Gun Shows and Gun-Related Deaths

In a new working paper from the NBER, Mark Duggan, Randi Hjalmarsson and Brian A. Jacob study the effect of gun shows on gun-related deaths. They find no effect. They also find that increased regulations of gunshows to have any effect, thus providing even stronger evidence that there's no causal connection. Here's the abstract:

Abstract

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.

To those who don't know, Mark Duggan has written extensively on gun availability and gun violence. In many of his papers, he finds a causal connection that gun availability does increase gun violence (for instance, here). Duggan is probably not a member of the NRA is what I'm saying.