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Monday, February 16, 2015

Concealed carry without a permit: Will crime go up or down?

New Hampshire, Kansas, Mississippi, and Montana are considering legislation that would no longer require special permits to carry concealed weapons in public. Five states already have such laws.

This week, lawmakers in New Hampshire, Kansas, Mississippi, and Montana advanced bills that, if made into law, would no longer require special permits to carry concealed weapons in public. Five states already have no concealed permit requirement – part of a broader trend toward so-called constitutional carry.

Also this week, Sen. John Cornyn (R) of Texas introduced federal legislation that would turn concealed weapons permits into something like state driver’s licenses, which are legal anywhere in the United States. The measure nearly passed a Democrat-controlled Senate last year, meaning it could well end up on President Obama’s desk in 2015.

With about one gun already in circulation for every American, critics, including many in law enforcement, say constitutional carry will only make life more dangerous. However, so far, studies have failed to conclusively prove or disprove another correlation – between expanded gun carry and the decline in general and violent crime rates that has occurred in the US over the past two decades.

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9 comments:

Anonymous said...

That would be awesome! Vote Republican!

Anonymous said...

It will go up until the bad guys wise up.

Jim said...

FBI crime statistics show that violent crime declines within 6 months of a state allowing its citizens to carry concealed. The criminals lose their unfair advantage and stop trying for the low hanging fruit. Maryland is harming its law abiding citizens by not allowing them to protect themselves.

dogg said...

Wouldn't it be nice to know that you at least stand a chance against all the riffraff out there who already carry a gun illegally. It would certainly give them another thought about who to rob knowing there is a possibility their prey can fight back.

Anonymous said...

Crime would go down. But there's lots of money to be made with crime so why would owe government want that.

Anonymous said...

An armed society is a polite society.

Steve's Leavin's said...

Down, a no-brainer.

Anonymous said...

Criminals are already carrying, so the big change would be good guys arming themselves.
That has to be a positive.

Concerned Retiree said...

As a retiree from the Criminal Justice System, I will tell you criminals prey on the weak and so called harmless of our society. They do not want resistance or chance of bodily harm / death. That is why the crime rate will decrease and FBI and other Police records prove this fact.
2nd Amendment arm anyone who wishes to carry and has proper knowledge of handling and working of the weapon.