Gun Owners Are Model Citizens
But many of us already knew that.
The pro-gun-control crowd, supported by the likes of Michael Bloomberg and his anti-gun crusaders at Everytown for Gun Safety, would like people to believe that guns and specifically gun ownership by private citizens leads to greater crime and violence. They claim that they are all for ending “gun violence,” as if guns were some kind of alien entity that had no connection to evil individuals with criminal intent. The major problem for the anti-gun folks is that all the research and facts don’t support their claims.
The Crime Prevention Research Center recently released a study of crime related statistics to gun ownership, and specifically those gun owners with concealed carry permits. The report stated flatly, “It is impossible to think of any other group in the U.S. that is anywhere near as law-abiding” as concealed carry permit holders. In fact, the report showed that concealed carry holders were less likely to commit crimes than were the police.
Was it the fact that most states require individuals wanting to conceal carry to get a permit, which includes a background check, often training, and a willingness to navigate the process? In other words, are the types of individuals seeking to apply for conceal carry permits more apt to be law-abiding anyway? Not exactly. The report showed that, “In 2014, the seven states that allowed concealed carry without a permit had much lower rates of murder and violent crime than did the seven jurisdictions with the lowest percentage of permit holders. Indeed, the murder rate was 31 percent lower in the states not requiring permits. The violent crime rate was 28 percent lower. Compared to the rest of the country, the 25 states with the highest rates of permit-holding experienced markedly lower rates of murder and violent crime.”
As pro-Second Amendment folks have been saying all along, greater gun ownership is a proven deterrent — not a cause — of violent crime. However, the Left just does not care about the facts if they contradict their agenda. In their twisted logic, the weapon is always to blame for crime, never the intent of the individual wielding the weapon. And they believe the American people must be forced to submit to their socialist ideals, regardless of the impact on individual freedom.
