Posted on 05/28/2003 2:37:11 PM PDT by CHICAGOFARMER
DALLAS (May 26, 2000) - Marking the fifth anniversary of Texas' concealed carry law, a new report from the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) shows that Texans with concealed carry permits are far less likely to commit a serious crime than the average citizen.
"Many predicted that minor incidents would escalate into bloody shootouts if Texas passed a concealed-carry law," said H. Sterling Burnett, a senior policy analyst at the NCPA and the author of the report. "That prediction was dead wrong."
In 1995, Texas Gov. George W. Bush signed a law granting Texans the right to carry concealed firearms. This made Texas the 23 state to pass a concealed carry law since 1986.
According to the report, the slightly more than 200,000 Texans who have become licensed to carry a concealed firearm are much more law-abiding than the average person. Comparing arrest rates for example:
Texans who exercise their right to carry firearms are 5.7 times less likely to be arrested for a violent offense.
They are 14 times less likely to be arrested for a non-violent offense.
They are 1.4 times less likely to be arrested for murder. Moreover, of the six licensees who were arrested and tried for murder or non-negligent manslaughter, four were found not guilty because they had acted in self-defense.
The right to carry may also be affecting Texas' crime rate in a positive way. Texas had a serious crime rate in the early 1990s that was 38 percent higher than the national average.
Since then, serious crime in Texas has dropped 50 percent faster than for the nation as a whole.
Murder rates have dropped 52 percent, compared to 33 percent nationally.
Rapes have fallen by 22 percent compared to 16 percent nationally. This experience is consistent with the experience of other states with concealed carry laws. According to University of Chicago law professor John Lott, concealed handgun laws on average reduce murder by 8.5 percent, rape by 5 percent and severe assault by 7 percent.
"Far from recreating the Wild West, concealed carry laws create a safer society," said Burnett. "The law allows law-abiding citizens to protect themselves."
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The National Center for Policy Analysis is a public policy research institute founded in 1983 and internationally known for its studies on public policy issues. The NCPA is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, with an office in Washington, D.C.
For more information: Julie Hillrichs, Dallas, TX 972-386-6272 Sean Tuffnell, Dallas, TX 972-386-6272 Joan Kirby, Washington, DC 202-628-6671 Internet: http://www.ncpa.org
Stay Safe !
Excuse the hopeless NY ignorance; what happens to you if someone sees your, ahem, gun?
Actually, in my studies of the "wild west", it was not wild.
Except for trouble with the indians, and a few mining camps, the west was not wild.
The west was actually a very boring place to be, not wild.The average person did not worry or was a victim of crime, and rape was almost unheard of. If the infrequent rape ever did occur, the entire town would lynch the rapist preventing him from doing it again, and I cant recall even one case of child molestation by a stranger.
If you go back and study geneology or your family history in the west, you will find that your ancestors were bored beyond belief on the ranch and farm, but they were not fearful of being a crime victim by their neighbors.
Then it's, ahem, slammer-time, if they choose to report it.
It's a fundamental requirement of "concealed-carry" that the weapon in question actually be concealed.
Are you saying you were around in the middle to late 1800's?
I have been totally immersed in genealogy, family histories, local histories, old newspapers, etc. Never have I run accross a case of child molestation on the frontier where such a thing happened to anyone, or any town or county which I have studied.
What little crime I found in all of my research, was usually in cow towns, or mining towns, where wild unruly people kill other wild unruly people, the farmers and ranchers were left alone, most of them never even had locks on their doors,and nearly all of them were armed.
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