TY  - JOUR
AU  - Duggan,Mark
AU  - Hjalmarsson,Randi
AU  - Jacob,Brian A.
TI  - The Effect of Gun Shows on Gun-Related Deaths: Evidence from California and Texas
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 14371
PY  - 2008
Y2  - October 2008
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14371
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14371.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Mark Duggan
The Wharton School
University of Pennsylvania
1452 Steinberg Hall-Dietrich Hall
3620 Locust Walk
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Tel: 215-898-0928
Fax: 215-898-7635
E-Mail: mduggan@wharton.upenn.edu

Randi Hjalmarsson
Queen Mary
University of London
School of Economics and Finance
Mile End Road
London E1 4NS, UK
E-Mail: r.hjalmarsson@qmul.ac.uk

Brian Jacob
Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
University of Michigan
735 South State Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Tel: 734-615-6994
Fax: NA
E-Mail: bajacob@umich.edu
AB  - Thousands of gun shows take place in the U.S. each year.  Gun control advocates argue that because sales at gun shows are much less regulated than other sales, such shows make it easier for potential criminals to obtain a gun.  Similarly, one might be concerned that gun shows would exacerbate suicide rates by providing individuals considering suicide with a more lethal means of ending their lives.  On the other hand, proponents argue that gun shows are innocuous since potential criminals can acquire guns quite easily through other black market sales or theft.  In this paper, we use data from Gun and Knife Show Calendar combined with vital statistics data to examine the effect of gun shows.  We find no evidence that gun shows lead to substantial increases in either gun homicides or suicides.  In addition, tighter regulation of gun shows does not appear to reduce the number of firearms-related deaths.
ER  -