Concealed-Carry Permit Holders Are the Most Law-Abiding Americans

A new study from the Crime Prevention Research Center shows that the most law-abiding  Americans are those with a permit to conceal a firearm.

“Indeed, it is impossible to think of any other group in the U.S. that is anywhere near as law-abiding,” says the report, titled “Concealed Carry Permit Holders Across the United States 2016.”

The study compared the rate of criminal offense of concealed-carry permit holders with police officers for the states of Florida and Texas.  The study asserts that the populations of Florida and Texas mirror the overall US population.

“With about 685,464 full-time police officers in the U.S. from 2005 to 2007, we find that there were about 103 crimes per hundred thousand officers,” the report reads. “For the U.S. population as a whole, the crime rate was 37 times higher—3,813 per hundred thousand people.”

While police commit crimes at a lesser frequency than the general public, the concealed-carry permit holder commits crimes at an even lesser frequency than police.

“We find that permit holders are convicted of misdemeanors and felonies at less than a sixth the rate for police officers,” the report says. “Among police, firearms violations occur at a rate of 16.5 per 100,000 officers. Among permit holders in Florida and Texas, the rate is only 2.4 per 100,000.10. That is just one-seventh of the rate for police officers.”

Making the effort to get a permit to conceal a firearm requires a special kind of diligence. There are tests, sometimes shooting qualifications and once a permit is approved, the carrier must be mindful to avoid having his permit revoked.

“We find that permit holders are convicted of misdemeanors and felonies at less than a sixth the rate for police officers,” the report says. “Among police, firearms violations occur at a rate of 16.5 per 100,000 officers. Among permit holders in Florida and Texas, the rate is only 2.4 per 100,000.10. That is just one-seventh of the rate for police officers.”

Gun control advocates have supported measures to make it more difficult to get a permit and will probably continue to do so, despite the evidence resulting from this report. These groups boast they have stopped permitless carry in 16 different states.

And for what? The report also points out that crime has declined in states with permitless carry.

“We find that permit holders are convicted of misdemeanors and felonies at less than a sixth the rate for police officers,” the report says. “Among police, firearms violations occur at a rate of 16.5 per 100,000 officers. Among permit holders in Florida and Texas, the rate is only 2.4 per 100,000.10. That is just one-seventh of the rate for police officers.”

Will there be any policy consequences from the anti-gun groups who insist they just want safe and sensible gun reform? Probably not. With background checks at all-time high, there’s been continuous good news on the firearm ownership front for years, all of which gets ignored.