Dangers of Concealed Carry: Loaded, Hidden Handguns

CONCEALED WEAPONS, CONCEALED RISK

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.¹  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? 

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.  The NRA is working to create a world where people carry guns into schools, bars, parks, courts, churches, and just about anywhere else they like.²  To see some examples of the behavior of permit holders, read our fact sheet, "Assorted Crimes and Misdeeds by CCW Licensees."  These incidents are sure to make you think twice about the wisdom of ordinary citizens carrying loaded hidden handguns into public. 

To see current action steps on guns in public places, click here (guns in parks), here (guns in schools) or here (guns in the workplace).

The carrying of concealed weapons (CCW) was prohibited or severely limited in most states prior to the mid-1990's, with law enforcement officers allowed to exercise discretion in deciding who was qualified to carry a concealed weapon.  After what the NRA saw as stunning losses in 1993-94 – enactment of the Brady Background Check Bill and the Federal Assault Weapons Ban – the NRA needed a win, and turned to its traditional strongholds in state legislatures.  By 1995, the NRA had made the radical overhaul 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.³  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.⁴

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.⁵  However, several eminent criminologists have published peer-reviewed studies debunking this flawed research.⁶   In April 1999, in what may be the most conclusive refutation of pro-CCW propaganda yet, Missouri citizens voted in the first-ever state referendum on this issue NOT to relaxing the state's CCW laws.⁷   The NRA spent almost $4 million (nearly five times the amount the opposition spent) trying to win what it called "the last great gun battle of the 20th century," and lost.⁸   The case of Missouri provides a strong indicator that, when asked directly if more hidden guns on their streets make them feel safer, most people say "No."

CCW: Why or Why Not?

• The gun lobby claims that all concealed permit holders are "law-abiding" citizens and will use their concealed handguns to deter and thwart crime.  This is not a true statement, as documented by the crimes and misdeeds committed by permit holders every day.  Click here to see a list of misdeeds by permit holders. 
• 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 29,569 Americans who died by gunfire in 2004, only 229 were shot in justifiable homicides by private citizens with firearms.⁹
• More guns = more crime, or at the very least they impede reduction of 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 relaxing CCW laws may have an adverse effect on a state's crime rate.¹⁰   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.¹¹   These numbers indicate that states with stricter CCW laws have found more effective ways to reduce their crime rates than simply letting more people carry hidden handguns.
• The gun lobby claims that only law-abiding citizens end up with CCW permits.  From 1996 to 2000, Texas concealed handgun license holders were arrested for weapon-related offenses at a rate 81 percent higher than that of the general population of Texas, aged 21 and older.¹² These weapon-related offenses include arrests for 279 assaults or aggravated
  assaults with a deadly weapon, 671 unlawfully carrying a weapon, and 172 deadly conduct/discharge firearm.¹³   However, because in most states the gun lobby has made it difficult if not impossible for the public to determine if a shooter has a CCW license, the full story has not yet been told.¹⁴
• Law-abiding citizens with the best intentions underestimate how hard it is to successfully use a gun for self-defense.  Even highly-trained police officers lose control of their handguns; in 2003, one-fifth of law enforcement officers who were killed by gunfire in the line of duty (10 officers) were killed by an adversary using the officer's own service weapon (or that of their partner).¹⁵   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.¹⁶
• 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.¹⁷

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 statutory requirements, and eliminate any discretion on the part of the law enforcement officer providing the permit.¹⁸  In many states, statutory 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.  Training requirements are extremely lax in many states or do not even require a licensee to prove that he or she knows how to load, fire, or store a firearm.¹⁹   Although some states forbid the carrying of concealed weapons in certain government buildings, some shall-issue states allow concealed weapons in daycare centers, sports stadiums and churches.²⁰  Utah even permits CCW permit holders to secretly carry guns into school classrooms – something South Carolina has considered as well.²¹

The NRA is now trying to make the "shall-issue" CCW state laws even worse, by campaigning to overturn restrictions on the carrying of hidden handguns.  The NRA also wants to repeal safety training requirements and mental health background check laws related to CCW permits.  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, preventing the public from knowing when an individual illegally used their CCW-permitted gun to threaten, injure, or kill.

There should be strict limits on public carrying of concealed handguns.  If CCW permits are going to be issued, law enforcement should have broad discretion to issue or deny CCW permits based on what is best for public safety.  In states that allow for law enforcement discretion, most police agencies are more cautious about whom they allow to carry concealed handguns in public.

Endnotes

1. Training requirements for CCW permits vary from state to state, ranging from 16 hours of training to no training at all.  Only some states require trainees to spend any time actually shooting a gun on a range, while others require only classroom time.  See, e.g., Utah Code Ann. § 53-11-108 (16 hours, no range requirement); Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. § 28.425j(1) (5 hours classroom, 3 hours range); S.C. Code Ann. § 23-31-215(B)(5) (“proof of training”); N.Y. Penal Law § 400.00(1) (training only required in Westchester County); Alaska Stat. § 18.65.715 (any department-approved course); Vermont: no gun laws of any kind.
2.Robert Tanner, States Looking to Broaden Weapons Access, Sunday Gazette-Mail (Charleston, W. Va.), April 10, 2005.
3. NRA.org, Right to Carry 2007, http://www.nraila.org/Issues/FactSheets/Read.aspx?id=18 (last visited Aug. 9, 2007).
4. Id.
5. John R. Lott, Jr., More Guns, Less Crime: Understanding Crime and Gun Control Laws. (University of Chicago Press 1998).
6. See John Lott’s More Guns, Less Crime: An Alternate Q&A; http://www.bradycampaign.org/facts/ research/?page=lott_mglc&menu=pro.
7. Thomas Spencer, Does the NRA Mistrust Democracy? History News Network, April 29, 2002, http://hnn.us/articles/701.html; Robert Tanner, "States Looking to Broaden Weapons Access," Sunday Gazette-Mail (Charleston, W. Va.), April 10, 2005.
8. Spencer, supra note 10.
9.FBI, Crime in the United States: 2004, http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius_04/offenses_reported/ violent_crime/murder.html; CDC, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, http://webapp.cdc. gov/sasweb/ncipc/mortrate.html (follow “Data from 1999 and later” hyperlink; fill in “firearm” bubble; set “Year(s) of Report” to 2004; then follow “submit request” hyperlink) (last visited Aug. 9, 2007).
10.The Brady Campaign, Concealed Truth: Concealed Weapons Laws and Trends in Violent Crime in the United States (1999), http://www.bradycampaign.org/facts/research/?page=conctruth& menu=gvr (or follow this link: Concealed Truth).
11.Id.
12. Violence Policy Center, License to Kill IV: More Guns, More Crime (June2002):5, http://www.vpc.org/graphics/ltk4.pdf.
13. Id.
14. In more than half of states, concealed carry permit holders’ identities may not be disclosed; see, e.g., Editorial, "Florida Neglects Gun Threat,"  St. Petersburg Times, Jan. 31, 2007 (detailing Florida’s removal of CCW permits from the public record).
15. Jaime Adame, "Police Killed With Their Own Guns," Gotham Gazette, Sept. 2004.
16. See http://www.bradycenter.org/ler/.
 17. See The Incident File, http://www.bradycampaign.org/facts/research/?page =incident&menu=gvr.
18. See, e.g., Mo. Rev. Stat. § 571.101(6) - (7) (requiring that the sheriff “shall issue” a CCW permit to anyone who meets the statutory qualifications).
19. See, e.g., Utah Code Ann. § 53-11-108; S.C. Code Ann. § 23-31-215(B)(5).
20. See Editorial, "Guns for the Asking," Washington Post, April 20, 2007, A30 (Va. bill to prohibit guns in daycare died in state senate committee); Handgun Bill Goes to the Governor, WCCO.com (St. Paul, Minn.), May 18, 2005 (legislators defeat attempt to ban guns from sports venues); "Utah Gun Laws and the Church," Religion and Ethics Newsweekly,  July 23, 2004, Episode 747, http://www.pbs.org/wnet/ religionandethics/week747/feature.html (discussing Utah law allowing guns in churches).
21. See Daniel C. Vock and Pauline Vu, Va. Tech Tragedy Revives Gun Controversy, Stateline.org, April 17, 2007 (Virginia allows students 21 and older to bring permitted firearms to campus); "Proposed South Carolina Legislation Would Allow Concealed Weapons on Campus," The Columbia State, May 8, 2007.