How many people carry concealed weapons?

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Headless Thompson Gunner

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Does anyone know where I can find statistics concerning the percentage of the general population that carries concealed?

So many people that aren't into firearms don't realize just how many of us carry. They never see anyone carying, so they assume that nobody does it. Then they conclude that if people were to start carrying in any appreciable number that "the streets would run red with blood." The fact that we already carry and the streets don't actually run red proves that carrying is a safe, sane and responsible thing to do.

The key to this, however, is to be able to prove just how many people actually do carry without any incident. So, does anyone know where I could find the relevant statistics? ("Unbiased" sources would be preferred over, say, the NRA...)
 
Statistics are one thing. Now add to that the whole slew of people who are generally law abiding folks, who carry illegally. People who just don't know any better, people who refuse to obey a law they find contemptous etc.

I would venture a guess a whole lot of folks would fall into the non-licensed weapon carrier pot and I am not thinking about real "Criminals". Yes these folks are breaking a law and are therefore "criminals" but for all intents and purposes they are law abiding good folk. Am I making sense??
 
Biased or unbiased, the number is, if at all proportionate to permit issuance, going to be in the single digit percentage of gun owners nationwide.

To be useful though, that number would have to assume we're talking only about people who, although carrying illegally, would not be barred from handgun ownership otherwise.

Even on THR the number of people who carry even most of the time isn't anywhere close to 100%.
 
You may be able to find numbers on how many people have permits, but only a percentage of those actually carry with any regularity. There's no way to know what that percentage is, as far as I can see.

- Gabe
 
I was going to say NJ has like 600 but this article from (the evil) HCI says is 4300 - from 1998 and I think McGreedy did his best to confiscate as many as possible so think of that as the high end.

Article lists other states as well but again, old data. I'd guess the number is higher today with so many more states going right to carry in the last few years.

http://www.commondreams.org/pressreleases/081498a.htm

If you wanted to look at the official numbers, the NRA or packing.org might have data or you might need to fish on each states web page (links on packing.org)
 
Weapons? I'd guess 80% of men have a knife in their pocket. How 'bout you?

How many stabbings every day? Hmmmm.
 
I can't carry a weapon legally but I carry legal defensive tools every day. Two 4" folding knives to be specific. You can see the clips and tops of the knives in my pockets but no one seems to notice until I pull one out to open something.

Add those who are prepared to defend themselves within the letter of the law and the numbers swell a bit. Add those who are more confident in what is right than what is legal and the numbers swell even higher.
 
In compliance with regulatory requirements or, NOT in compliance with regulatory requirements?
 
I shoulda been more clear. I wanted to know the percentage the population that holds a CCW permit, organized state by state if possible. The info provided by geekWithA.45 is perfect. Thanks!

I realize that a substantial number of people carry a handgun without a permit, and I respect their decision to do so. Likewise, I know that lots of people carry other effective weapons with which to defend themselves.

My purpose was not to convince myself that other people are equipped to defend themselves. I already knew this. What I wanted was proof/evidence to present to nonshooters that would convince them of what we already know: carrying a weapon is a sane, normal, common and intelligent practice.

Thanks for the help, fellas.
 
I'd be willing to bet that number is nowhere near 80%, probably not even approaching 20%.
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I suppose it depends a lot on where you're from. It also depends on what kinda crowds you travel with.

Amongst my friends, I can think of only one person (out of about a dozen) who doesn't carry a knife. In fact, most of us carry two or three blades. Even the girls carry one or two knives each.
 
From the Blog posting:


Total licensees among the Shall Issue states (excluding Georgia and New Hampshire): 3,079,246
Click to expand...


Does anyone know the total number of police officers in the U.S.? I'm just curious for a comparison.
 
I find it interesting that there are far more CCW holders than police.
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Interesting indeed. That's 4.6 CCW holders for 1 cop nationally.

As a criminal, you're 4.6 times more likely to run into a armed private citizen than to run into a police officer. I'm not so sure I'd like those odds if I were a criminal.

In my home state, Indiana, there are 10,600 police officers, and 420,000 permit holders. That's 40 permit holders for each cop!! Or, to look at it another way, private citizens carrying concealed account for 97.5% of the people lawfully carrying handguns in Indiana. (Assuming that all permit holders carry...)

Thanks for pointing out an interesting way to view the information, io333.
 
As a criminal, you're 4.6 times more likely to run into a armed private citizen than to run into a police officer. I'm not so sure I'd like those odds if I were a criminal.
Click to expand...

Good way to look at it - 3 mill out of 300 mil sounded like a small number to me initially, but thinking about how often I see a police officer during the course of your daily activities, then figuring I would see 4.6 times that number of people carrying puts a different spin on it. (I insert "would" in that sentence due to a certain vote in the recent effort to make my state permit concealed carry).
 
Alameda county

Here's a link to California's CCW Issuances:

http://caag.state.ca.us/firearms/fo...cwissuances.pdf
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I live in Fremont in the bay area and noticed that this list has 203 CCW's for Alameda county (east bay of the bay area for you out of CA folks). I'm surprised that there are that many here. I wonder how they got them - city or county, since County sherriff Plummer is very anti-gun.
 
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