
 |
|
June 19, 2013
June 12, 2013
Stephanie Hanes: Little girls or little women? The Disney princess effect
Fred Weir: In tweak to US, Russia would 'consider' asylum for Snowden
June 10, 2013
The Kosher Gourmet by Anjali Prasertong: A tart filling so good it might not make it to the crust
June 5, 2013
John Rosemond: Mom, Dad: Talk More and listen less
Kristen Chick: Egypt court sentences 43 pro-democracy workers to prison
June 3, 2013
Molly Hennessy-Fiske: Military judge to consider letting Fort Hood shooting defendant represent himself
May 29, 2013
Andrew Connelly and Helene Bienvenu: The Little Synagogue that Refused to Die
May 24, 2013
Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb: When I didn't so 'humbly disagree'
May 22, 2013
John Thorne:
They launched the 'Arab Spring' but now yearn for the good old days of a strongman
May 20, 2013
Richard A. Serrano: Is Meir Kahane's assassin now a changed man?
Melissa Healy: Genetic copies of living people from embryos no longer science fiction
Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Jews Inducted into Rock Hall of Fame; Anton Yelchin co-stars in New "Trek" film; Kutcher (but not Kunis) visits Israel; Jewish TV Star Praises Jewish Rap Star
The Kosher Gourmet by Cathy Pollak: WARNING: This WALNUT CAKE WITH PRALINE FROSTING, perfect for afternoon coffee, is addicting
|
| |
Jewish World Review
January 7, 2010
/ 21 Teves 5770
Gun-Control Advocates Play Fast and Loose
By
A. Barton Hinkle
| 
|
|
|
| |
|
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Consider this statistic: Concealed handgun permit holders have
killed 107 people since 2007. That news, from the Violence Policy Center
in Washington, D.C., sounds pretty bad until you put it in context.
How many Americans have been issued a permit to carry a concealed
weapon?
The Violence Policy Center doesn't say. And it's probably impossible to
pin down a precise number, because records are kept on a state-by-state
basis, and reporting criteria differ from state to state. But NRA
estimates put the number in the neighborhood of 5 million, as of a
couple of years ago. (The NRA adds that permit applications have jumped
50 percent since the 2008 elections which seems borne out at least
here in Virginia. At present there are 211,435 active permits in the
commonwealth. Just this year, Virginia courts have granted more than
62,000.)
If that's true, then the percentage of concealed-carry permit holders
who have killed someone with a firearm comes to two one-thousandths of 1
percent. Yet to listen to the VPC's Kristen Brand who says "concealed
handgun permit holders are killing people over parking spaces, football
games, and family arguments" you'd think the cohort of permit holders
was as dangerous as the gang at Rikers Island.
Now, the Violence Policy Center notes that its numbers might be
incomplete: Because of the variations in state reporting criteria, it
might have missed some cases in which a concealed-carry permit holder
killed someone. Let's say the VPC missed a lot of cases nine out of
10, in fact. Using that generous standard, then the fraction of
permit-holders who have killed someone with a firearm in the past couple
of years comes to two one-hundredths of 1 percent. That still doesn't
make much of case against permit holders, does it?
Here's another way to look at it: How many firearm homicides are there?
It varies from year to year, but 10,000 is a conservative round number.
That's a godawful lot, far too many. (Although out of 70 million
firearms in the U.S., it also comes to less than two hundredths of a
percent.) Again, the figures indicate concealed-carry permit holders are
responsible for less than 1 percent of them.
And if you look into the details of the cases cited by the VPC, it's
clear that the group is using the most expansive definition of "people
killed by concealed-carry permit holders" possible. For example, a
couple of the 107 cases involve accidental firearms discharges; in one,
a young child accidentally shot himself with his father's pistol. That's
a horrible, gut-wrenching tragedy. But you don't need a concealed-carry
permit to keep a gun in the house.
Of course, homicide is not the only crime you can commit with a gun, and
concealed-carry permit holders have committed other crimes, too. On the
other hand, gun-rights groups point out that sometimes gun owners can
stop or deter a crime.
Estimates of how often this happens vary wildly, from 108,000 times a
year (the 1993 National Crime Victimization Survey) to 1.5 million
(Department of Justice, 1994) to more than 3 million (a 1976 California
study). Florida criminologist Gary Kleck may have produced the most
scrupulous count, which he puts at 2.5 million annual defensive gun
uses. Gun-rights groups also point out that after Florida adopted a
"shall-issue" concealed-carry permit law, its homicide rate fell even as
the national rate rose. Post hoc does not imply propter hoc. On the
other hand, it's impossible to say, at least based on Florida's
experience, that liberal gun laws lead inexorably to more murders.
Should states make it harder to get a permit? Perhaps but not because
of the VPC's statistics, which make concealed-carry permit holders seem
a lot safer to be around than, say, airbags.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, airbags
have saved 25,000 people and killed 290. If a pharmaceutical company
came out with a new drug that killed more than one person for every
hundred lives it saved, Washington would ban it in a heartbeat. Yet
airbags are federally mandated. Maybe the Violence Policy Center should
look into that.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
A. Barton Hinkle is Deputy Editor of the Editorial Pages at Richmond Times-Dispatch
Comment by clicking here.
Previously:
12/31/09: Nearly everything progressives say about neoconservative interventionism abroad applies to their own preferred policies at home
© 2010, A. Barton Hinkle
|
|

Arnold Ahlert
Mitch Albom
Jay Ambrose
Michael Barone
Barrywood
Lori Borgman
Stratfor Briefing
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Richard Z. Chesnoff
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Suzanne Fields
Christine Flowers
Peter Funt
Frank J. Gaffney
Bernie Goldberg
Jonah Goldberg
Julia Gorin
Jonathan Gurwitz
Paul Greenberg
Argus Hamilton
Victor Davis Hanson
Betsy Hart
Ron Hart
Nat Hentoff
A. Barton Hinkle
Jeff Jacoby
Paul Johnson
John Kass
Jack Kelly
Ch. Krauthammer
David Limbaugh
Kathryn Lopez
Rich Lowry
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Ann McFeatters
Dale McFeatters
Dana Milbank
Jeanne Moos
Dick Morris
Jim Mullen
Deroy Murdock
Judge A. Napolitano
Bill O'Reilly
Clarence Page
Kathleen Parker
Star Parker
Dennis Prager
Wesley Pruden
Tom Purcell
Sharon Randall
Michael Reagan
Robert Robb
Cokie & Steve Roberts
Heather Robinson
Debra J. Saunders
Martin Schram
Greg Schwem
Culture Shlock
David Shribman
Roger Simon
Lenore Skenazy
Michael Smerconish
Thomas Sowell
Mark Steyn
John Stossel
Cal Thomas
Dan Thomasson
Bob Tyrrell
Diana West
Dave Weinbaum
George Will
Walter Williams
Byron York
Cathy Young
Mort Zuckerman

Eric Allie
Robert Arial
Chuck Asay
Baloo
Nate Beeler
Lisa Benson
Chip Bok
Dry Bones
John Branch
Daryl Cagle
Patrick Chappatte
John Cole
Paul Combs
J. D. Crowe
John Darkow
Bill Day
John Deering
Sean Delonas
Brian Duffy
Everything's Relative
Randall Enos
Mallard Fillmore
David Fitzsimmons
Glenn Foden
Jake Fuller
Bob Gorrel
Walt Handelsman
Joe Heller
David Hitch
Jerry Holbert
David Horsey
Lee Judge
Steve Kelley
Mike Keefe
Jeff Koterba
Dick Locher
Chan Lowe
Jimmy Margulies
Gary McCoy
Rick McKee
Jack Ohman
Jeff Parker
Milt Priggee
Michael Ramirez
Rob Rogers
Steve Sack
Bill Schorr
Drew Sheneman
Kevin Siers
David Ray Skinner
Jeff Stahler
Scott Stantis
Danna Summers
Gary Varvel
Kirk Walters
Christopher Weyant
Larry Wright
Dan Wasserman
Adam Zyglis

Tech Q&A
Mr. Know-It-All
Ask Doctor K
Richard Lederer
Frugal Living
On Nutrition
Bookmark These
Bruce Williams
|