More Guns, Less Crime In Virginia Bars
Back when Virginia was debating whether to liberalize conceal carry laws to enable permit holders to carry guns in establishments that serve alcohol, opponents predicted a bloodbath. The law has been in effect for a year and the Richmond Times-Dispatch decided to look at the data. They filed an information request and found out:
Virginia's bars and restaurants did not turn into shooting galleries as some had feared during the first year of a new state law that allows patrons with permits to carry concealed guns into alcohol-serving businesses, a Richmond Times-Dispatch analysis found.
The number of major crimes involving firearms at bars and restaurants statewide declined 5.2 percent from July 1, 2010, to June 30, 2011, compared with the fiscal year before the law went into effect, according to crime data compiled by Virginia State Police at the newspaper's request.
And overall, the crimes that occurred during the law's first year were relatively minor, and few of the incidents appeared to involve gun owners with concealed-carry permits, the analysis found.
I'm not a gun owner, being of the mindset that gun owners should be completely capable of using the gun with deadly force. But my father is a gun owner, like many folks I know out in Colorado. He showed me his concealed carry permit and told me that the folks in his county had set a goal of having 5,000 such permits. They met that goal over two years ago and the permits have gone up significantly since then. Of course, Colorado is a state where at least a sizable chunk of the population understands that more law-abiding gun holders works out to greater public safety.
But kudos to the Times-Dispatch for doing a follow-up on a story to check the claims of proponents and opponents to the legislation.
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Comments :
Jun '10
Re: More Guns, Less Crime In Virginia Bars
Consider the Virginia Tech tragedy. What if a couple of responsible people with legal concealed weapons had been present? Very different result.
A few years ago, a troubled young man entered a mall in SLC, shot a couple of people in the parking plaza and entered the mall, where he shot a couple of other people. A police officer from a city fifty miles away was having dinner with his wife, heard the shooting, immediately responded, and was able to pin the shooter down until the SWAT team arrived a few minutes later (they then killed the shooter who refused to surrender).
Had a trained person with a concealed weapon not been present, the death toll could easily have been more than ten or twenty. It was a tragedy, but one that could have been dramatically worse.
If crazy people can walk around with guns, I want a few sane ones as well. Carefully screened concealed weapons permits will save lives.
Mar '11
Re: More Guns, Less Crime In Virginia Bars
As a gun owner with a conceal-carry permit, I just wanted to put in the obvious plug that, generally, alcohol, firearms, and crowded places are not a smart combination.
But alcohol and firearms in combination when out hunting on an autumn Saturday? That's all good. It might even be obligatory.
Dec '10
Re: More Guns, Less Crime In Virginia Bars
It's been said repeatedly, but an armed society really is a polite society. This story just backs that up with more hard data. I have my CCL, but I rarely carry because most of the time I'm out of my home I am either at work (on a military base) or at church (which meets in a school) and do not have 2nd amendment rights at either location.
Jul '10
Re: More Guns, Less Crime In Virginia Bars
Here in Georgia there is no prohibition for permit holders to carry (open or concealed) in establishments that serve alcohol (though the establishment is free to prohibit same), however, the minute one takes a sip of an alcoholic beverage he is in violation of the law, so I suspect most don't bother.
Oct '10
Re: More Guns, Less Crime In Virginia Bars
I've never been a big fan of CWPs simply because I believe the 2nd Amendment covers that already. 'Keep and bear arms' means what it says. There is not really a distinction made about concealed or open.