John R. Lott Jr., author of the groundbreaking More Guns, Less Crime, and president of the Crime Research Prevention Center, published a study last month on the rapid growth in concealed carry permits during the Obama years that revealed some interesting takeaways.
Among them, Lott found that:
Between 2007 and 2014, murder rates have fallen from 5.6 to 4.2 (preliminary estimates) per 100,000. This represents a 25% drop in the murder rate at the same time that the percentage of the adult population with permits soared by 178%. Overall violent crime also fell by 25 percent over that period of time.
The broader trend is illustrated below:
Critics would likely argue that correlation does not equal causation, and violent crime has been falling for decades.
Nevertheless, Lott’s research provides interesting food for thought.
A few other particularly interesting findings, quoting from the report summary include that:
- Regression estimates show that even after accounting for the per capita number of police and people admitted to prison and demographics, the adult population with permits is significantly associated with a drop in murder and violent crime rates.
- Concealed handgun permit holders are extremely law-abiding. In Florida and Texas, permit holders are convicted of misdemeanors or felonies at one-sixth the rate that police officers are convicted.
- Some evidence suggests that permit holding by minorities is increasing more than twice as fast as for whites
Be sure to read the whole thing here.
Featured Image Source: AP/FoxNews.com.
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