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CHICAGO (Islam Online) - A new controversial book introducing a study conducted on the real cost of gun violence estimates the financial cost of it at $100 billion, much more than previously calculated. Economists Philip J. Cook, of Duke University, and Jens Ludwig, of Georgetown University, comprehensively estimated the price the U.S. pays for criminal shootings, accidents and suicides committed with guns. In doing so, they applied a broad new approach not confined to simple calculations of medical expenses for treating gunshot wounds and lost labor productivity of gunshot victims. Their estimate covers emotional costs experienced by relatives and friends of gunshot victims, and the fear and general reduction in quality of life that the threat of gun violence imposes on everyone in America, including people who are not victimized. One tool in their novel methodology was asking people in a nationally represented telephone survey of 1,200 how much they would pay to protect themselves from gun violence. After applying their economic model, the number came to be $80 billion. An additional $20 billion was added representing the cost of accidental shootings and gun suicides. Titled "Gun Violence: The Real Costs," and published next month by Oxford University Press, the book produced mixed reviews concerning its relevance and accuracy. Their calculation was applauded by a number of economists, criminologists and gun control advocates, who said it showed that the cost was much larger than previously realized and therefore should be given greater weight in debates over public policy. Tom Diaz, a senior policy analyst with the anti-handgun Violence Policy Center in Washington, said, "The gun industry offloads tremendous costs onto people who don't use its products, like a polluter dumping on a city, so it's good to force people to realize what these costs are." But the study was criticized by scholars who maintain that guns contribute to public safety, and by gun industry officials, as being too hypothetical and ignoring firearms' benefits. |
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