One response to the spate of murders in South Auckland has been a proposal for law changes to reduce the number of alcohol sales outlets. 

Restrictions should be good for established liquor outlets, but without research it is hard to know whether it would do more than increase their profits and limit the prospects of some dairies and supermarkets.

The same issue has been debated in the US. A new Urban Institute research report suggests there could be connections between numbers of outlets and violence:

 The findings indicate that on-premise outlets [bars], but not off-premise outlets [bottle stores and dairies] are a significant predictor of aggravated assault.

Before attributing too much to this seeming rebuttal of the case for more restriction, note that the study urges much more fine-grained research before drawing policy conclusions, because "off premise" outlets seem to be associated with more domestic violence.