Back again!
Tonight I spotted this nefarious quote on facebook.
My Response (part 1/2)
Part 2 /2
(I typed up after dinner, following other people in a heated debate)
Tonight I spotted this nefarious quote on facebook.
With everyone posting links to the news about the concealed carry ban being struck down, I was curious if the "common sense" wisdom that people who conceal carry are law abiding, and generally do not use their guns for unlawful purposes. Can anyone refute these statistics? Since 2007, fourteen police officers, 485 private citizens, twenty-three mass shootings, and thirty-five murder-suicides were commited by concealed carriers.
link: http://www.vpc.org/ccwkillers.htm
My Response (part 1/2)
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/uc....-2011/tables/expanded-homicide-data-table-15
From 2007 to 2010, 1,333 violent felons were KILLED by private citizens in self defense.
This does NOT count those who WOUNDED violent felons (most estimate 20x the number of killed, conservatively, firearms aren't nearly as lethal as the movies would have you believe).
Nor does it count violent felons which fled the scene when presented with an armed victim, or who choose victims or venues which are less likely to present armed opposition.
Part 2 /2
(I typed up after dinner, following other people in a heated debate)
After dinner I gathered up a couple of other stats which may interest you (from a purely statistical point of view):
Total Law Enforcement justifiable homicides 2007-2010 (violent felons killed): 1,622
(source, FBI: http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/uc....-2011/tables/expanded-homicide-data-table-14)
Percent effectiveness of private citizens vs. law enforcement on violent felons killed: 82.18%
Anecdotal, but worth noting; Tax dollars saved annually by private citizens by killing violent felons dead, dead, dead (estimate): $51,011,244
(Using Illinois cost per inmate as a baseline; here: http://www.vera.org/files/price-of-prisons-illinois-fact-sheet.pdf)
68,720. <<< That's how many people were murdered between 2007 and 2011, all weapon types.
534. << Violence Policy Center claims on concealed carry holders committing murders during this time period.
0.77% - contribution to the overall murder rate by concealed carry holders. (Less than 1%).
8,817,028. Number of Concealed Carry holders in United States (Source: http://legallyarmed.com/ccw_statistics.htm)
Concealed carry holders as percentage of population of US (estimate): 2.968%
(NOTE: THIS DOES NOT COUNT WYOMING AND OTHER "NON PERMIT" STATES WHERE RESIDENTS DO NOT NEED A PERMIT TO CARRY: IN EFFECT, *ALL* RESIDENTS OF THESE STATES ARE PERMIT HOLDERS.)
Percent of concealed carry holders committing homicides between 2007-2011:
0.00605%.
Yes, that's an extremely small percent.
Concealed carry holders represent around 3% of the population of the US.
Meanwhile concealed carry holders contribute less than 1% to the overall homicide rate.
*****
The conclusion to be drawn from this - and the data is VERY conclusive - is concealed carry holders are MUCH safer people to be around than the average citizen.