Many people are familiar with the work of Dr. John Lott. His massive research of our country’s crime data encompassed all 3,000 plus counties for an 18 year period.

Lott presented his work in a book entitled More Guns, Less Crime. His work has subsequently corroborated by researchers in nearly four dozen of our country’s institutions of higher learning.

Well, Lott’s work has been corroborated by Al Gore. Actually, George Bush also helped.

Most people have probably seen the map of the country’s voting by counties. The one most of us saw showed the Bush counties in red and the Gore counties in blue.

The Gore vote was primarily along both coasts as well as other urban pockets in the rest of the country. The Bush vote was the great expanse of the rest of the country.

Well, thanks to Professor Joseph Olson of Hamline School of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota, we now know something else about those counties.

In the Gore counties, the murder rate is 13.2 per 100,000.

In the Bush counties, the murder rate is 2.1 per 100,000.

What do urban centers have in common around the country? Try to get a concealed carry permit and you will find out. In fact, in Washington, DC, New York City, Chicago and a few others, just owning a handgun will be impossible.

What had Lott found was the reason for the lowering of violent crime in various jurisdictions? Passage of concealed carry laws.

Indeed, the longer such laws have been on the books, the lower the violent crime rates go, including murder.

Where you live matters a lot. Thanks to Bush and Gore making this decision has been made much easier.