What do you all think???? Biblically, and otherwise???
-SM Carry Me Away
It's a repeatedly proven fact that armed citizens means a reduction in violent crimes.
Some statistics:
* Right-to-carry laws require law enforcement agencies to issue handgun permits to all qualified applicants. Qualifications include criteria such as age, a clean criminal record, and completing a firearm safety course.
* In 1986, nine states had right-to-carry laws.
* As of 1998, 31 states have right-to-carry laws, and about half the U.S. population lives in these states.
* Florida adopted a right-to-carry law in 1987. At the time the law was passed, critics predicted increases in violence. The founder of the National Organization of Women, Betty Friedan stated:
"lethal violence, even in self defense, only engenders more violence."
* When the law went into effect, the Dade County Police began a program to record all arrest and non arrest incidents involving concealed carry licensees. Between September of 1987 and August of 1992, Dade County recorded 4 crimes committed by licensees with firearms. None of these crimes resulted in an injury. The record keeping program was abandoned in 1992 because there were not enough incidents to justify tracking them.
* Florida adopted a right-to-carry law in 1987. Between 1987 and 1996, these changes occurred:
homicide rate: down 36% in Florida and down 0.4% in the U.S.
firearm homicide rate: down 37% in Florida and up 15% in the U.S.
handgun homicide rate: Down 41% in Florida and up 24% in the U.S.
* 221,443 concealed carry licenses were issued in Florida between October of 1987 and April of 1994. During that time, Florida recorded 18 crimes committed by licensees with firearms.
* As of 1998, nationwide, there has been 1 recorded incident in which a permit holder shot someone following a traffic accident. The permit holder was not charged, as the grand jury ruled the shooting was in self defense.
* As of 1998, no permit holder has ever shot a police officer. There have been several cases in which a permit holder has protected an officer's life.
http://www.justfacts.com/gun_control.htm
There are approximately two million defensive gun uses (DGU's) per year by law abiding citizens.
http://www.guncite.com/gun_control_gcdguse.html
Law-abiding citizens use guns to defend themselves against criminals as many as 2.5 million times every year -- or about 6,850 times a day. This means that each year, firearms are used more than 60 times more often to protect the lives of honest citizens than to take lives.
http://www.gunowners.org/fs0101.htm
[SIZE=+1]* Concealed carry laws are dropping crime rates across the country.[/SIZE] A comprehensive national study determined in 1996 that
violent crime fell after states made it legal to carry concealed firearms. The results of the study showed:
* States which passed concealed carry laws reduced their murder rate by 8.5%, rapes by 5%, aggravated assaults by 7% and robbery by 3%;16 and
* If those states not having concealed carry laws had adopted such laws in 1992, then approximately 1,570 murders, 4,177 rapes, 60,000 aggravated assaults and over 11,000 robberies would have been avoided yearly.17
[SIZE=+1]* Vermont: one of the safest five states in the country.[/SIZE] In Vermont, citizens can carry a firearm without getting permission... without paying a fee... or without going through any kind of government-imposed waiting period. And yet for seven years in a row, Vermont has remained one of the safest states in the union -- having twice received the "Safest State Award."18
[SIZE=+1]* Florida: concealed carry helps slash the murder rates in the state.[/SIZE] In the ten years following the passage of Florida's concealed carry law in 1987, there were 478,248 people who received permits to carry firearms.19 FBI reports show that the homicide rate in Florida, which in 1987 was much higher than the national average, fell 39% during that 10-year period.20
[SIZE=+1]* Do firearms carry laws result in chaos?[/SIZE] No. Consider the case of Florida. A citizen in the Sunshine State is almost twice as likely to be attacked by an alligator than to be assaulted by a concealed carry holder. During the first ten years that the Florida law was in effect, alligator attacks outpaced the number of crimes committed by carry holders by a 146 to 88 margin.21
[SIZE=+1]* Concealed Carry v. Waiting Period Laws.[/SIZE] In 1976, both Georgia and Wisconsin tried two different approaches to fighting crime. Georgia enacted legislation making it easier for citizens to carry guns for self-defense, while Wisconsin passed a law requiring a 48 hour waiting period before the purchase of a handgun. What resulted during the ensuing years? Georgia's law served as a deterrent to criminals and helped drop its homicide rate by 21 percent. Wisconsin's murder rate, however, rose 33 percent during the same period.22
http://www.gunowners.org/fs0101.htm