Gun rights proponents criticized the study. The Firearms Policy Coalition said most gun studies are designed to support gun control. They specifically criticized Professor Garen Wintemute, director of the Violence Prevention Research Program at UC Davis, and his role in producing the study.

"Generally speaking, we have found that most studies in the firearms issue area are designed to support a preferred policy position rather than seeking objective, data-supported truths," Brandon Combs, the California gun advocacy group's president, told the Free Beacon. "Dr. Wintemute seems to be more than comfortable serving in his role as a politically motivated, anti-Second Amendment data generator.

"If people in other states do not stand together in opposition to increased gun control efforts, the state of California's model for criminalizing constitutionally protected conduct will undoubtedly spread like cancer. We will, of course, continue to review the new study and its data."

via the Washington Free Beacon:

A new study purporting to show Nevada gun shows are responsible for an increase in firearm-related deaths and injuries in nearby California was criticized as "poorly done" on Tuesday.

The University of California at Berkeley study, funded in part with money from a $2.3 million National Institutes of Health grant and released on Monday, found a 70 percent spike in deaths and injuries from firearms in California communities within one- to two-hour driving distances of Nevada gun shows.

The researchers compared the number of gun-related deaths and injuries occurring two weeks prior to the gun shows to the number that happened in the two weeks afterward. The study found no spikes in gun deaths or injuries following gun shows in California and concludes that the difference "may be due to California’s stricter firearm regulations" including a background check and a 10-day waiting period.

Read more here.