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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| The Concealed-Carry Fantasy |
| 2015-10-28 |
| The NY Times weighs in on concealed carry. The more that sensational gun violence afflicts the nation, the more that the myth of the vigilant citizen packing a legally permitted concealed weapon, fully prepared to stop the next mass shooter in his tracks, is promoted. This foolhardy notion of quick-draw resistance, however, is dramatically contradicted by a research project showing that, since 2007, at least 763 people have been killed in 579 shootings that did not involve self-defense. Tellingly, the vast majority of these concealed-carry, licensed shooters killed themselves or others rather than taking down a perpetrator. Mistakes will happen in a free society, but the effort is worth the risks. The death toll includes 29 mass killings of three or more people by concealed carry shooters who took 139 lives; 17 police officers shot to death, and — in the ultimate contradiction of concealed carry as a personal safety factor — 223 suicides. Compared with the 579 non-self-defense, concealed-carry shootings, there were only 21 cases in which self-defense was determined to be a factor. The tally by the Violence Policy Center, a gun safety group, is necessarily incomplete because the gun lobby has been so successful in persuading gullible state and national legislators that concealed carry is essential to public safety, thus blocking the extensive data collection that should be mandatory for an obvious and severe public health problem. For that reason, the center has been forced to rely largely on news accounts and limited data in 38 states and the District of Columbia. A moment of silence for the statistics that can't be twisted. Shame you can't use pliant government officials who wish to be the only ones who can be armed. More complete research, unimpeded by the gun lobby, would undoubtedly uncover a higher death toll. But this truly vital information is kept largely from the public. A Gallup poll this month found 56 percent of Americans said the nation would be safer if more people carried concealed weapons. Clearly, concealed carry does not transform ordinary citizens into superheroes. Rather, it compounds the risks to innocent lives, particularly as state legislatures, bowing to the gun lobby, invite more citizens to venture out naïvely with firearms in more and more public places, including restaurants, churches and schools. I do not think the legislative intent is to transform anyone into superheroes, but rather to provide an additional safety factor with regard to violence crime. College campuses are the latest goal for the gun lobby — a perverse marketing campaign after the gun massacre that took 10 lives this month at a community college in Oregon. Recent concealed-carry excesses include legal shooters charged by the police with recklessly pegging a few wild shots at shoplifters and other nonviolent suspects they see fleeing on public streets. This is dangerous vigilantism that endangers communities, the police warn, not the mythic self-defense being peddled as concealed carry. |
| Posted by:badanov |
| #13 SteveS, that's why we have to take the guns away from the CC holders. /liberal logic |
| Posted by: Rambler in Virginia 2015-10-28 23:04 |
| #12 Yeah, concealed carry is a quick-draw fantasy, but only if you watched "Taxi Driver" too many times. In reality, it is more like carrying tools in your trunk in case of car trouble. Still, 763 people is a lot. Make quite a pile on the front lawn, eh? But wait, that's since 2007 so it's only about 100 per year roughly. A much smaller pile. But since there are 50 states (or 57 depending...) that's only a pile of two. Not that big a deal. Especially compared to the 377 people who died of gunshot so far this year in Chicago. (2,139 shot & wounded if you were wondering) I'm willing to wager the percentage of shooters with a concealed carry permit is vanishingly small. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2015-10-28 22:22 |
| #11 Darn near 6 out of 10 Americans believe carrying a gun makes our nation safer. But if weren't for that sneaky "gun lobby" carrying a gun would be illegal. |
| Posted by: Claising Flavimble5530 2015-10-28 18:55 |
| #10 Counting suicides is stupid. Those 223 would have killed themselves in some other way if they didn't have a gun. Ask Australia, you'll hear anti-gun folks say Gun related suicide numbers went down but they don't mention all suicides which more or less stayed level. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2015-10-28 14:55 |
| #9 |
| Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy 2015-10-28 12:15 |
| #8 This is the NYT, hard facts are hard to swallow and hard to bend, so let's use some other made-up stuff that we can pass off as factual. There, that didn't hurt, did it? |
| Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 2015-10-28 11:31 |
| #7 And how many times does a perp brandish a knife or even a gun, and when the CC holder draws, simply run away? Many such incidents don't get reported to the police. |
| Posted by: Rambler in Virginia 2015-10-28 11:02 |
| #6 Well, statistics show that violent crime goes down when concealed carry goes up. Even the FBI shows it. Personally, I feel a lot more comfortable around people carrying legally then being in a no gun zone. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2015-10-28 10:44 |
| #5 More importantly, legal concealed carry causes the bad guys to have to consider armed resistance a possibility ... which should simply reduce the number of times a violent act is even taken. Hard to measure that in statistics though: "Jim was *thinking* about robbing the gas station, but then decided against it because the guy behind the counter may have been armed." |
| Posted by: ExtremeModerate 2015-10-28 10:24 |
| #4 Yes, I'd like to see the detail on those 29. Were they licensed CC? Or just someone who pulled out a handgun? |
| Posted by: KBK 2015-10-28 09:06 |
| #3 The death toll includes 29 mass killings of three or more people by concealed carry shooters who took 139 lives; 17 police officers shot to death, I am unaware of mass shootings carried out by CC Permit holders. |
| Posted by: jvalentour 2015-10-28 08:29 |
| #2 Yes, that is a gun in my pocket AND I am happy to see you. |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2015-10-28 04:51 |
| #1 Clearly, concealed carry does not transform ordinary citizens into superheroes. That was never the intention. It was intended to transform potential victims into survivors, which it has done quite successfully. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2015-10-28 01:40 |