Look What Happened to Chicago’s Murder Rate After Illinois Upheld Concealed Carry

[PocketProtector]

I'm guessing Piers won't be reporting this

http://www.ijreview.com/2014/04/1266...s-immediately/

In July of 2013, Illinois became the last state in the union to enact a concealed carry law. In January of this year, the state began accepting applications for permits. This week, Chicago police announced that the city’s first quarter murder rate was the lowest since 1958.
Via ABC-affiliate Eye Witness News in the Windy City:
The first three months of the year saw 6 fewer murders than the same time frame in 2013–a 9 percent drop–and 55 fewer murders than 2012, according to a statement from Chicago Police.
There were 90 fewer shootings and 119 fewer shooting victims, drops of 26 and 29 percent respectively, according to police statistics.
Compared to the first quarter of 2012, there have been 222 fewer shootings and 292 fewer shooting victims. Overall crime is down 25 percent from last year, and police said more than 1,300 illegal guns were recovered in the last three months.
Coincidence? Hard to say. And too early to tell. Although, I doubt that the anti-gun crowd is celebrating the good news.
Gun crime experts John Lott, Jr. and David Mustard made the famous argument in “Crime, Deterrence, and Right-to-Carry Concealed Firearms” that: “When state concealed handgun laws went into effect in a county, murders fell by 8.5 percent, and rapes and aggravated assaults fell by 5 and 7 percent.” More guns mean less crime.
Gary Kleck, PhD., also a gun crime expert, found that the crime deterrence effect of firearms possession is significant: sophisticaed statistics suggest three to four crimes are stopped by a handgun than are committed in the United States every year.
True, the U.S. has many more guns than other countries, but 99.995% of firearms every year are not used to commit homicides. The rate of gun homicide is in the thousands every year in a nation of over 300 million – meaning that there are numerous “killers” that far exceed gun homicides.
While statistics vary and people on both sides of the gun debate differ on whether concealed carry laws help to prevent gun crime, this thing is certain: If my loved ones or I were under attack, I would want the capability to stop the attackers. Dead in their tracks, if necessary. Wouldn’t you?

[Willie D]

What a lousy article.

The first concealed carry permits weren't mailed until the very end of Feb 2014. It is a rather bold suggestion that <30 days of having CCWers on the streets lowered the murder rate for a 3 month period. Last year there was a drop in murder rates that was 5 times larger WITHOUT any change in CCW laws. If anything the article makes a case than gun confiscations were to credit for the drop. Also, there probably aren't a whole lot of non felons to qualify for permits or even afford the $ for training classes and for permits fee in the worst neighborhoods. How many permits were issued in Cook County? Is this drop in IL greater than in other states? Maybe an improved economy is a factor?


I don't mean to be a killjoy but I can't stand crud science. It makes gun owners look dishonest or dumb.

[Deleted]

Tell me about the weather in Chicago during that time period..... if if was record cold... record snow...

[Bill67]

Tell me about the weather in Chicago during that time period..... if if was record cold... record snow...

Interesting. You could be onto something. How does this compare to birth rates for the same period? We will see in about 7 months.

[Philbert]

Very early days to be attributing anything to concealed carry.

But IL's not exactly experimental. State after state has gone shall issue and the predictions of doom have all failed.

[ungawa]

It's meaningless. Agreeing with Philbert here.

[thundrr1]

Way too early to tell....I started to forward that info and had second thoughts about the veracity of that and stopped.

[PocketProtector]

Perception is reality. If the perps perceive there is danger, and we know they are pussies, which is why GFZs are their choice, they will definitely be more selective.

Chicago winters suck EVERY YEAR. Not an explanation.

I'm doubting the genius perps were monitoring the effective dates.

All those low info idiots know is they may not be the only ones armed.

Not coincidence. These results NEVER Happened before and the crime WILL continue to decline

[Big77]

What a lousy article.

The first concealed carry permits weren't mailed until the very end of Feb 2014. It is a rather bold suggestion that <30 days of having CCWers on the streets lowered the murder rate for a 3 month period. Last year there was a drop in murder rates that was 5 times larger WITHOUT any change in CCW laws. If anything the article makes a case than gun confiscations were to credit for the drop. Also, there probably aren't a whole lot of non felons to qualify for permits or even afford the $ for training classes and for permits fee in the worst neighborhoods. How many permits were issued in Cook County? Is this drop in IL greater than in other states? Maybe an improved economy is a factor?


I don't mean to be a killjoy but I can't stand crud science. It makes gun owners look dishonest or dumb.

I could not have said it better.

[DClan]

Absolutely horrible winter for Chicago. Blistering cold temps (25 days spent below zero), officially their coldest winter ever, and within inches of being their snowiest winter ever. Gotta call it, crime down cause bad guys said it was to effing cold to slay.