Concealed carry laws and assault weapons bans do not have a significant effect on the gun-related murder rate at the state level

In the wake of the Newtown massacre, 2013 saw a reinvigorated debate about the need for gun control legislation, most prominently featuring calls to renew the Federal Assault Weapons Ban and to enact concealed carry laws. Mark Gius looks at the effects of these two types of restrictions on the gun-related murder rate. He finds that the assault weapons ban had no significant effect on state-level murder rates and that states with restrictive concealed carry laws actually had higher murder rates than their counterparts with less restrictive law.