A Doctor Talks About Guns
Legally Owned Guns Do Far More Good than Harm
Bullets vs. Bull manure, part two
Guns: The best health insurance
[snip]
Legally Owned Guns Do Far More Good than Harm
Bullets vs. Bull manure, part two
Guns: The best health insurance
In the last Dose, I posited that earlier in American history, a Winchester rifle was the most potent health insurance (it was the only kind, really) most people could get. I also alluded to how this might still be the case today…
Seriously, folks – despite all the mainstream’s trumped-up claims about the dangers of firearms (the one about a gun in the home being more likely to harm the homeowner than a criminal cracks me up), the real statistics firmly cement the fact that legally owned and carried guns do far, far more good than harm.
Cases in point, from public records: In U.S. states that DON’T ALLOW law-abiding citizens to pack heat without restriction…
There are 89% more violent crimes than in states that allow “concealed carry” (that’s gun-speak for being legal to carry a hidden firearm on your person)
There are 127% more murders than in states that allow concealed carry
There are 25% more rapes than in states that allow concealed carry
There are 96% more aggravated assaults than in states that allow concealed carry
There are 106% more robberies than in states that allow concealed carry.[snip]
In the seven-year period following the adoption of such laws, U.S. states that allowed unrestricted (or virtually so) concealed-carrying of handguns enjoyed an average:
27% reduction in violent crime
31% reduction in murders
16% reduction in robberies
26% reduction in aggravated assault
8% reduction in rapes
There’s more but try telling that to the AMA. Now, I know that correlation is not causation but it does show that CCW laws and access to guns don’t cause an increase in crime.
May 17th, 2006 at 8:58 am
State to state comparisons are worthless. Before and after comparisons of a single state are a lot more interesting, but only with the appropriate regression analysis. Without controling for other variables, it’s impossible to tell from these figures whether CCW (1) reduced crime by up to 27% (because all other factors combined would have reduced crime by less than 27%), (2) had no impact at all (because all other factors combined would have reduced crime by exactly 27%), or (3) increased violent crime (because all other factors would have reduced violent crime by more than 27%).
One factor I would have liked to have seen addressed is what happened in the same jurisdictions during the same period with respect to non-violent, non-confrontational crimes everyone can agree are unlikely to be either caused or deterred by CCW. If those crimes went up while violent crime went down, that’s a very strong argument for the deterrent effect of CCW. But if everything went down by roughly the same margin, it sounds like something else may be at play. And this might be one instance where state-to-state comparisons may not be entirely worthless after all, not with respect to their total rates, but with respect to trends. What happened to violent crime rates in no-issue and capricious issue states during the same period? My guess is that all categories of crime dropped there, too, but not necessarily by the same margin as in right to carry states. If so, the difference may be attributable to CCW.
I’d be interested in seeing what happened to nonviolent and/or non-confrontational crimes
May 17th, 2006 at 9:00 am
Speaking of, since you’re no longer in Cali, have you gotten a CCW permit yet?
May 17th, 2006 at 9:16 am
Yes and no. I’ve had a Utah permit since 1999, which I think is valid in VA but I’m not positive about that, nor am I keen to experiment. I have applied for a permit locally, which should be issued any day now. Assuming my UT permit is valid here, the main purpose of a local permit is to be exempt from the “gun of the month” law. With luck the permit will arrive before this weekend’s gun show.
May 17th, 2006 at 9:24 am
packing.org says VA does honor Utah’s permit.
May 17th, 2006 at 9:26 am
the state of VA concurs
May 17th, 2006 at 9:58 am
That sounds right, and consistent with my prior research, which is the main reason why I procrastinated my CCW application as long as I did. I’m still not sure if the UT permit will get me out of the gun of the month law, though. Even if it does, it could be a pain having to explain that to every firearms dealer at the show. Just the other day I was at a local range and gun shop, located a whopping 1/2 block from State Police headquarters, and they couldn’t even figure out if my UT permit was valid for carry in the Commonwealth. I didn’t dare ask whether a UT permit was valid for multiple purchase, for fear that his head might explode.