Violent Crime rates and Concealed Carry

Violent crime per 1000 individuals fluctuated pretty steady between 41.6 (low) and 52.3 (high) from 1973 to 1996. In 1997 a Huge a quick steady drop in violent crime started; that year it dropped to 38.8 continuing on at an average of 2.3 per year in 2009 (my data point) where it reached 16.9. Now I’ll tell you what happened in 1996 to touch off this dramatic drop in not only rape but violent crime. In 1996 a number of states that were using “may issue” legislation switched to “shall issue” legislation. As fact the number of states that had Unrestricted remained at 1 (Vermont), but 30 states were now shall issues states, 12 were may issue with only 7 remaining no issue. In 2011 there are 4 states with no restrictions (Vermont, Arizona, Alaska, and Colorado), 37 shall issue states, 8 may issue states and only Illinois holds out as no issue. A recent Supreme Court ruling is changing that, but IL will fight it all the way.
In conclusion the numbers back Dr John Lott’s study and thesis that more guns = less crime.  What do I think should be done? This is simple. All of these “mass shootings” have 3 things in common. 1, they are all done with guns (yeah I said it) 2 they are all done by humans (obvious) and they are all done in “gun free zones”. With those 3 things in common you have to look at the evidence. We are never going to get rid of humans, as much as I’d like to that is NOT going to happen. Banning guns like marijuana and alcohol has proven to be ineffective and only creates a larger problem. That leaves “gun free zones” .

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