Atlanta: Crime on public transit falls after Right-to-Carry ban is lifted

[DaveM55]

http://www.examiner.com/x-5619-Atlan...ake-of-gun-law

Marta crime rate falls in wake of gun law permitting legalized carry of firearms on mass transit.

The Georgia General Assembly passed HB 89 in 2008, which made criminal prohibitions on carrying firearms on public transportation, in restaurants that serve alcohol, in state parks, and in wildlife management areas inapplicable to Georgians possessing a firearms license. HB 89 took effect on July 1, 2008, and many predicted mass bloodshed as a result. Nowhere was the controversy so acute as the city of Atlanta and its public transportation system.

The city of Atlanta immediately declared the airport off limits to firearms, and won a lawsuit filed by GeorgiaCarry.Org seeking to enjoin arrests of people with firearms licenses at the Atlanta airport. The other hot button issue was the carry of firearms on the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit system, known affectionately to Atlantans by the acronym MARTA. People predicted shootouts on the trains and busses, and both the city of Atlanta and MARTA officials lobbied strenuously against the bill.

MARTA bus drivers gathered more than 1,000 signatures on a petition to have bullet proof shields installed, as if Georgia firearms licensees had just been waiting for the new law to pass so that they could shoot a bus driver. "We don't want cameras. Cameras don't save people's lives. ... We want something that gives us a fighting chance," said Terry Jackson, the MARTA driver who started the petition. Beverly Scott, MARTA's general manager, called the bill "vigilantism."

Atlanta's mayor went so far as to declare, "The presumption needs to be, in order to have a safe city, that there are no concealed weapons."

MARTA Office of Government and Community Relations employee Rhonda Briggins issued a widely distributed "Call to Action!" alert calling the gun bill "a recipe for disaster."

So at the end of 2009, it is worth a look to see what actually happened to crime rates on MARTA. Since July of 2008, there have been no news stories of blazing gun battles on MARTA, which would surely have been newsworthy events. That leaves interested researchers with the publicly available crime rates, and they tell a story at odds with the hysterical predictions of 2008.

Murders drop to zero

In 2007, MARTA had two murders occur on its property. In 2008, the year the new law took effect and peaceable citizens began lawfully carrying firearms on MARTA trains and busses, the number of murders dropped to zero, and there has not been a murder reported on the system since.

Robbery rate drops

The murder rate was not the only category of violent crime to go down in the wake of the new gun law. There were 94 robberies on the MARTA system in 2007. In 2008, the year the new law took effect, the number of robberies dropped to 71, and in 2009, it has dropped again to 67 (although we still have two weeks to go).

[jahwarrior72]

what? that doesn't make any sense. you mean to tell me, nobody who had a license to carry a gun went monkeyshit and go on a killing spree?

that shit is crazy, yo.

[markheck1]

Lies! Lies!!!

That is merely coincidence, nothing more.....

move along...nothing to see here.......

[kadar]

move along...nothing to see here.......

But there is more.
Federal judge rules concealed carry is probable cause of criminal activity
Read this Federal court decision:
http://www.georgiacarry.com/marta_ra...%20Motions.pdf

http://www.georgiacarry.com/marta_raissi/

[cgbudde]

Did any anti gun group or Bloomberg coment on this report yet. I doubt they will, it makes holes in all their arguments.

[TimtheDestroy]

i'm seriously thinking about printing this and keeping it in my wallet for the next time i get in a debate.

the overall violent crime rate dropped over 8% and homicide down 19% 2007 to 2008
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_Atlanta, yes i checked other sources too)

[ehidle]

But there is more.
Federal judge rules concealed carry is probable cause of criminal activity
Read this Federal court decision:
http://www.georgiacarry.com/marta_ra...%20Motions.pdf

http://www.georgiacarry.com/marta_raissi/

Your quotation is a little misleading. Here's basically what the judge said in their opinion:

The suspect committed all of the elements of boarding while carrying a concealed weapon in plain view of the officers. The officers at that point did not need RAS because they had already been eyewitnesses to a crime in progress and could arrest on that basis alone.

It is a crime in GA to board public transit while carrying a concealed weapon. The GFL is an affirmative defense to that crime, but it is still nonetheless illegal to carry a concealed weapon on public transit.

The parallel argument to this line of reasoning is that, it is also illegal to drive without a license, so why does not the simple act of getting into a vehicle and driving it permit officers to conduct a full arrest stop, along with the incident search?

[LittleRedToyota]

The parallel argument to this line of reasoning is that, it is also illegal to drive without a license, so why does not the simple act of getting into a vehicle and driving it permit officers to conduct a full arrest stop, along with the incident search?

one line of reasoning is that most adults have drivers licenses. thus, when you see an adult driving a car, it is reasonable to assume he has a license and is legally operating the car. (or, more to the point, it is not reasonable to suspect he does not have a DL as, statistically, he probably does.)

on the other hand, very few people have carry licenses/permits...thus, when you see someone carrying a concealed gun, it might be reasonable to suspect he does not have a license/permit (since, statistically, he probably does not).

there are some counters to this logic, though.

at any rate, this ruling is not all that surprising, imho. although it isn't a popular notion around here, PA courts have ruled the same thing--see commonwealth v. robinson. (OC on foot outside of philly is a different story because you do not need a license to do it.)

[Fred762]

An armed society is a polite society seems to me. If the goomers think they might get shot by their intended victims..maybe they'll go somewheres else.