Gun Facts, Part Two

Myth: People with concealed weapons permits will commit crimes

Fact: The results for the first 30 states that have passed “shall-issue” laws for concealed carry permits are similar. Here are some specific cases:
State       Permits issued   Revoked    permits % Revoked
Florida   551,000 ⁶             109              0.02%
Virginia   50,000 ⁷                  0             0.00%
Arizona   63,000 ⁸                50             0.08%

Fact: People with concealed carry permits are:⁹
• 5.7 times less likely to be arrested for violent offenses than the general public
• 13.5 times less likely to be arrested for non-violent offenses than the general public

Fact: In Texas, citizens with concealed carry permits are 14 times less likely to commit a crime. They are also five times less likely to commit a violent crime.¹⁰

Fact: Even gun control organizations agree it is a non-problem, as in Texas – “because there haven't been Wild West shootouts in the streets”.¹¹

Fact: Of 14,000 CCW licensees in Oregon, only 4 (0.03%) were convicted of the criminal (not necessarily violent) use or possession of a firearm.

Fact: In Florida, a state that has allowed concealed carry since late 1987, you are twice as likely to be attacked by an alligator than a person with a concealed carry permit.¹²


6 October 1987 through Jan 1999
7 1995 – no follow-up data available
8 1994 through 1998
9 William Sturdevant, unpublished study reported in August 2000 edition of America’s 1st Freedom
10 Texas Department of Public Safety and the U.S. Census Bureau, reported in San Antonio Express-News,
September, 2000
11 Nina Butts, Texans Against Gun Violence, Dallas Morning News, August 10, 2000
12 Florida Department of State, “Concealed Weapons/Firearms License Statistical Report”, 1998 – Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission, December 1998

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