Don B. Kates, Jr. St. Louis University School of Law Study:
Florida's success should come as no surprise. A study conducted by Don B. Kates, Jr., at the St. Louis University School of Law found that armed citizens were very responsible about carrying handguns on the street. The study reported that while police were successful in shooting or driving off criminals 68 percent of the time, private citizens succeeded 83 percent of the time. Most importantly, while 11 percent of the individuals involved in police shootings were later found to be innocents misidentified as criminals, only 2 percent of those in civilian shootings were so misidentified. Since private citizens in urban areas encounter and kill up to three times as many criminals as do law enforcement authorities, the track record of the private citizen is very impressive. And Florida's experience proves it once again.
Oregon CCW Law Is A Success:
Oregon has also experienced unqualified success with its concealed carry law. Over sixty thousand licenses have been issued-not one has been revoked. Simply put, concealed carry is a right and a necessity that in no way diminishes the importance or challenges the competence of police.
Criminologist Peter Rossi and James Wright Research:
Nor does competent research in other areas support the predictions of the anti-gun forces-that allowing law-abiding citizens fair protection against the criminal element in society increases the violence. A government-funded survey of 1,874 felons by respected criminologists Peter Rossi and James Wright, designed to determine the "experiences" of convicted felons with firearms and their "perceptions" of gun laws, found that about 40 percent of the felons sampled said they decided not to commit a crime because they feared the victim was carrying a firearm. Thirty-four percent had been "scared off, shot at, wounded or captured by an armed victim."
John R. Lott, Jr. University of Chicago Study:
1. Mass public shootings are actively deterred in states that allow civilians to carry concealed handguns.
2. Men and especially women who use guns to resist assailants are significantly less likely to be seriously injured in violent crimes.
3. Contrary to arguments favored by gun-control advocates, legal possession of concealed handguns does not raise the number of accidental firearms deaths or suicides.
4. Knowing that some homeowners may be armed discourages burglars from breaking into occupied dwellings.
5. Despite fears that concealed carry laws would result in minor heat-of-the moment traffic altercations becoming deadly or in police officers being accidentally shot, "there exists only one recorded incident of a permitted, concealed handgun being used in a shooting following a traffic accident, Lott asserts. "No permit holder ahs ever shot a police officer, and there have been cases where permit holders have used their guns to save officers' lives.
6. Lott studied 14 states that adopted right-to-carry laws between 1987 and 1995. Before the states passed these laws, their number of mass public shootings per 100,000 population was .0136. After they passed right-to-carry legislation, that figure dropped to .002 per 100,000 people-a decline of 84%.
7. For each decline of 1% in gun ownership, there has been a 3% increase in violent crime. Allowing citizens to carry concealed handguns reduces violent crimes and the reductions coincide very closely with the number of concealed handgun permits issued.
8. In 98% of the time that civilians use guns defensively they merely have to brandish a weapon to break off an attack.
9. Women who offer no resistance to a violent attacker are 2.5 times more likely to suffer serious injury than women who resist with a gun.
10. More children die in bicycle accidents each year than die from all types of firearm accidents.
11. More innocent people are accidentally shot by police officers in a year than by gun-wielding fellow civilians.
Florida's success should come as no surprise. A study conducted by Don B. Kates, Jr., at the St. Louis University School of Law found that armed citizens were very responsible about carrying handguns on the street. The study reported that while police were successful in shooting or driving off criminals 68 percent of the time, private citizens succeeded 83 percent of the time. Most importantly, while 11 percent of the individuals involved in police shootings were later found to be innocents misidentified as criminals, only 2 percent of those in civilian shootings were so misidentified. Since private citizens in urban areas encounter and kill up to three times as many criminals as do law enforcement authorities, the track record of the private citizen is very impressive. And Florida's experience proves it once again.
Oregon CCW Law Is A Success:
Oregon has also experienced unqualified success with its concealed carry law. Over sixty thousand licenses have been issued-not one has been revoked. Simply put, concealed carry is a right and a necessity that in no way diminishes the importance or challenges the competence of police.
Criminologist Peter Rossi and James Wright Research:
Nor does competent research in other areas support the predictions of the anti-gun forces-that allowing law-abiding citizens fair protection against the criminal element in society increases the violence. A government-funded survey of 1,874 felons by respected criminologists Peter Rossi and James Wright, designed to determine the "experiences" of convicted felons with firearms and their "perceptions" of gun laws, found that about 40 percent of the felons sampled said they decided not to commit a crime because they feared the victim was carrying a firearm. Thirty-four percent had been "scared off, shot at, wounded or captured by an armed victim."
John R. Lott, Jr. University of Chicago Study:
1. Mass public shootings are actively deterred in states that allow civilians to carry concealed handguns.
2. Men and especially women who use guns to resist assailants are significantly less likely to be seriously injured in violent crimes.
3. Contrary to arguments favored by gun-control advocates, legal possession of concealed handguns does not raise the number of accidental firearms deaths or suicides.
4. Knowing that some homeowners may be armed discourages burglars from breaking into occupied dwellings.
5. Despite fears that concealed carry laws would result in minor heat-of-the moment traffic altercations becoming deadly or in police officers being accidentally shot, "there exists only one recorded incident of a permitted, concealed handgun being used in a shooting following a traffic accident, Lott asserts. "No permit holder ahs ever shot a police officer, and there have been cases where permit holders have used their guns to save officers' lives.
6. Lott studied 14 states that adopted right-to-carry laws between 1987 and 1995. Before the states passed these laws, their number of mass public shootings per 100,000 population was .0136. After they passed right-to-carry legislation, that figure dropped to .002 per 100,000 people-a decline of 84%.
7. For each decline of 1% in gun ownership, there has been a 3% increase in violent crime. Allowing citizens to carry concealed handguns reduces violent crimes and the reductions coincide very closely with the number of concealed handgun permits issued.
8. In 98% of the time that civilians use guns defensively they merely have to brandish a weapon to break off an attack.
9. Women who offer no resistance to a violent attacker are 2.5 times more likely to suffer serious injury than women who resist with a gun.
10. More children die in bicycle accidents each year than die from all types of firearm accidents.
11. More innocent people are accidentally shot by police officers in a year than by gun-wielding fellow civilians.