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24 

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA v. HELLER 

BREYER, J., dissenting 

dent and his amici do not convincingly answer.

Further, suppose that respondent’s amici are right when
they say that householders’ possession of loaded handguns
help to frighten away intruders.  On that assumption, one 
must still ask whether that benefit is worth the potential 
death-related  cost.  And  that  is  a  question  without  a  di-
rectly provable answer. 

Finally,  consider  the  claim  of  respondent’s  amici  that 
handgun  bans  cannot  work;  there  are  simply  too  many 
illegal guns already in existence for a ban on legal guns to 
make  a  difference.  In  a  word,  they  claim  that,  given  the
urban sea of pre-existing legal guns, criminals can readily
find  arms  regardless.  Nonetheless,  a  legislature  might 
respond,  we  want  to  make  an  effort  to  try  to  dry  up  that
urban sea, drop by drop.  And none of the studies can show 
that effort is not worthwhile.   

In a word, the studies to which respondent’s amici point 
raise  policy-related  questions.  They  succeed  in  proving
that  the  District’s  predictive  judgments  are  controversial. 
But they do not by themselves show that those judgments
are  incorrect;  nor  do  they  demonstrate  a  consensus,  aca-
demic or otherwise, supporting that conclusion. 

Thus, it is not surprising that the District and its amici 
support  the  District’s  handgun  restriction  with  studies  of 
their  own.  One  in  particular  suggests  that,  statistically
speaking,  the  District’s  law  has  indeed  had  positive  life-
saving effects.  See Loftin, McDowall, Weirsema, & Cottey, 
Effects of Restrictive Licensing of Handguns  on Homicide 
and Suicide in the District of Columbia, 325 New England 
J.  Med.  1615  (1991)  (hereinafter  Loftin  study).    Others 
suggest  that  firearm  restrictions  as  a  general  matter 
reduce  homicides,  suicides,  and  accidents  in  the  home. 
See,  e.g.,  Duggan,  More  Guns,  More  Crime,  109  J.  Pol.
Econ.  1086  (2001);  Kellerman,  Somes,  Rivara,  Lee,  & 
Banton,  Injuries  and  Deaths  Due  to  Firearms  in  the 
Home, 45 J. Trauma, Infection & Critical Care 263 (1998);