John R. Lott Jr.

Who is John R. Lott Jr.?

John Richard Lott Jr. is an American economist, political commentator, and gun rights advocate. Lott was formerly employed at various academic institutions including the University of Chicago, Yale University, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Maryland, College Park, and at the American Enterprise Institute conservative think tank. He is also currently a columnist for FoxNews.com. Lott holds a Ph.D. in economics from UCLA.

He has written for both academic and popular publications. Lott is a frequent writer of op-eds, and has written seven books, including More Guns, Less Crime, The Bias Against Guns, and Freedomnomics.

He is best known as an advocate in the gun rights debate, particularly his arguments against restrictions on owning and carrying guns. Nobel laureate Milton Friedman said that "John Lott has few equals as a perceptive analyst of controversial public policy issues." Newsweek referred to Lott as "The Gun Crowd's Guru." Lott is listed in "Who's Who in Economics."