Title: Packing Heat in the Tar Heel State: A County-Level Assessment of Concealed Carry Permits

Publication Date: March 2010

What does it say?

North Carolina counties show variations in the rate of permits to carry concealed weapons. This study, based on cumulative data on permits from 1996 to 2006, finds that political conservatism and the proportion of hunters in the county population are consistently related to permitting, while socioeconomic variables like fear of crime are relatively less important.

Over the ten-year period from 1996 to 2006, an average of 0.57 percent of the population had a permit to carry concealed, with a range of 0.21 percent to 1.4 percent.

A study of Louisiana permittees also found that crime is not as important as other factors in predicting permits to carry.

How can I use it?

This article expands the knowledge base on what factors may predict higher rates of concealed carry permits. Given the gun lobby’s campaign to allow guns just about everywhere in public, policymakers need as much information as possible about who wants to carry and why.

Citation

Thompson, Joel A., Ronald Stidham, “Packing Heat in the Tar Heel State: A County-Level Assessment of Concealed Carry Permits,” Criminal Justice Review 35(1) 2010: 52-66.

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