In recent years, when some states have moved toward legalizing concealed carry laws, opponents have made the claims that doing so would increase crime rates. Indeed, we've heard numerous descriptions of "wild west" consequences, not to mention "rivers of blood" in the streets.
Today, more states than ever have legalized concealed carry, and gun ownership has increased dramatically over the past few years. The result? Murder and violent crime rates have plummeted.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34714389/ns/us_news-life/page/3/
In the 1980s and ’90s, as the concealed-carry movement gained steam, Americans were killed by others with guns at the rate of about 5.66 per 100,000 population. In this decade, the rate has fallen to just over 4.07 per 100,000, a 28 percent drop. The decline follows a fivefold increase in the number of “shall-issue” and unrestricted concealed-carry states from 1986 to 2006.
The decline in gun homicides also comes as U.S. firearm sales are skyrocketing, according to federal background checks that are required for most gun sales. After holding stable at 8.5 to 9 million checks from 1999 to 2005, the FBI reported a surge to 10 million in 2006, 11 million in 2007, nearly 13 million in 2008 and more than 14 million last year, a 55 percent increase in just four years.
No study has shown a causal effect between concealed carry and dropping crime rates, but that is simply because the data that would establish or disprove such an assertion has never been collected.
If gun rights activists are correct in concluding that more guns = more violence, we would not be seeing the massive drop in crime rates that we are seeing today.
So the gun control liberals were wrong... isn't THAT a surprise?
Guns don't cause crimes, people do. And few people want, as a result of their crime, to die. So they are less likely to attack an armed victim. Pretty basic logic, here.
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