Why Does Everyone Hate John Lott

This paper explores the reaction to John Lott's research on gun violence from the appearance of initial, scholarly criticisms to more recent attacks by gun-control advocates. My paper argues that much of the criticism of Lott's work derives not from substantive differences in scholarly approaches to the problem, but is a failure of gun-control researchers and advocates to acknowledge and study the basic shift in gun-owning culture from hunting to self-defense; a shift that Lott both explains and exploits in his research and public pursuits. The book also relies on an original national survey which for the first time lets respondents explain why they now own and/or carry a self-defense gun.