Access to Guns in the Heat of the Moment : More Restrictive Gun Laws Mitigate the Effect of Temperature on Violence

Gun violence is a major problem in the United States, and extensive prior work has shown that higher temperatures increase violent behavior. In this paper we consider whether restricting the concealed carry of firearms mitigates or exacerbates the effect of temperature on violence. Using two identification strategies that exploit daily variation in temperatures, as well as within- and across-place variation in gun policies, we find that more prohibitive concealed carry laws almost completely reverse the baseline, positive effect of temperature on homicide