FBI crime report figures show that Alaska, Arizona, and Wyoming–three states that abolished their concealed requirement years ago–have since witnessed a decreased in handgun murders.
This runs completely counter to the left’s doom and gloom predictions whereby they claim doing away with a government-issued carry permit will mean more bad guys carrying guns, more shootings and violence, etc.
FBI figures published by the NRA show that Alaska’s handgun murder rate “declined after the state enacted permitless carry in 2003.” Moreover, in the years since Alaska’s permit requirement was abolished “handgun murders have declined as a percentage of the total number of murders.”
A drop in handgun murders also took place in Arizona after that state abolished its concealed carry permit requirement in 2010. And in Wyoming–which abolished its permit requirement in 2011–handgun murders have declined as well.
A total of 12 states have abolished their concealed carry permit requirement. Those are Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Vermont, Wyoming, and West Virginia. And Arkansas and Montana recognize permitless carry in the vast majority of their states too.
Republican lawmakers in Michigan and North Carolina are currently pushing to abolish concealed permit requirements in their states. Gabby Giffords’ gun control group is opposing these efforts by ominously warning that “almost anyone could carry a concealed, loaded gun in public” if the permit requirement is abolished. In reality, the only people who would legally be able to carry without a permit are those who could now meet the legal threshold to carry with a permit. And gun controllers’ hand wringing ignores the hard evidence that permitless carry led to lower handgun murder rates in Alaska, Arizona, and Wyoming.
AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of “Bullets with AWR Hawkins,” a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at [email protected].
