New York Times; Concealed Carry’s Body Count

Jacobite sends us a link to an article about the New York Times‘ attempt to poison the debate on concealed carry laws. The use data from the Violence Policy Center to make their case;

In studying the 544 shootings, the center found 177 cases where people with gun licenses were ultimately convicted of crimes, including homicides, and 218 cases where the permit holder used the gun to commit suicide. There were 44 total lives taken by licensed individuals who first murdered others, then committed suicide.

The full death toll attributable to concealed carry is undoubtedly larger because the center’s study did not cover all 50 states. Lawmakers dare not allow a national tally, so badly needed, to be kept by the government. No one is sure how many citizens now legally carry guns, but estimates run beyond 11 million nationally with many statehouse agendas pursuing even more permits.

John Lott takes a closer look at those statistics in Fox News and does a much beter job tearing up the NYT’s Editorial Board and the Violence Policy Center better than I ever could;

The VPC keeps a record of permit holder abuses in each state. Take the claimed worst state, Michigan. The VPC cites state police and media reports indicating that permit holders committed 277 suicides or murders during the period from 2007 through 2015 (217 suicides and 60 murders). If accurate, a 38 percent share of all 722 deaths nationwide that the VPC attributed to permitted concealed handguns occurred in Michigan.

But suicides are not in any meaningful way linked to the act of carrying a permitted concealed handgun outside of one’s home. The Michigan State Police reports it does not collect information on how the suicides were committed, just that permit holders committed suicide.

Interestingly, the 2013 suicide rate among Michigan permit holders (6.2 per 100,000 permit holders) is lower than the rate among the general adult population (16.59). Typically, suicides — with or without guns — take place at home. So, again, what do these numbers have to do with the concealed-carry debate?

Yes, I know that none of you are surprised that the New York Times’ editorial board would lie but a few states are considering permitless concealed carry, among them, my own West By God Virginia. I’m sure that the New York Times would like to derail that process. Our State Senate passed the legislation unanimously the other day and the West Virginia Sheriffs’ Association is standing in the breech according to the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action.

The Sheriffs’ Association has armed itself with the inflated statistics of the New York Times in an attempt to derail the legislation. They claim that felons and the mentally ill will then be able to carry weapons concealed, despite the fact that those people are already forbidden to own or possess firearms even without permitless CCW. So what’s the big whoop? WV law allows for the open carry of weapons for law-abiding citizens.

The Sheriffs’ Association expressed a further public safety concern, arguing that law enforcement would now have to treat everyone as if they are armed. However, conventional law enforcement training already dictates that law enforcement treat everyone as if they are armed, anyway.

Only foolish officers don’t treat everyone they talk with as if they are armed. The only people who will be able to carry a concealed weapon legally are those people who would qualify anyway. Permits will continue to be available for those of us who carry concealed weapons out of state – and those permits require background checks and training.

The New York Times and the WV Sheriff’s Association should save wetting themselves for the criminals who carry guns instead of law-abiding citizens who carry guns.

Category: Gun Grabbing Fascists