Guy Smith – Author of Guns and Control and creator of the long-running Gun Facts research projectSmith analyzes gun policy debates by tracing commonly cited statistics back to original FBI, CDC, and academic sources. He regularly speaks with media about:
Media inquiries: info@gunfacts.info |
This page is for members of the media who wish to leverage Gun Facts, Guy Smith’s knowledge concerning gun violence criminology data, and Second Amendment law and origins.
Gun Policy Data Quick Reference:
- Gun violence is not “epidemic”. Is is highly concentrated into a few counties with major metro cities.
- The two principle concerns (who is causing the most gun violence and where are they getting their guns) resolves to street gangs and guns stollen from vehicles parked at residences.
- For gun homicides, young black males in highly urban areas are the most frequent. For gun suicides, old white males in rural areas.
- Internationally, there is no covariance between gun availability and either homicide or suicide rates.
- Mass public shooters have mental health disorders at twice the rate of the general public, and thought disorder illnesses at nine times the rate.
For other key insights, see our Journalists’ Gun Issues Guide (top menu on this website).
About Gun Facts
Gun Facts is a 25+ year research project that compiles firearm statistics from primary sources including the FBI Uniform Crime Reports, CDC data, and peer-reviewed academic research. The project focuses on:
- Presenting gold-standard data in easy to understand means.
- Conduct primary research to address both common misconceptions and unexplored areas of gun violence.
- Summarize complex secondary academic research.
- Debunk bad information, memes, and research.
- Doing all of the above without agenda or alignment with policy groups.
Topics for Interviews
Guy frequently speaks with journalists about:
- Mass shooting trends and definitions
- How gun statistics are misinterpreted in public debate
- Crime trends vs gun ownership trends
- The difference between advocacy claims and underlying data-driven reality
- Historical origins of gun laws and the Second Amendment
- Common myths in gun policy research
Television, Radio and Podcast Interviews with Guy Smith
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Selected Media Appearances |
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Guy Smith interviewed on Al Jazeera television evening news. Discusses gun control in America in relation to mass shootings by mentally ill people. | |
| On Andrew Heaton’s Political Orphanage podcast discussing Guns and Control and what we do and don’t know about gun violence. | ||
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Other Media Appearances |
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Guy Smith being interviewed on Thom Hartmann’s Big Picture, 2011-05-20. Discussing a patients’ privacy rights bill in Florida that had to do with firearms. | |
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Guy Smith on a University of California at Santa Cruz public policy forum titled “Gun Culture” in May of 2014. Other panelists are from UCLA Law School, the Brady Campaign and the Liberal Gun Club. | |
| An interview about the the surprising and necessary critical information about guns and violence in America, on Gun Freedom Radio, 2025. | ||
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Brief appearance by Guy Smith on KGO-TV discussing gun buy-backs. | |
| An interview about the impact of large capacity magazines, appearing on Mike G. in the Morning, WFYL. | ||
| 2010 interview on Tom Gresham’s Gun Talk discussing what to expect after the McDonald/Chicago handgun ban case. | ||
| Interview on Liberty Watch Radio discussing the D.C. vs. Heller Supreme Court handgun ban case. | ||
| Gun Facts interview on Armed American Radio. | ||
| Gun Facts interview on Urban Shooter broadcast. | ||
| Long 2008 interview on Tom Gresham’s Gun Talk discussing the Gun Facts book. | ||
Guy Smith: Brief Bio
Guy Smith is a writer, former IT guru (first job out of college was writing software at Kennedy Space Center), a former Silicon Valley marketing strategist, and long ago was both a cowboy, surfer.
The Gun Facts project started as an e-book personal crib sheet – a collection of notes about gun control, criminology, constitutional law and related topics. Smith began sharing his notes with others in the late 1990’s and discovered that most people faced the same problem: there was a mountain of real information that was unknown to the public.
Since inception, the Gun Facts e-book (no longer in production) was downloaded into more than 165 countries (it was estimated that each major edition had a viral spread of over one million copies). Gun Facts has been cited in testimony before state public safety commissions and has been cited in a number of books including extensive coverage in Armed Response by David Kenik.
Smith contributes Op/Ed pieces to major metropolitan newspapers (San Francisco Chronicle, Oakland Tribune).
Background: With an education in quantitative management sciences and as a working researcher, Guy started noticing that gun policy organizations were less than factual and often outright dishonest. His research capabilities, paired with a stubborn southern gent’s honor, caused him to take-up the cause of debunking gun policy misinformation.
Guy is not a member of any organization – not the NRA, not Everytown for Gun Safety, not the Second Amendment Foundation, not the Brady Campaign. Nada. Not even any political party. Someone once bought Guy a membership in the California Rifle and Pistol Association, and Guy immediately demanded to be removed from the membership roster.
Promo Photographs – Guy Smith
To obtain a high resolution copy of each thumbnail photograph below, right-click on the photo and select “Save target as …” or “Save link as …”
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Biographical Information and Blurbs for Guy Smith
Guy Smith is a writer, former IT guru (first job out of college was writing software at Kennedy Space Center), a former Silicon Valley marketing strategist, and long ago was both a cowboy, surfer.
The Gun Facts project started as an e-book personal crib sheet – a collection of notes about gun control, criminology, constitutional law and related topics. Smith began sharing his notes with others in the late 1990’s and discovered that most people faced the same problem: there was a mountain of real information that was unknown to the public.
Since inception, the Gun Facts e-book (no longer in production) was downloaded into more than 165 countries (it was estimated that each major edition had a viral spread of over one million copies). Gun Facts has been cited in testimony before state public safety commissions and has been cited in a number of books including extensive coverage in Armed Response by David Kenik.
Smith contributes Op/Ed pieces to major metropolitan newspapers (San Francisco Chronicle, Oakland Tribune).
Cover art for Guns and Control
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Click either image for a larger, downloadable version
