicide rate would be 17 percent lower. The results of the research are consistent with previous studies that have demonstrated a correlation between higher levels of gun ownership and higher levels of firearm homicide. [Boston University, 9/13/13]

Harvard Injury Control Research Center: “In Homes, Cities, States And Regions In The US, Where There Are More Guns” There Are More Gun Homicides. According to a summary of available literature by researchers at the Harvard Injury Control Research Center, higher levels of gun ownership are associated with higher homicide rates:

1. Where there are more guns there is more homicide (literature review). Our review of the academic literature found that a broad array of evidence indicates that gun availability is a risk factor for homicide, both in the United States and across high-income countries. Case-control studies, ecological time-series and cross-sectional studies indicate that in homes, cities, states and regions in the US, where there are more guns, both men and women are at higher risk for homicide, particularly firearm homicide. Hepburn, Lisa; Hemenway, David. Firearm availability and homicide: A review of the literature. Aggression and Violent Behavior: A Review Journal. 2004; 9:417-40. [Harvard Injury Control Research Center, accessed 6/3/15]

University Of Pennsylvania Firearm & Injury Center: Higher Gun Ownership Rates Linked To Higher Gun Death Rates On International Scale. Comparing high-income nations, the University of Pennsylvania Firearm & Injury Center found “The U.S. has the highest rates of both firearm homicide and private firearm ownership” :

The correlation between firearm availability and rates of homicide is consistent across high income industrialized nations: where there are more firearms, there are higher rates of homicide overall. The U.S. has the highest rates of both firearm homicide and private firearm ownership. In 2001 an estimated 35% of U.S. households had a firearm. [University of Pennsylvania Firearm & Injury Center, accessed 6/3/2015]

Contrary To Webb And Bolling Claim Of Higher Gun Ownership Being Linked To Lower Crime, Fewer American Households Report Owning Guns Compared To The Early 1990s. According to the General Social Survey, household gun ownership has fallen from near 50 percent in 1990 to 32.4 percent in 2014, with 22.4 percent of respondents indicating that they personally owned a gun. The results suggest that recent reports of increased gun sales are largely sales to people who already own firearms:

[General Social Survey via Huffington Post, 5/21/15]

For more on conservative media's false link between gun ownership and falling crime rates since the 1990s click here.

FALSE FOX CLAIM: Permissive Laws Allowing The Carrying Of Concealed Guns Have Reduced Crime

Fox's Bolling: Concealed Carry Laws Reduced Crime By 8 Percent. In defense of Vaughn's advocacy for carrying guns in public, Bolling argued that concealed carry laws reduce murder, rape, and robbery:

BOLLING: Concealed carry, increased in concealed carry permits has actually accounted for somewhere around 8 percent drop in crimes because people pulled their own concealed carry on people who were trying to murder them, rape them, or rob them. [Fox News, The Five, 6/2/15]

REALITY: Concealed Carry Correlates With Increased Crime, Particularly Aggravated Assault

Stanford University Research: “Totality Of The Evidence” Suggests Concealed Carry Laws Increase Violent Crime. New research from Stanford University found associations between laws allowing concealed guns to be carried in public with increased rates of rape, murder, aggravated assault, and robbery:

Now, [Stanford law professor John] Donohue and his colleagues have shown that extending the data yet another decade (1999-2010) provides the most convincing evidence to date that right-to-carry laws are associated with an increase in violent crime. “The totality of the evidence based on educated judgments about the best statistical models suggests that right-to-carry laws are associated with substantially higher rates” of aggravated assault, rape, robbery and murder, said Donohue. The strongest evidence was for aggravated assault, with data suggesting that right-to-carry (RTC) laws increase this crime by an estimated 8 percent - and this may actually be understated, according to the researchers. “Our analysis of the year-by-year impact of RTC laws also suggests that RTC laws increase aggravated assaults,” they wrote. The evidence is less strong on rape and robbery, Donohue noted. The data from 1979 to 2010 provide evidence that the laws are associated with an increase in rape and robbery. The murder rate increased in the states with existing right-to-carry laws for the period 1999-2010 when the “confounding influence” of the crack cocaine epidemic is controlled for. The study found that homicides increased in eight states that adopted right-to-carry laws during 1999-2010. [Stanford University, 11/14/14]

Majority Of Experts Disagree That More Permissive Concealed Carry Laws Reduce Crime. According to a survey of authors of articles about firearms in peer-reviewed journals conducted by the Harvard Injury Control Research Center, 62 percent of respondents rejected the notion that permissive concealed carry laws reduce crime:

[Mother Jones, 4/2/15]

The “More Guns, Less Crime” Concealed Carry Hypothesis Frequently Cited By Conservative Media Has Been Repeatedly Debunked. The idea that permissive concealed carry laws reduce crime rates was popularized by economist John Lott, although Lott's research on the matter has been debunked repeatedly and Lott has faced numerous accusations of unethical research practices:

John Lott is, without exception, the most prolific and influential writer on the topic of gun violence and gun control. He has credentials that would make most academics envious--with various stints at Stanford, Rice, UCLA, Wharton, Cornell, the University of Chicago and Yale. [...] While his initial research was groundbreaking, further examination revealed numerous flaws. Today the “more guns, less crime” hypothesis has been thoroughly repudiated. On closer inspection his impressive credentials reveal an academic nomad, never able to secure a place in academia. His ethical transgressions range from accusations of fabricating an entire survey, to presenting faulty regressions, to creating elaborate online personas to defend his work and bash critics, to trying to revise his online history to deflect arguments. And this doesn't even begin to cover the whole host of false claims and statistics he has peddled repeatedly in articles and TV appearances. [Armed With Reason, 12/1/14]

FALSE FOX CLAIM: Guns Are Largely Used To Defend Against Crime

Fox's Bolling: Guns Stop Crimes “Thousands Of Times Per Day.” In defense of Vaughn's advocacy of guns being carried in public, Bolling claimed guns stop crimes “thousands of times per day.” [Fox News, The Five, 6/2/15]

Fox's Gutfeld: “Statistics That Are Countrywide” Prove Guns Prevent Crime. Gutfeld cited discredited gun researcher John Lott to argue that guns on the balance prevent crime and that cases to the contrary are anecdotal:

GUTFELD: This is the problem with gun control science, it's based on the micro level, anecdotal reporting, we're talking about statistics that are countrywide. There is a large packet of research on preventive crime used with gun ownership that John Lott Jr. has painstakingly researched and kept. It's like this thick. So it happens. So anecdotal studies are interesting in providing an emotion debate, but not a factual one. [Fox News, The Five, 6/2/15]

REALITY: Defensive Gun Uses Are So Rare They Are Hard To Measure

Experts: Guns Are Used For Crime Far More Often Than Self-Defense. 73 percent of experts polled by the Harvard Injury Control Research Center believe gun crimes outweigh defensive gun uses:

[Mother Jones, 4/2/15]

Gun Victimization Survey: “Far More Survey Respondents Report Having Been Threatened Or Intimidated With A Gun Than Having Used A Gun To Protect Themselves.” From the December 2000 edition of Injury Prevention, a journal for health professionals:

Even after excluding many reported firearm victimizations, far more survey respondents report having been threatened or intimidated with a gun than having used a gun to protect themselves. A majority of the reported self defense gun uses were rated as probably illegal by a majority of judges. This was so even under the assumption that the respondent had a permit to own and carry the gun, and that the respondent had described the event honestly. [Injury Prevention, 2000; 6:263-267]

Research Cited By Conservatives That Guns Stop Millions Of Crimes Each Year Has Been Thoroughly Debunked. The research of criminologist Gary Kleck, which claims millions of crimes are stopped each year by guns, has been described as “an enormous overestimate” and as suffering from “serious methodological deficiencies” :

All attempts at external validation of the 2.5 million figure show that it is an enormous overestimate (Hemenway, in press). For example, in 34% of the times a gun was used for self-defense, the offender was allegedly committing a burglary. In other words, guns were reportedly used by defenders for self-defense in approximately 845,000 burglaries. From sophisticated victimization surveys, however, we know that there were fewer than 6 million burglaries in the year of the survey and in only 22% of those cases was someone certainly at home (1.3 million burglaries). Since only 42% of U.S. households own firearms, and since victims in two thirds of the occupied dwellings were asleep, the 2.5 million figure requires us to believe that burglary victims use their guns in self-defense more than 100% of the time. [...] How could the survey estimate be so far off? The 2.5 million figure comes from a national random-digit-dial telephone survey of 5,000 dwelling units (Kleck and Gertz 1995), in which slightly over 1% of the individuals surveyed reported that they themselves had used a gun in self-defense during the past year. Using that percentage to extrapolate to the entire population of 200 million adults gives approximately 2.5 million uses. Other telephone surveys (of 600 to 2,000 respondents) also yield high estimates, often of millions of annual self-defense gun uses (Kleck 1991). All of the surveys have very serious methodological deficiencies, but the most important problem, never sufficiently considered, is that the researchers are attempting to estimate a rare event. That fact alone leads to the likelihood of extreme overestimation. [CHANCE, vol. 10, no. 3, 1997]

FALSE FOX CLAIM: There Are No Negative Consequences To Arming Teachers

Fox's Pavlich: Arm Teachers As A Defense Against Mass Shootings. Pavlich claimed that there have not been incidents related to arming teachers “so when the left says that they can't handle it, there's going to be all these accidents, it's just not true” :

PAVLICH: Let me talk about this really quickly in terms of the schools and the statistics. Utah has allowed teachers to carry concealed weapons into schools for years; they've never had an incident. There is a school district in Texas that has trained teachers to carry concealed weapons in schools. They haven't had an incident. On college campuses in Colorado where they have concealed carry, they haven't had an incident. So when the left says that they can't handle it, there's going to be all these accidents, it's just not true. [Fox News, Hannity, 6/2/15]

REALITY: There Is No Evidence Arming Teachers Is A Good Way To Respond To Mass Shootings

Los Angeles Times: Utah Teacher Accidentally Shot Herself In The Leg In Restroom. On September 11, 2014, The Times reported on an accidental shooting at a Utah school, one of the states where Pavlich claimed “they never had an incident” :

A Utah elementary school teacher accidentally shot herself in the leg on Thursday, but no students were on school grounds at the time and no one else was injured, officials said. The teacher, who was not identified, suffered a leg wound after the weapon accidentally discharged in the restroom of Westbrook Elementary School in Taylorsville, Utah, around 8:45 a.m., according to Ben Horsley, communications director for the Granite School District. The teacher remains in “good condition” at Intermountain Medical Center in Murray, Utah, Horsley said. The teacher had a license to carry a concealed weapon in Utah, Horsley said, adding that she was not required to tell anyone she was armed. “Permit holders are not required to disclose their status as a permit holder, and/or whether they are carrying a weapon or not, to their employer, or in this case, the principal or school district,” Horsley said in a statement. [Los Angeles Times, 9/11/14]

Washington Post: Idaho Professor Accidentally Shot Himself During Class. Two months after Idaho began allowing guns on college campuses, a professor accidentally shot himself in the foot “in the middle of class” :

A professor at Idaho State University in Pocatello accidentally fired his concealed gun Wednesday, shooting himself in the foot. A student told KIDK3 the gun went off in the middle of class. Police said the gun was in the professor's pants pocket, was not visible during class, and that the professor, who was not identified, had a concealed carry permit. The incident comes after a bill was signed in July by Gov. Butch Otter (R) allowing those with concealed carry permits to carry guns on state college and university campuses. [The Washington Post, 9/5/14]

Pew Poll: While Americans Support Armed Security Guards At Schools, A Majority Oppose Arming Teachers. A January 2013 poll found 64 percent of respondents favored having armed security guards or police officers but 57 percent opposed arming teachers. [Pew Research Center, 1/14/13]

Schools, Where Guns Are Typically Not Allowed, Are Safer For Young People Than Their Surrounding Community. Since the 1992-93 school year, when the Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics began recording homicides at schools, the proportion of youth homicides that occurred at school has never exceeded 2 percent of total youth homicides. Data from 2010-11 indicated that .8 percent of youth homicides occurred at school:

[Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics, June 2014]

Washington Post: “It's Still Unclear What Effect Armed Guards Would Have On School Shootings Or Other Types Of Violence.” The Post cited research that found “there's little evidence on the effectiveness of security measures like surveillance cameras, metal detectors, or armed guards,” and noted that an armed guard was present at the Columbine High School mass shooting:

It's still unclear what effect armed guards would have on school shootings or other types of violence. It seems intuitive that having better security at school would stop shootings, but there isn't a lot of good research on this. One 2009 study found that schools with “resource officers” -- security officials, though not necessarily armed -- did report less criminal activity. But the authors lamented that there's little evidence on the effectiveness of security measures like surveillance cameras, metal detectors, or armed guards. And what about mass shootings? It's worth noting that Columbine High School had an armed “community resource officer” on duty the day that two students shot 12 of their peers and one teacher. So armed security guards can't stop every death. On the other hand, it's worth noting that the same can be said about some of the gun-control legislation being discussed right now -- the federal assault weapons ban was also in effect during Columbine, after all. [The Washington Post, 12/21/12]

FALSE FOX CLAIM: Women Are A Growing Demographic Of Gun Owners

Fox Guest Larry Pratt: “People Are Opting To Buy Guns, Especially Women.” Larry Pratt, the head of extremist group Gun Owners of America who has said politicians who favor gun violence prevention laws should fear being shot, claimed that women are buying guns for self-defense:

PRATT: People are increasingly of the opinion that they are on their own for a minimum good five minutes before the police are able to respond. What are they going to do in that five minutes? You can be dead several times over if you can't protect your life. And people are opting to buy guns, especially women. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 6/2/15]

REALITY: The Proportion Of Women Gun Owners Hasn't Changed Much Over The Last 30 Years

General Social Survey: “There Is No Meaningful Trend In The Level Of Personal Ownership” Among Women Since 1980. According to the GSS, 11.7 percent of women personally own a gun, a figure that has not “appreciably change[d]” over the last 35 years:

Personal ownership of firearms has not appreciably change[d] for women from 1980 through 2014. Between nine percent and 14 percent of women personally owned a firearm during those years and there is no meaningful trend in the level of personal ownership. [General Social Survey via Huffington Post, 5/21/15]

Experts: Household Gun Ownership Increases Homicide Risk For Women. 72 percent of experts polled by the Harvard Injury Control Research Center believe household firearm ownership increases risk to women, versus 11 percent who believe household gun ownership does not increase women's homicide risk:

[Mother Jones, 4/2/15]

Annals Of Emergency Medicine Study: Women Who Live In A Household With Guns Are Nearly Three Times More Likely To Be Murdered Compared To Women Who Live In A Home With No Guns. [Annals of Emergency Medicine 41, no. 6 (2003): 775 via Violence Policy Center]

FALSE FOX CLAIM: Guns On Campus Are An Effective Tool To Prevent Campus Sexual Assault

Fox's Bolling: A Woman On A College Campus Should Carry A Gun In Case “She Has To Protect Herself Against Four Or Five People That She May Not Feel Comfortable With.” Bolling touted concealed firearms as protection against nighttime attacks against women on college campuses:

BOLLING: How about schools, how about colleges, how about universities where a 5-foot-2 woman is 105 pounds walking through campus at night and she has to protect herself against four or five people that she may not feel comfortable with. She has a concealed carry permit, she should be allowed to do it, and more should have concealed carry permits. Good job Vince Vaughn, I wish more people would listen to you and watch your movies. [Fox News, The Five, 6/1/15]

Fox Guest Mercedes Schlapp: Having Guns On Campuses “Empowers Women” To Prevent Sexual Assaults. Schlapp, a GOP strategist, called campus carry a “women's issues right” and said carrying guns “empowers women” to prevent sexual assaults. [Fox News, The Real Story with Gretchen Carlson, 6/1/15]

REALITY: Students Who Carry Guns On College Campuses Are More Likely To Be Victims Of Crimes

Journal Of American College Health Study: Students Who Carried Guns Were More Likely To Report Being Threatened By A Gun. According to a 2002 study, 5.9 percent of gun owners reported being threatened with a firearm compared to 1.4 percent of non-gun owners:

Nationwide, 4.3% of college students had a working firearm at college. Of these, approximately half (47%) responded that 1 reason they had a gun was for protection (Table 1). Compared with students who did not have a firearm at college, those who had a firearm were more likely to be male (85% vs 43%); to be White (91% vs 72%); to live off campus (86% vs 57%); to live with a significant other (16% vs 8%); to drive a motor vehicle after binge drinking (27% vs 9%); to have unprotected sex when under the influence of alcohol (17% vs 10%); to vandalize property (21% vs 10%); and to get into trouble with the police (10% vs 6%). Describing the same data in a different way, 8.2% of men had a firearm, compared with 1.1% of women; 5.3% of Whites had a gun, compared with 1.6% of African Americans; and 12% of those who reported binge drinking and driving had a gun, compared with 2.7% of the students who did not binge drink (Table 2). Students with guns at school were also significantly more likely to live in regions of the United States where handguns are more prevalent and to report having been threatened with a gun while at college (5.9% of gun owners reported having been threatened with a gun vs 1.4% of nonowners), especially if they kept their gun at school for protection (8.4% of whom reported being threatened with a firearm while at college--Table 3). [Journal of American College Health, Vol. 51, No. 2, 2002]

Journal of American College Health: Students Who Carried Guns Were More Likely To Report Being Victims Of Physical And Sexual Violence Than Those Who Did Not. The 2002 Journal of American College Health study summarized the findings of an earlier 1998 study in the same journal: “Students who carried weapons were more likely than students who did not do so to report drinking heavily, driving while under the influence of alcohol, using illicit drugs, suffering adverse consequences of substance abuse, being victims and perpetrators of physical and sexual violence at college, and attending college in the South.” [Journal of American College Health, Vol. 51, No. 2, 2002]