Concealed Carry Analysis

Many tragedies have occurred recently that have spurred the debate on whether or not we need tighter gun controls. On one side of the debate are the gun control supporters, who claim that the easy access to guns is the primary cause for high rates of crime plaguing the United States. On the other side are people who argue that gun laws will not prevent criminals from obtaining guns, since they will continue to get them illegally. Guns are used for protection when in the hands of people who obey the law. It is crucial to not hinder law-abiding citizen’s ability to possess firearms with stricter gun laws, since gun laws do not lower crime, and guns can keep people safe.

On average, there is a shooting throughout the country where the victim was left defenseless each day. even with strict gun control laws set in by the federal government, many Americans still have faith in our second amendment. Gun control is proven ineffective, According to Richard Epstein of the New york University of Law, “We can confidently predict that crime will go up unless and until there is a vast expansion of the public police force.” (Epstein 1). While gun control law are in place there are still too many guns for the federal government to keep track of within the country, Richard Epstein states that “upwards of 200 million firearms of all descriptions are available for general use in the United States.” (Epstein 2). With recent

Some States have enacted their own laws. Florida has allowed its citizens to carry a concealed weapon. Since this law was enacted the murder rate has dropped by 29%. Over the same period of time the nationwide murder rate increased by 11%. This clearly shows that guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens can prevent crime.

I feel that more guns equal more gun violence. A research that was conducted by ProCon.org in 2000, states that citizens who carry concealed weapons are more than five times less likely to be charged with committing a violent crime and fourteen times less likely to be arrested for other offenses than those who do not carry (ProCon.org). I think why any individual without any criminal record should not be able to carry a concealed weapon is because, first of all, it increases the chances of something minor turning lethal. For instance, if a man confronted another man at a bar about something minor, the confrontation could turn into a screaming match and the man with the concealed weapon could shoot the other man. These chances can increase also when the person with the concealed weapon is intoxicated, afraid, or angry (Argument Essay). In addition, not just checking background is enough. What if a person gets his licensed gun and something bad happens to him later on, and he is very upset or say short tempered, and because he hold a gun it would not take much time for him to become bad and dangerous. Secondly, why citizens should not be able to carry concealed guns is because most adults who carry them are not trained properly (Argument Essay). Even though according to the law, one of the requirements to get licensed for a gun is to pass the test, I think it still is not

In the past six months, there have been a total of 19,635 gun incidents. Out of those 19,635 incidents, 107 were mass shootings, 829 were home invasions, and 604 were for defensive use, according to Gunviolencearchive.org. It is unbelievable to see the number of gun related incidents that have happened in just the past six months. What is even more unbelievable to imagine is that so many of those incidents could have been avoided if people were allowed to carry concealed guns in certain places. Concealed carry, or concealed weapons, is the practice of carrying weapons, such as a handgun, in public in a concealed manner. All fifty states in the United States allow concealed carry in public places to some degree. But, some places, for example, schools, restaurants, and stores, prohibit concealed weapons. The controversy about whether concealed weapons should be prohibited in certain locations has been debated for years, and more often in the past decade. On one side of the debate, supporters of the “gun-free zones” claim that prohibiting concealed weapons in certain locations will reduce crime and ensure that the location is free of gun violence, allowing concealed weapons can result to more guns landing in the hands of criminals, and some even insist that public safety should be left to professional, qualified police officers, not ignorant citizens with little to no expert training. However, it is absolutely necessary to know that prohibiting weapons in certain locations

The majority of anti-gun advocates voice their opinion that more guns would produce more crimes unfortunately for them there is little to no truth in that claim. In reality, when gun ownership increased the amount of murders diminished as well. When states passed concealed weapons laws there was significant drops in the number of multiple victim shootings occurring, the number of deaths, and the number of injuries at these shootings. In 1997 both Wales and England banned handguns and the instantaneous effect was a 50% increase according to crime research. They never saw a day lower than after the year they decided to ban handguns. It has been proven by many surveys that the banning of guns increases crime rate which in turn proves that gun control is not the answer.

There are many types of gun laws in America, one of the most important is the right to conceal carry. The law states that the, “…bill amends the federal criminal code to allow a qualified individual to carry a concealed handgun into or possess a concealed handgun in another state that allows its residents to carry concealed firearms.”(public law). The reason this law is so important is it gives the citizen the right to defend his or her self and family from attackers in public. Many people think that the police will arrive and stop a lone gunman but the truth is that, “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun,’’( LaPierre) said Wayne LaPierre, a top executive at the NRA. Although some people say guns laws help America recent studies find that gun laws actually do nothing to help stop the flow of buying, selling, and carrying guns.

Too many people are receiving concealed gun permits that should not be. A more recent example of this would by the shooting and killing of Trayvon Martin. Martin was fatally wounded by a gunshot by George Zimmerman, a holder a concealed handgun permit. Zimmerman was eligible for a concealed gun permit even though he had, “been arrested in 2005 for felony resisting arrest with violence and battery on a law enforcement officer,” and also had a restraining order put against him by his ex-fiancé because she said he had domestically abused her (“Homicides Committed by Concealed” 1). People like Zimmerman receiving concealed gun permits can be dangerous to others. Florida alone has issued concealed handgun permits to over 1,400 convicted felons. This number directly correlates with the increase in homicides that are justified by stand your ground laws, in which the number of justifiable homicides in Florida alone over doubled from 2005 to 2009 (“Homicides Committed by Concealed” 1). The United States cannot sit here and watch innocent bystanders die because the wrong people are legally allowed to carry guns in

A piece of evidence for this would be that only a small portion of the country’s violent crime rate was caused by people with concealed carry permits. That would be, “approximately 0.003% of all murders in that time period.” (Kamy) This is only a small portion of the violent crimes committed in the U.S., and shows that people with concealed carry permits are usually responsible, law abiding citizens. Another piece of evidence would be that, "Gun control supporters believe that RTC laws cause crime. However, since 1991, when violent crime hit an all-time high, 25 states have adopted RTC laws, the number of people with carry permits has risen to over 12 million, and the nation’s violent crime rate has decreased 51 percent, to a 43-year low." (NRA) This shows that if one were to give someone the freedom to choose they may be less likely to work against the law, and they would show more respect to the law enforcers. Yet another piece of evidence for this reason would be that, “If it is illegal to carry weapons, then there’s a higher chance that the law-abiding citizens who aren’t likely to commit crimes will be defenseless against criminals and their weapons." (10 reasons) Imagine if someone were in their house having a good time and someone came in and pull a gun on them and their family. In that second wouldn’t they want to protect their family from getting hurt. Imagine if they couldn’t do anything about it? But, if guns with permits were allowed they could more easily defend themselves and their

According to the FBI, there were 49 handgun murders for every one civilian justifiable homicide in 1994 (Fisherman). In fact, carrying concealed weapons makes you more vulnerable. Researcher Arthur Kellerman, Director of the Center for Injury Control at Emory University, warns, “If the bad guys know more people are carrying guns, they just might shoot first and reach for the wallet later.” (Sojourners)

Guns are a very big part of our world, always have been. However, the government has been cracking down on the finer points more recently. This is a very important issue for a few reasons. First, concealed carry makes people feel more at ease, safer. For instance, I work in a convenience store where open carry is banned, but concealed is not. I don’t know about you, but I would really rather not know whether or not someone is carrying a loaded weapon in my presence, but it makes me feel safer knowing that some of my regulars do have a way of protecting us if the need arises. The second reason is something from my previous point. There was recently a law passed stating that open carry is now legal. This is important because it gives our people

Concealed carry can reduce crime. If citizens are armed on the streets and everywhere else and a shooting happens they can stop it. With this being said people won 't try to pull risky crimes because they know citizens have weapons. 1,197,704 violent crimes happen in America each year (Lott). Since 2007, the number of concealed handgun permits has soared from 4.6 million to over 12.8 million, and murder rates have fallen from 5.6 killings per 100,000 people to just 4.2, about a 25 percent drop (Washington TImes).

I strongly disagree with this idea that more guns make us more safe. Also, I do not think that concealed handgun licenses have had any impact on crime rates.

Additionally, in states that have laws permitting concealed weapons for those who qualify, there has been a measurable reduction in violent crimes and murder. There are forty states that allow those who have permits to carry a handgun. Consequently, there are approximately 3.5 million U.S. citizens that are permitted to have a concealed weapon on their person, or in their car (Kates & Mauser, 2007). John Lott and David Mustard conducted a study on the concealed handguns law. They analyzed FBI crime statistics for the entire United States, covering the years from 1977 to 1992. With conservative approximations, states enacting the concealed weapons law had a reduction in rape by 5%, robbery by 3%, aggravated assault by 7%, and murder by 8.5% (Lott, n.d.).

Increasing the amount of legal guns on the streat wouldn’t add violence, it would reduce it. Adam Winkler, a law professor at UCLA and the author of Gunfight: The Battle Over the Right to Bear Arms in America, states that concealed-carry permit holders reduce violence. It is a proven fact that concealed-carry permit holders have a lower crime rate than the general public. Today, there is the biggest amount of concealed-carry permits there has ever been (8 million) and the lowest crime rate in the past 20-25 years. In 2016 alone, 2.5 million attempted murder, aggravated assault, or robbery was stopped by an ordinary citizen with a gun. With more citizens armed on the streets, that number would drastically increase. In Phoenix, Arizona’s biggest city, where citizens are allowed to carry guns around without a concealed-carry permit, had 146 gun-related homicides in 2016. On the same year in Chicago, where gun laws are way too strict, there was 762 reported gun-related homicides. When looking at all the evidence, it’s obvious that having more concealed-carry permits would lower violence.