LTCF increase in States / Good Reading

[iceman9999]

Concealed Carry Permits Rise, Police-Officer Killings Decline
by David Alan Coia

12/17/2009

The number of people applying for and receiving permits to carry concealed weapons has risen dramatically throughout the United States during the last two years, and it continues to rise, yet the number of felony killings of police officers has declined just as precipitously over the same period.

Inexplicable? “This is just the type of thing that was predicted,” economist John R. Lott told HUMAN EVENTS. Lott, author of More Guns, Less Crime (Chicago University Press), pointed to research done eight years ago by David P. Mustard and published in Chicago University’s Journal of Law and Economics.

“States that enact concealed-carry laws are less likely to have a felonious police death and more likely to have lower rates of felonious police deaths after the law is passed,” Mustard concluded in his 2001 journal article.


A sampling of concealed-carry permit (CCP) activity in various states illustrates the increase in demand for concealed weapons:

Ohio: Sheriffs issued 33,864 regular CCPs in 2008, 53% more than in 2007 (73 temporary emergency licenses were also issued), according to the Buckeye Firearms Association.

Oklahoma: As of June, the state had 78,000 CCP holders, with more than 21,000 CCPs issued in 2008 -- twice the number issued in 2007, according to The Oklahoman newspaper.

Utah: The Bureau of Criminal Identification processed 2,548 CCP applications in February 2008 and 8,142 in February 2009. For March the numbers were 4,412 in 2008 and 10,878 in 2009.

Forsyth County, N.C.: In the first six months of 2007 there were 1,362 applications for permits to buy pistols, the Winston-Salem Journal reported. In the same time period in 2008 and 2009, there were 1,974 and 2,935 applications, respectively.

Despite the increase in the number of legally carried concealed weapons, 41 law enforcement officers were feloniously killed in 2008, a decline of 17 killings from the previous year’s total, according to the 2008 U.S. Department of Justice report, Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted. Firearms were used in 35 of those killings, 25 of which were by handguns. Many other police officers died in the line of duty, but the majority of those deaths resulted from auto accidents during police chases.

The 41 killings is the lowest in recent decades, matched only in 1999 when there were 42 felonious killings of police officers, 25 of which were also by handguns.

“Letting law-abiding citizens carry guns reduces the rate at which criminals are carrying guns,” Lott said. Armed citizens increase the risk to armed criminals, who typically prefer to avoid life-threatening risk and so are less likely to use guns in the commission of a crime, he said.

Lott explained that where there is an increase in CCPs, there is also a drop in violent crime relative to property crime -- fewer armed robberies and more larcenies. Also, criminals tend to move from areas in which more citizens are armed, resulting in an increase in crime in counties and states that restrict gun ownership and CCPs.

“License holders, like gun owners in general, are not the extremists the anti-gun crowd tries to paint,” Jim Irvine, chairman of the Buckeye Firearms Association, told the Chillicothe, Ohio Gazette in June. “They are honorable citizens who want protection from real dangers. Responsible people carry a gun to protect them from a criminal attack.”

“To date [Oct. 2001] we have no examples of law-abiding citizens with concealed-weapons permits assaulting police officers,” Mustard wrote. “In contrast, there is at least one example of such a citizen coming to the aid of an officer,”

“Criminals tend to avoid activities that are risky to them,” said Lott. Chicago University Press this spring will issue a third edition of More Guns, Less Crime, which Lott has updated to include an additional decade of information. The first two editions sold more than 100,000 copies, according to the publisher.


COMMENTS BELOW FROM READERS OF STORY:

Yes the negative ramifications from gun laws is becoming quite obvious. Fortunately, the United States is moving rapidly forward in the effort to decrease criminal activity through the arming of all the willing, responsible and patriotic citizens. We wish Britain and Australia the same clear headed approach to the abatement of crime in the near future.


Unfortunately, until the upcoming Supreme Court case on the 14th Admendment is decided, gun ownership, rights and priviledges here in the US are based upon which zip you live in.

“An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.” - Robert A. Heinlein

[jtwalker]

I took notice when FL passed their concealed carry permit/license law that there seemed to be a big rash of rental cars being jacked. I figured the bad guys knew that average Joe Florida might not want to give up his car and fight back with some lead, but the people leaving the airports in a rental probably don't have a weapon (not saying they couldn't, but chances probably go down).

So, why not jack a rental car leaving the airport ... it's safer.

[truecrimson]

I took notice when FL passed their concealed carry permit/license law that there seemed to be a big rash of rental cars being jacked. I figured the bad guys knew that average Joe Florida might not want to give up his car and fight back with some lead, but the people leaving the airports in a rental probably don't have a weapon (not saying they couldn't, but chances probably go down).

So, why not jack a rental car leaving the airport ... it's safer.

Actually that was studied and proven to be correct. Unfortunately I don't have any references for the articles I read on it because it was a long long time ago.

Remember how rental cars all used to have big company bumper stickers? Ever notice that they mostly don't anymore? Most car rental companies changed their policy on big stickers after it they discovered that criminals were using them to select targets from among vehicles leaving the airports. Criminals in Florida could generally presume that a person leaving the airport in a rental had passed at least 1 and very likely 2 airports security checks and didn't have a gun. They admitted it in interviews.

[iceman9999]

It is simple amazing how Crooks go out of there way and find an advantage to rob someone..

[joecon]

Good report! We know this--the anti gun people know this too--they just don't want to admit it though!!

[iceman9999]

SOME MORE INFORMATION..


Tenn. demonstrates trend of looser guns laws
By ERIK SCHELZIG - Associated Press Writer


NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- It's been the year of the gun in Tennessee. In a flurry of legislative action, handgun owners won the right to take their weapons onto sports fields and playgrounds and, at least briefly, into bars.

A change in leadership at the state Capitol helped open the doors to the gun-related bills and put Tennessee at the forefront of a largely unnoticed trend: In much of the country, it is getting easier to carry guns.

A nationwide review by The Associated Press found that over the last two years, 24 states, mostly in the South and West, have passed 47 new laws loosening gun restrictions.


A sign declaring that no guns are permitted is posted on the door of Tootsie's Orchid Lounge. On Thursday, Dec. 10, 2009 in Nashville, Tenn. In Tennessee, properly licensed handgun owners won the right to carry their weapons into bars, restaurants that serve alcohol, sports fields and even playgrounds, but many bars have since decided to keep gun bans in place and more than 70 communities have opted out of allowing guns in parks.


Among other things, legislatures have allowed firearms to be carried in cars, made it illegal to ask job candidates whether they own a gun, and expanded agreements that make permits to carry handguns in one state valid in another.

The trend is attributed in large part to a push by the National Rifle Association. The NRA, which for years has blocked attempts in Washington to tighten firearms laws, has ramped up its efforts at the state level to chip away at gun restrictions.

"This is all a coordinated approach to respect that human, God-given right of self defense by law-abiding Americans," says Chris W. Cox, the NRA's chief lobbyist. "We'll rest when all 50 states allow and respect the right of law-abiding people to defend themselves from criminal attack."
Among the recent gun-friendly laws:

Arizona, Florida, Louisiana and Utah have made it illegal for businesses to bar their employees from storing guns in cars parked on company lots.

Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, South Carolina and Virginia have made some or all handgun permit information confidential.

Montana, Arizona and Kansas have allowed handgun permits to be issued to people who have had their felony convictions expunged or their full civil rights restored.

Tennessee and Montana have passed laws that exempt weapons made and owned in-state from federal restrictions. Tennessee is the home to Barrett Firearms Manufacturing, the maker of a .50-caliber shoulder-fired rifle that the company says can shoot bullets up to five miles and is banned in California.

The AP compiled the data on new laws from groups ranging from the Legal Community Against Violence, which advocates gun control, to the NRA.

Public attitudes toward gun control have shifted strongly over the past 50 years, according to Gallup polling. In 1959, 60 percent of respondents said they favored a ban on handguns except for "police and other authorized persons." By last year, Gallup's most recent crime survey found 69 percent opposed such a ban.

The NRA boasts that almost all states grant handgun permits to people with clean criminal and psychological records. In 1987, only 10 states did. Only Wisconsin, Illinois and the District of Columbia now prohibit carrying concealed handguns entirely.

"The NRA has a stranglehold on a lot of state legislatures," said Kristin Rand, legislative director of the Violence Policy Center, a gun control group in Washington. "They basically have convinced lawmakers they can cost them their seats, even though there's no real evidence to back that up."


Tennessee's new laws came after the Republican takeover of the General Assembly this year, but most other states that loosened restrictions didn't experience major partisan shifts. Most of the states where the new laws were enacted have large rural populations, where support for gun rights tends to cross party lines.

While some states have tightened gun laws during the same period, the list of new restrictive laws is much shorter. In 2009 alone, more than three times as many laws were passed to make it easier on gun owners.

[Glock It]

Actually that was studied and proven to be correct. Unfortunately I don't have any references for the articles I read on it because it was a long long time ago.

Remember how rental cars all used to have big company bumper stickers? Ever notice that they mostly don't anymore? Most car rental companies changed their policy on big stickers after it they discovered that criminals were using them to select targets from among vehicles leaving the airports. Criminals in Florida could generally presume that a person leaving the airport in a rental had passed at least 1 and very likely 2 airports security checks and didn't have a gun. They admitted it in interviews.

I live in S Fla and used to live in the area of Miami near South Beach. I rememebr when all the car jackings/killings were going on daily w/the rental cars and tourists. You are right almost immed the rental car stickers went away, even the lic plate changes. You could tell a rental by the first three #'s on the plate and the county name on the bottom. Now ALL lic plates simply say Sunshine State vs Dade or Broward county