|
Do You Feel Safer Sitting Next to Someone Carrying a Gun?
Many people say no to that question, and for good reason. Most people who have permits to carry concealed weapons - people who are not law enforcement officers - have limited training and undergo less testing than even a novice police recruit. Yet they are led to believe that, given a dangerous situation, they will use deadly force with the same care and consideration that police officers will. Once a bullet leaves a gun, who is to say that it will stop only a criminal? Yet the National Rifle Association (NRA) at every opportunity uses the fear of crime to promote the need for ordinary citizens to secretly pack a gun. Ironically, the NRA forbids its own members from carrying guns into the NRA's national convention, but they want to force the rest of us to let those people carry guns into our schools, restaurants, parks, sports stadiums, streets, and anywhere else they want.
The History
The carrying of concealed weapons (CCW) was prohibited or severely limited in most states prior to the mid-1990's. After its stunning losses on the Brady Bill and the assault weapon ban in 1993-94, the NRA needed a win - and turned to its traditional strongholds in state legislatures. By 1995, the NRA made the radical liberalization of CCW laws at the state level its top political priority, arguing that ordinary people carrying hidden weapons would actually reduce the nation's soaring crime rates. The NRA's not-so-hidden agenda: increasing gun ownership in general and increasing the sales of concealable handguns - at a time when gun sales had gone flat - in particular. In the first year of its new campaign, the gun lobby was successful, and many states changed their laws to allow the widespread carrying of hidden handguns.
To bolster its campaign to have more citizens carry concealed weapons, the gun lobby often relies on the faulty work of economist John Lott, who attempts to link liberal CCW laws with lower crime rates. However, several eminent criminologists have published peer-reviewed studies debunking this flawed research. (See John Lott Q&A). In what may be most conclusive refutation of pro-CCW propaganda, in April 1999, Missouri citizens voted against liberalizing that state's CCW laws in the first-ever state referendum on the issue. The NRA spent almost $4 million (nearly five times the amount the opposition spent) to win what it called "the last great gun battle of the 20th century" and lost. Clearly, when asked if more hidden guns on their streets made them feel safer, most people say "No."
CCW: Why or Why Not?
The number of crime victims who successfully use firearms to defend themselves is quite small. According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reports and the Centers for Disease Control, out of 30,708 Americans who died by gunfire in 1998, only 316 were shot in justifiable homicides by private citizens with firearms. More guns = more crime - or at least a much smaller reduction in the crime rate. A 1999 study by the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence (formerly the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence), using FBI crime statistics, demonstrated that liberalizing CCW laws may have an adverse effect on a state's crime rate. Between 1992 and 1998, the violent crime rate in states which kept strict CCW laws fell by an average of 30%. The violent crime rate for the states that had weak CCW laws during this same time saw their violent crime rates drop by only 15%. Nationally, violent crime declined by 25% during that same period. (Click here to see the study, Concealed Truth.) Clearly, states with stricter CCW laws have found more effective ways to reduce their crime rates than letting more people carry hidden handguns. The gun lobby claims that only law-abiding citizens get CCW permits. But an August 2000 study by the Violence Policy Center revealed that, from January 1996 through April 2000, the arrest rate for weapon-related offenses among Texas concealed handgun license holders was 66% higher than that of the general adult population of Texas. CCW license holders are committing crimes - including murder, rape, assault and burglary - but because the gun lobby makes it difficult if not impossible for the public to determine if a shooter has a CCW license in most states, the full story has not yet been told. Law-abiding citizens with the best intentions underestimate how hard it is to use a gun for self-defense successfully. Even highly-trained police officers lose control of their handguns; according to the FBI, 5 out of 41 law enforcement officers (12%) killed by gunfire in the line of duty in 1999 were killed by an adversary with the officer's own service weapon. And police officers know that the very sight of a gun can escalate a situation, so that instead of simply losing your wallet, you can lose your life. That's why almost every major law enforcement organization - including the International Brotherhood of Police Officers and the International Association of Chiefs of Police - opposes the weakening of CCW laws. (See Law Enforcement Relations) An armed society is an at-risk society. Many permit holders have been stripped of their permits for criminal behavior - and even law-abiding people get angry, drunk, careless or confused, make mistakes, and escalate minor arguments into deadly gun-play. (For more information, see The Incident File.)
The Laws
Carrying-concealed-weapons (CCW) laws have nothing to do with private firearms ownership in the home. They relate solely to allowing individuals to carry their concealed guns almost anywhere in the community.
Much of the CCW debate is couched in somewhat obscure language. The gun lobby is pushing for "shall issue" CCW laws, which force law enforcement to issue a CCW license to anyone who meets that state's requirements. In many states, these requirements are minimal and do not go much beyond the federal Brady Law requirements for purchasing firearms - meaning that some people get CCW permits despite criminal convictions for violent or drug-related misdemeanors or domestic violence restraining orders. Training requirements are extremely lax in many states and do not even include proof that a licensee knows how to load, fire or store a firearm. And, although some states forbid the carrying of concealed weapons in certain government buildings, some shall-issue states allow concealed weapons in bars, daycare centers, sports stadiums and other public places where firearms should clearly be prohibited. Four states - Alabama, New Hampshire, Oregon and Utah - even permit CCW permit holders to secretly carry guns into school classrooms at will.
The National Rifle Association (NRA) is now trying to make the "shall-issue" CCW state laws even worse. The NRA is campaigning to overturn all restrictions on carrying hidden handguns - so they can secretly carry guns into schools, bars, sports stadiums and other public places. NRA wants to repeal all safety training requirements and overturn mental health background check laws. And most cynically, the NRA is pushing new laws that would forbid disclosure of the fact that someone who used a gun illegally had a CCW permit - so no one will ever know when people illegally use their CCW-permitted gun to kill or threaten other people.
The Brady Campaign believes there should be strict limits on public carrying of concealed handguns. If CCW permits are going to be issues, law enforcement should have broad discretion to issue or deny CCW permits based on what is best for public safety. In states that provide law enforcement discretion, most police agencies are cautious about letting people carry concealed handguns in public.
Click here to read a summary of state CCW laws. |
