Why International Gun Control Comparisons Don’t Hold Up
When it comes to firearms policy, it’s easy to get lost in the noise of talking points and manipulated data. That’s why it’s refreshing—and important—to highlight real research and voices with firsthand experience. One such voice is Ryan Petty, who tragically lost his daughter Alaina in the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida. Despite unimaginable loss, Ryan has become a powerful advocate for effective school safety and constitutional rights.
His recent article in The Federalist, titled “Gun Control Doesn’t Stop Shootings Outside The United States, So It Won’t Here Either”, is a must-read for anyone serious about understanding the truth behind international gun violence comparisons.
In the article, Ryan pulls heavily from the exhaustive research of Dr. John Lott and the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC), an organization that has long been challenging the misleading claims often cited by gun control advocates. The CPRC’s data demonstrates that the U.S. is not uniquely violent when you remove cherry-picked criteria and properly account for population, socio-political context, and reporting accuracy.
What makes Ryan’s article stand out isn’t just the data—it’s the clarity and conviction with which he dismantles the popular myth that America stands alone in suffering mass shootings. He rightly calls out flawed studies, including those promoted by anti-gun groups and repeated uncritically by the media. He also reminds readers that many of these international comparisons ignore key factors like gun ownership rates vs. violent crime, or how restrictive laws often fail to prevent shootings elsewhere.
It’s hard to argue with a man who has buried a child due to a school shooter—and harder still to ignore him when he turns his grief into a mission for truth and effective solutions.
We strongly encourage you to read Ryan Petty’s full article here on The Federalist. And if you’re not already following the work of the Crime Prevention Research Center, it’s time to start. Their commitment to evidence-based analysis is an essential counterweight in today’s lopsided public debate.
Let’s support the voices willing to speak hard truths—and the researchers giving them the tools to do so.
