Abstract
Is the violent crime rate affected by citizens legally carrying concealed weapons? One side argues being legally allowed to conceal carry weapons lowers the violent crime rate. Another side argues being legally allowed to conceal carry weapons increases the violent crime rate. Currently, there are forty three states that are “right-to-carry” states and seven states “may-issue” which makes it very hard to obtain a concealed weapons permit. This paper will compare violent crime rates within the state of Florida before and after the implementation of legally concealed weapons. This paper will evaluate how legally concealed weapons affect the crime rate. Such findings will be gathered from a combination of studies and sources, including: an interview study of police officers (qualitative data on how concealed weapons effect crime rate), crime rate statistics illustrating Florida’s violent crime rates per capita and various experts within the field of concealed weapons and their impact on violent crime rates. The improvement of police methodology will also be evaluated to test the impact of concealed weapons and its effect on the violent crime rate.
Research Question
Why has the violent crime rate in Florida been decreasing since 1994?
Background Information In modern time, there have been many reports in the news
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Some argue the issuance of concealed weapons/firearms (concealed weapons/firearms will be referred to as concealed permits) permits is negatively correlated with crime rates; the more concealed permits that are issued affects crime rate by lowering it. Others argue the issuance of concealed permits is positively correlated with crime rates; the more concealed permits that are issued affects crime rate by raising it. This study will examine if correlation equals
FBI statistics accumulated on a countrywide level show that in states that have strict gun control laws, there are higher crime rates. If gun control laws have any effect, it may be to increase crime! For instance, New Jersey adopted what sponsors described as “the most stringent gun law” in the nation in 1966; two years later the murder rate was up 46 percent and the reported robbery rate had nearly doubled. In 1968, Hawaii imposed a series of increasingly harsh measures, and its murder rate, then a low 2.4 per 100,000 per year, tripled to 7.2 by 1977. In opposition, states with liberal gun carry laws have much lower crime rates. In Florida the homicide rate dropped from 37 percent above the national average to 3 percent below the national average after the state changed its concealed carry law in 1987. In 1987, Florida’s murder rate was 11.4 per 100,000 compared with the national rate of 8.2. By 1992, the national rate had risen to 9.3 per 100,000 while Florida’s had dropped to 9, and in 1993, it continued to drop another .3 to 8.7 per 100,000. Between 1987 and 1992, rape increased nationally by 14.4 percent. But in Florida, it increased only 2.9 percent and in 1993 rape in Florida decreased .2 percent. Florida issued 204,108 concealed carry licenses during the first six and half years
With the popular culture providing positive images of guns, the United States has a gun prevalence that is very rare in the modern world. While many people appreciate the “gun culture”, guns are heavily involved in violence in the United States. According to U.S. Department of Justice, since 1960, more than 750,000 Americans have died under firearms, including homicides, suicides, and unintentional injuries. The figure 1 provides a comprehensive survey of U.S. violent crimes for the period from 1993 to 2011.This figure illustrates that from 1993 to 2011, about 60% to 70% of homicides were associated with a firearm. Over the same period, between 6% and 9% of all nonfatal violence, with about 20% to 30% of robberies and 22% to 32% of aggravated assaults involving a firearm.
I feel like there's nothing wrong with having protection, but it's how you use your protection that determines weather or not it should be legal. Me personally would say that the open carry law should be legal because there's so much happening especially murders, and robberies. People of the United States need protection at least to carry around with them because you never know what can happen especially at night time. Now I don’t condone in people just using their protection to go wild with their weapon and shooting people with no reason behind it, but what I do know is that I want a gun of my own when I am old enough to purchase one just for protection, and to protect my future family. The new year brought a new law that's generated a lot of heat in Texas the open carry law of handguns. In Texas you can now openly carry a handgun in a hip or shoulder holster. You don’t need to conceal a gun like you did in the past. In Texas in order to openly carry a gun, you have to have a concealed- handgun license. You have to at least be 21 or older. You also have to complete classroom training and pass a shooting test. You have
Some States have enacted their own laws. Florida has allowed its citizens to carry a concealed weapon. Since this law was enacted the murder rate has dropped by 29%. Over the same period of time the nationwide murder rate increased by 11%. This clearly shows that guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens can prevent crime.
Current Gun Control regulations do not deter violence and crime. It has been shown that places that have relaxed their gun control laws have a higher crime and death rate. Data proves that homicide rates “[...] among the metro areas whose principal city is in a state that requires some form of permit to purchase a gun, is 4.32 per 100,000 residents, compared with 5.74 among cities in no-permit states”(Bailey). This is evidence that there is a correlation between gun control and death rates. It is also proven with statistical evidence that places with the least amount of gun control have the most violence. Statistics show that “‘none of the states with the most gun violence require permits to purchase rifles, shotguns, or handguns. Gun owners are also not required to register
In the first article, “The University should allow concealed carry,” by Andrew Parks, statistics are used to support his argument on allowing concealed carry at The University of Alabama. Parks includes the rarity of a shooting in Texas, his home state. He claims, “ The last time such a shooting took place in the general public was on Oct. 16, 1991” (Parks). The reason for the rarity of a shooting in Texas is due to the gun laws not being as strict as most states. Parks believes what many other Americans believe, that allowing citizens to carry firearms is a deterrent to crime and shootings. The following statistics prove Parks’ belief that conceal carry reduces
In the past six months, there have been a total of 19,635 gun incidents. Out of those 19,635 incidents, 107 were mass shootings, 829 were home invasions, and 604 were for defensive use, according to Gunviolencearchive.org. It is unbelievable to see the number of gun related incidents that have happened in just the past six months. What is even more unbelievable to imagine is that so many of those incidents could have been avoided if people were allowed to carry concealed guns in certain places. Concealed carry, or concealed weapons, is the practice of carrying weapons, such as a handgun, in public in a concealed manner. All fifty states in the United States allow concealed carry in public places to some degree. But, some places, for example, schools, restaurants, and stores, prohibit concealed weapons. The controversy about whether concealed weapons should be prohibited in certain locations has been debated for years, and more often in the past decade. On one side of the debate, supporters of the “gun-free zones” claim that prohibiting concealed weapons in certain locations will reduce crime and ensure that the location is free of gun violence, allowing concealed weapons can result to more guns landing in the hands of criminals, and some even insist that public safety should be left to professional, qualified police officers, not ignorant citizens with little to no expert training. However, it is absolutely necessary to know that prohibiting weapons in certain locations
The most common reason why people argue that they need to have a gun is for safety, so they can protect themselves against burglars. If a burglar would come into your house, you would have a better chance defending yourself and your family with a gun, than if you did not have a gun. The number of concealed weapon owners is at an all time high. In comparison the number of homicides had drastically decreased alongside the growing rate of legal concealed weapons. This number had been nearly cut in half in the past 20 years(Goldberg).
The article that I read was about being able to carry a firearm on college campuses. The thesis statement of the article is that students should have the right to carry a concealed firearm on college campuses. He utilizes effective rhetoric by giving information from studies indicating that counties who implemented concealed carry systems had a decrease in violent crimes. He also makes logical points such as, most mass shootings occur in locations that are gun free zones. He gives several examples of previous incidents and indicates that this makes us sitting ducks because someone who is going to engage in a mass shooting is not going to abide by the gun free zone laws or any other laws. He continues to use rhetoric and logical reasoning by
What cause crime? Is is an individual’s access to firearms or is it their willingness to act illegally given the opportunity? In this argumentative essay I will be discussing one of the most debated topics in the United States today, gun control. There are two extremely opposite views on this topic: the belief that guns enable crime, and the belief that guns deter crime. These polar opposites leave room for a very good discussion of what facts and truths may lie behind this topic. Throughout this essay I will be analyzing both sides of this issue.The significance of a topic such as gun control is very prevalent in today’s society. Some see it sad that we must argue over one of our supposedly deemed unalienable rights such as bearing a firearm.
With the crime rate commonly believed to be detrimental to the safety of society, one might assume to inflict stricter gun control laws. But, just how effective are these laws in reducing the amount of crime committed? As examined by Kleck and Patterson (2006), the rationale for gun control must first include the assumption that the availability of guns entails a significantly positive correlation on violence rates. But, Kates and Mauser (2006) studied the aggregate relationship between gun control and lower crime rate and found no evidence of this correlation.
By concealing the weapon, citizens can go about their day normally without being distracted by a handgun on someone’s person. Many Americans are beginning to grasp the concept that gun control laws are rapidly becoming useless. John C. Moorhouse and Brent Wanner, authors of “Gun Control Law Do Not Reduce Violent Crimes” State that the reason gun control is ineffective, is because it does next to nothing to stop criminals from getting their hands on firearms (Gun Control Laws Do Not Reduce). To reduce gun crime, more needs to be done to stop criminals, instead of focusing efforts on law abiding citizens, they are not the ones to worry about.
On April 16th 2007 at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute, a student with psychological problems began a two hour killing spree that left 33 dead (Reader). The massacre that occurred at this school is now the worst recorded incident in the history of the United States and eclipses the University of Texas massacre of 1966. In the wake of tragedies like these, students, teachers and administrators propose more measures to make us feel safe on campus. But why weren't these measures in place before? School administrators and police have a responsibility to protect their students and faculty on campus, and these instances clearly shown a lack of fulfilling that responsibility. And yet several campus' refuse to allow law-abiding and
Everyone wants to feel safe and everyone has their opinion. When it comes to concealed weapons, people have become very enchanted with the topic. They have joined groups that share their views like the NRA (National Rifle Association), which supports concealed weapons or the Brady Campaign which is against concealed weapons. When it comes down to it, there are just two groups, one for concealed weapon and the other against it. These two groups have the same goal, but each have a certain path that they would rather fallow. When searching for support one of the groups may use facts to gain support for the path of action, while the other group may use emotional events to gain support for their path. When thinking about it, one must not look
Additionally, in states that have laws permitting concealed weapons for those who qualify, there has been a measurable reduction in violent crimes and murder. There are forty states that allow those who have permits to carry a handgun. Consequently, there are approximately 3.5 million U.S. citizens that are permitted to have a concealed weapon on their person, or in their car (Kates & Mauser, 2007). John Lott and David Mustard conducted a study on the concealed handguns law. They analyzed FBI crime statistics for the entire United States, covering the years from 1977 to 1992. With conservative approximations, states enacting the concealed weapons law had a reduction in rape by 5%, robbery by 3%, aggravated assault by 7%, and murder by 8.5% (Lott, n.d.).