U.S.A. –-(Ammoland.com)- Gun prohibition lobbying groups have been mute since the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC) reported a significant increase in the estimated number of concealed carry licenses and permits across the country in the past year.
The report came coincidental to release of the FBI Uniform Crime Report for 2018 that shows violent crime, including homicides with firearms, declined last year, as earlier reported.
According to the CPRC, headed by author and researcher Dr. John Lott, there are now 18.66 million active carry permits/licenses. From all indications, that number continues to climb. The CPRC says the new number represents about an 8% increase in concealed carry since last year’s report. By the numbers, that’s more than 1.4 million more licenses/permits than one year ago.
There are now 13 states with more than 10 percent of the adult population licensed to carry. Those states are (in alphabetical order) Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah and Washington. Of them, Florida has more than 2 million licenses and Texas, Pennsylvania, and Georgia all have more than a million, each.
According to Lott and the CPRC, this climb represents a 304 percent increase since 2007.
The number translates to 7.3 percent of all adults in the United States, and approximately 8 percent growth over the number of active licenses and permits since 2018.
Here’s something else anti-gunners try to ignore: more than 2.1 million additional carry licenses/permits have been issued since Donald Trump became president. Lott said something else that causes no small amount of consternation in the gun-control camp. The new number may not represent all the people legally carrying because 16 states have adopted “constitutional carry,” allowing open or concealed carry without a license or permit.
It’s the third year in a row for an increase in concealed carry licenses, the CPRC report noted.
By no small coincidence, according to the FBI release of its 2018 crime report, violent crime fell for the second year in a row in 2018. Last year, violent crime dropped 3.3 percent overall.
According to an FBI news release, “Robbery offenses fell 12.0 percent, murder and non-negligent manslaughter offenses fell 6.2 percent, and the estimated volume of aggravated assault offenses decreased 0.4 percent. Only rape offenses increased, by 2.7 percent, the FBI reported.
As earlier reported by Ammoland News, last year there were an estimated 14,123 homicides, of which 10,265 involved firearms. The breakdown shows 6,603 involved handguns, 297 were committed with rifles and 235 involved shotguns. There were 3,130 firearm-related slayings in which the type of gun is listed as “unknown.”
In 2017, there were 15,129 slayings and 10,982 involved firearms, according to the FBI report for that year. Handguns were used in 7,032 killings, while another 403 involved rifles and 264 were committed with shotguns. In the “Unknown” category, there were 3,283 slayings with firearms.
The FBI annually releases its crime report at the end of September, for the previous year.
At the recent Gun Rights Policy Conference, held last month in Phoenix, Lott told the audience, “If I wanted to do something (about mass shootings), it would be to get rid of gun-free zones.”
Despite the growing interest in concealed carry, such places only disarm likely victims. Criminals and crazy persons ignore such designations, and most mass shootings in this century have occurred in such areas.
In response to such tragedies, Lott observed, anti-gunners have almost reflexively pushed for so-called “universal background checks.”
“The irony,” he said, “is that there’s not one mass public shooting in this century that would have been stopped by having that in effect.”
About Dave Workman
Dave Workman is a senior editor at TheGunMag.com and Liberty Park Press, author of multiple books on the Right to Keep & Bear Arms and formerly an NRA-certified firearms instructor.
It hasn’t been that many years ago that some states did not require a permit to own and carry a gun. I would say there is still an unknown number of people who take it upon themselves to carry without a permission slip. I mean honest people, not criminals. In addition, the number of guns in this country could be very under estimated. Isn’t it nice there is no registration as yet?
We Wyomingites used to be at a disadvantage because the state didn’t require or offer concealed carry permits, an advantage within the state, but a problem when travelling outside the state–no permits, no reciprocity.
The state now offers concealed carry permits to fix the problem, but I’m guessing that’s why the state with the most NFA-restricted weapons per capita doesn’t show up on this list–because almost all Wyomingites own guns, and most of them who carry don’t have permits.
Shouldn’t that read, “Violent Crime Declines as Nationwide CCW Spikes Upward”? I’m no wordsmith, but to me, they way they worded it makes it sound like people are needlessly getting a CCW. Because crime is declining. As opposed to the decline in crime is a result of more people getting their CCW.
I agree, in discussing the correlation between crime dropping and lawful carry of firearms, we MUST emphasize that the decrease in violent crime is the RESULT of more people being armed! Just look at Constitutional Carry states – wherever this is implemented, crime plummets!! For that reason alone, we need to end Victim Disarmament (‘gun free’) Zones and implement nationwide Constitutional Carry. Better yet, repeal all federal laws restricting gun rights – Dick Act, NFA, FFA, GCA, FOPA, etc.!! They are, after all, infringements that are unconstitutional on their face. The only gun law we need is the 2nd Amendent… Read more »
Stay armed, stay safe my fellow Ammolandians!
Hmm, I’ll bet that the anti-gunners don’t like hearing these stats, it doesn’t fit their gun control mantra. The anti-gunners will just disregard the stats and keep bleating the same tired gun control BS.
From all indications, the gun control lobby ignores such reports. Thanks for reading!
Those states are in rebellion, in the guise of legislative acts, against the Constitution and the Republic. You have identified a charge that should be used against those identifiable legislators, going back many years. All that remains is capture, prosecution, and fair trial.
How are the democrats going to spin that one? Oh I know, they’ll lie.
The only way to stop a crazy with a firearm that’s just sane enough to know where all the soft targets congregate, is more someone’s just crazy enough to carry that’s willing to engage them until they’re no longer a threat, and their idea of crazy eliminated. No matter the ammo used in any shooting spree, this is the proper definition of “stopping power.”