Truth about guns concealed

Posted by stargeezer 11 years, 3 months ago to Government
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LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

Those in favor of ever more expansive and restrictive gun control measures have emotion on their side. But with each tragic incident that takes place in yet another “gun-free zone,” it becomes more apparent that gun restrictions aren’t working as proponents would like.

The majority of the national media are all in on the bans and limitations already in place or being proposed, and that overwhelming narrative tends to crush anybody who points out the benefits of gun rights policies such as concealed carry. The mainstream media almost never report on research that challenges the approved narrative, which explains why a comprehensive study by Quinnipiac University economist Mark Gius has hardly seen the light of day since being released Nov. 26. As reported by http://Reason.com on Dec. 23, Mr. Gius’ study — titled “An examination of the effects of concealed weapons laws and assault weapons bans on state-level murder rates” — covered a period of 29 years and compiled data from all 50 states. It was published in the journal Applied Economics Letters.

“The purpose of the present study is to determine the effects of state-level assault weapons bans and concealed weapons laws on state-level murder rates. Using data for the period 1980 to 2009 and controlling for state and year fixed effects, the results of the present study suggest that states with restrictions on the carrying of concealed weapons had higher gun-related murder rates than other states.”
And what about so-called assault weapons?

“It was also found that assault weapons bans did not significantly affect murder rates at the state level,” Mr. Gius noted.

Nobody is advocating to let just anybody carry a concealed weapon. Those who obtain concealed-carry permits — those who undergo extensive training and background checks — tend to be responsible, law-abiding people. Criminals don’t have those traits, and no amount of lawmaking will instill those traits in them. As Mr. Gius summarized, “These results suggest that restrictive concealed weapons laws may cause an increase in gun-related murders at the state level.”

The study results also highlight the advantages of concealed carry. Knowing that any person at any time could be carrying, to defend themselves or others, can act as a deterrent to those with bad intentions. Rolling back overly restrictive gun laws or, better yet, introducing legislation that supports concealed-carry rights, would do far more to protect citizens than creating more gun-free zones or expanding restrictions on the rights of law-abiding gun owners.


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  • Comment hidden due to member score or comment score too low. View Comment
  • -1
    Posted by Boborobdos 11 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    America is about taking care of our own. I find it sad that so many have forgotten that and run to extremism.

    You are free to live in your bubble. America works that way.
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  • Posted by $ 11 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Since this has bearing on this discussion, I have a link to the FBI Crime stats for murders from 2007 to 2011 where you will see that the firearm murder rate has steadily dropped over the reported years.

    You can also see that the number of murders by handguns is almost exactly the same as murders from other causes.

    http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/cri...

    Check it out.
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  • Posted by $ WillH 11 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I stand corrected once again. I temporarily had forgotten why people ignore you. Oh well, the last word in this is yours to have. I am not going to convince you with provable facts, dates and reasons. Meanwhile your insinuations that I am somehow anti-freedom, like a despot or dictator are nothing more to me than a fart in the wind.
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  • -2
    Posted by Boborobdos 11 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I'm sure many dictators and despots will agree with you.

    Meanwhile I support choice for all. Choice in weapons, choice in marriage, choice in recreational drugs, choice in associating with others to increase my worth, choice in end of life issues...
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  • Posted by $ WillH 11 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    The absolutism of right and wrong always works. You are either right or you are wrong. That is all, the only choices available. No, I do not allow for agreement from liberal democrats when their clear objective is the destruction of my society. 150 years ago democrats sought to keep an entire race of people in chains. Almost 60 years ago they held a 60 working day filibuster against the civil rights bill. 50 years ago they spit on soldiers returning from war. Now they seek to enslave people anew by making them dependent upon the government for everything. Nothing has changed about democrats for 200 years, except for their tactics. I accept no agreement with them.
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  • Posted by $ 11 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Excellent! I was taught to shoot beginning when I was 5 or 6 years old by my dad on our back yard range. (We lived in the country) Used to carry a Marlin 22lr to school and we shot after school on a range set up in the back of the school yard. During class time everybody stored their rifles with the principle who also sold us 22's if we were short. THOSE days are long gone along with the morning prayer we started the day with.
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  • -2
    Posted by Boborobdos 11 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Can't even accept agreement.

    Sheesh, what a bunch of radicals.

    It appears that unless the party line is toed that some just are going to be intolerant.

    Thanks for proving my point.
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  • -2
    Posted by Boborobdos 11 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Can't even allow agreement from the other side without contaminating it.

    Clue: Absolutism never works.
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  • Posted by Retired24-navy 11 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    In most western states, the no cc sign has to be 12 by 12 inches, and cite the exact state law by number and be mounted on entrance or be invalid. Also anyone who in against cc should be required to post and maintain a gun free zone in their front yard so the good little criminals will be safe. I carry cc and have for many years.
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  • Posted by $ WillH 11 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    LOL. Yep. My six year old is also my employee. She picks up brass at the range for me. My brass only if the range is occupied for $1.00 a trip. If no one else is there she picks up all she can with me and I sell the calibers I do not load for to the local gun store. She gets a cut of this money, of course. She has also shot before and will get her first BB Gun, a Daisy Model 10, on her next birthday. I am a shameless corrupter of her poor mind.
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  • Posted by $ WillH 11 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I am going to break my rule to ignore you and actually reply. There may be many on the left that “like” firearms, but they are people who make that one exception to their otherwise destructive philosophy. Furthermore the exception they make generally tends to apply to themselves only, as in the case of the permit to carry that Feinstein eventually gave up to help with her political position, meanwhile being married to a war profiteer the whole time. These “left wing gun people” are in no way friends to the firearms community. They do not help the cause, and don’t even make sense. It’s like a Republican wanting bigger government or more entitlements. It simply does not work.
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  • Posted by $ 11 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Oh oh, you carry while teaching???? You do know you're brain washing that poor child?? (heavy sarcasm) :) Good for you AND Mom!
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  • Posted by $ WillH 11 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Yeah, that varies from state to state. Here in Tennessee that sign carries force of law with it. 1st offense is $500, while the second could be the pulling of your permit. In my day to day routine I never go in a place that is posted. I figure if my personal protection device is not welcome neither is my wallet. I will make exceptions for special trips. My daughter is homeschooled, so we sometimes take her on field trips. I will disarm for museums, aquariums, etc. when necessary.
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  • Posted by $ 11 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I could, but would you mind doing so. Guns are a particular passion of mine and as such it would be very easy for me to flood the gulch in gun related threads every day. As one of our more recent threads have discussed a person displaying no personal restraint in doing so, I elect to pan for the best nuggets and only display those. In doing so, I live up to my own professed standards.
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  • Posted by $ 11 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I took a look at the free preview of Mr. Lott's work. Within the first few paragraphs I noted a number of fallacies.

    Most noteworthy was his cherry picking the data dates. He choose to select data from a period of time where the FBI data reflects a large increase in deaths due to suicide - not crime. A look at the FBI violent crime stats for the past 30 years will reveal a 50% reduction in crime related gun deaths. In fact the FBI data now shows that more violent crime deaths are caused by knives, clubs and automobiles than guns. The statistic for total deaths by firearms is (I did not look it up this morning) around 34,000. Of which suicide accounts for 22,000 as I recall. Violent crime is a very low 12 or 14 thousand.

    Your odds of being killed in a auto accident as you drive to the store for milk are 3 times higher that the odds of being killed in a violent crime by a gun.

    The next erroneous data he presents and then draws the wrong conclusion about is the number of new gun owners. While the number of new owners have risen, particularly since the election of the gun salesman of the year Barry Obummer, not all gun sales are to new owners. But that is how Mr. Lott presents his data. Most gun owners buy more than one gun. I buy at least one new gun every month and have done so for years. I am a gun collector and so I'm a bit outside the norm, but still, I don't know any shooter who doesn't buy at least one gun a year if they can afford to.

    Of his reported thousands of new guns sold he assumes that each represents a new gun owner who is untrained, uneducated about guns and is going to shoot someone. One of my gun safes beside my desk is open at the moment and looking into it I see at least 30 pistols and 40 long guns - even 8 or 10 mass killing AR-15s. Not one of these dangerous weapons have ever killed a soul - but Mr. Lott draws a conclusion that by my owning these inanimate objects that I will be very likely to commit mass murder.

    Psst....I even own a 100 round magazine (not a "clip") for my AR's. Why?? Because some lib may some day tell me I can't. I've never used it, but I'll own one just in case.

    FYI - I even hold a concealed carry permits that are good in 37 states and I'm waiting for my Illinois permit to arrive. Dang, I'm a fairly dangerous man.
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  • Posted by $ 11 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I too collect this type of material, if you like I'll be happy to forward links to you as PMs in the future.
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  • -3
    Posted by Boborobdos 11 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    We already have one of the highest prison populations in the world.

    Would it be proper to empty our jails of non-violent (generally just user) drug offenders? After all wouldn't Objectivism support the notion that someone can ingest what they want?

    BTW, I do agree that for violent offenders the main mission should be to keep them from being in a position to harm others.

    More non-violent but evil offenders like Madoff they should be in with the bad guys. Madoff set up a situation where lots of folks were ruined and some lost their health because of stress or simply committed suicide.
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  • Posted by richrobinson 11 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    At least enforce the existing laws. In many case using a gun in the commission of a crime should carry an automatic 5 years. This is often just plea bargained away. Great point about prisons. They should be more like....prisons.
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  • Posted by $ 11 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Throw the key away on anybody using a gun in a crime. Make prison hard time, not a country club.
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  • Posted by khalling 11 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    do you have any stats to your first point, Jim?
    To your second question: An Objectivist would not advocate prohibiting the ownership of ANY personal property. In fact, he would advocate for the diligent enforcement of All personal property rights, and by extension ALL property rights.
    welcome back!
    Reply | Permalink  

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