The study (see NCJ-159889) examined the impact of "shall issue" concealed firearms laws in Florida, Mississippi, and Oregon. Such laws require that the authorities must provide a concealed-firearms license to any applicant who meets specified criteria. The study found that these laws did not decrease homicides in the cities examined and may in fact have been related to an increase, although the latter finding was acknowledged by the authors to be weak. Daniel Polsby raises three major issues regarding this study. First, Polsby notes that the authors studied 20 years of data for four cities in the analysis, but only 10 years of data for Miami. He says that if the study had examined 20 years of Miami data, it would have found that firearms homicides declined there. Polsby's second point is that homicides decreased statewide after Florida's "shall issue" law began. He states that because the study examined only three of Florida's cities, it reached a mistaken conclusion about the general effects of the State's law. Polsby's third point is a theoretical issue. The study suggested that homicides may have increased under the "shall issue" laws because criminals were more likely to arm themselves for protection against victims, who were more likely to be armed. Polsby is skeptical of this explanation. The authors explain why each of these criticisms of the study is flawed, largely, they claim, because Polsby is approaching the issue from an advocacy position rather than a neutral scientific perspective. 4 footnotes