Shall-Issue Laws and the Structure of Crime Data

The impact of firearms and their availability upon crime has been an extremely controversial topic in the social science literature, and there still does not appear to be any consensus regarding what the true impact of firearms may be. This issue is compounded in the case of controversial so-called shall-issue laws, which direct local law enforcement officers to issue permits allowing the concealment of handguns to citizens who meet certain criteria. The State of Ohio passed such a shall-issue concealed carry law on April 8, 2004. Here, I will consider the possible impact of that law in the context of the continuing debate in the Economic literature