What Happened to
Chicago’s Murder Rate After Illinois Upheld Concealed Carry and Why it Matters
11,123Shares By Mike Miller 3 hours ago
In July of 2013, Illinois became the last
state in the union to enact a concealed carry law. In January of this year, the
state began accepting applications for permits. This week, Chicago police
announced that the city’s first quarter murder rate was the lowest since 1958.
§ The first three months of the year saw 6 fewer
murders than the same time frame in 2013–a 9 percent drop–and 55 fewer murders
than 2012, according to a statement from Chicago Police.
§ There were 90 fewer shootings and 119 fewer
shooting victims, drops of 26 and 29 percent respectively, according to police
statistics.
§ Compared to the first quarter of 2012, there
have been 222 fewer shootings and 292 fewer shooting victims. Overall
crime is down 25 percent from last year, and police said more than 1,300
illegal guns were recovered in the last three months.
Coincidence? Hard to say. And too early to
tell. Although, I doubt that the anti-gun crowd is celebrating the good news.
Gun crime experts John Lott, Jr. and David
Mustard made the famousargument in “Crime, Deterrence, and Right-to-Carry
Concealed Firearms” that: “When state concealed handgun laws went into effect
in a county, murders fell by 8.5 percent, and rapes and aggravated assaults
fell by 5 and 7 percent.” More guns mean less crime.
Gary Kleck, PhD., also a gun crime expert, found that the crime
deterrence effect of firearms possession is significant: sophisticaed
statistics suggest three to four crimes are stopped by a handgun than are
committed in the United States every year.
True, the U.S. has many more guns than other
countries, but 99.995% of firearms every year are not used to commit
homicides. The rate of gun homicide is in the thousands every year in a nation
of over 300 million – meaning that there are numerous “killers” that far exceed gun homicides.
While statistics vary and people on both sides
of the gun debate differ on whether concealed carry laws help to prevent gun
crime, this thing is certain: If my loved ones or I were under attack, I would
want the capability to stop the attackers. Dead in their tracks, if necessary.
Wouldn’t you
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