U.S.A. –-(Ammoland.com)- In Ohio, about one out of 18 citizens have a permit to carry a concealed firearm in public. That says quite a lot since a noticeable number of Ohio citizens are not eligible for a permit. Those statistics also hide a terrible truth. The concealed carry laws in Ohio disarmed over a million eligible adults. The results are exactly what you’d expect after we denied the right of armed defense to law abiding citizens.
Because of Ohio laws, thousands of additional victims, including hundreds of rape victims, were disarmed when they were attacked. Is it worth it?
5.4% of the Ohio population has their permit to carry a concealed firearm in public. About two-thirds of us are eligible to vote, so a conservative estimate is that six-out-of-ten citizens could get a carry permit if they wanted one. The people who don’t have a permit might be too young, or they might be so old that they don’t want to carry any longer and let their permit expire. Some citizens have a disqualifying legal offense. Considering all that, one-out-of-18 citizens in Ohio with a permit doesn’t seem so bad.. until we look at the rest of the United States.
About 20 million US citizens have their carry permits. That puts the national average at about one-in-15 people. Those national statistics don’t count the 17 million eligible adults living in constitutional carry states where government permission is not required to carry concealed in public. Critics argue that constitutional carry, also called permitless carry, is dangerous. Contrary to our imagination, the amount of firearms training goes up in states that removed the minimum requirements to carry a firearm. Inadvertently, the requirements for a state permit formed a floor. Civilian gun owners wanted more training to feel competent once that minimal requirement was removed. We don’t know how many people carry concealed in constitutional carry states, but we have some estimates.
The carry rate varies from state to state. Some states, like Hawaii, don’t grant permits for ordinary citizens to carry in public, yet the violent crime rate in Hawaii is higher than the national average. New Jersey doesn’t let ordinary citizens carry, yet New Jersey has five cities in the 100 most dangerous cities in the US. Gun prohibition doesn’t bring peace.
In contrast, Alabama has the highest carry rate of any state with about a third of eligible adults having their permit. Even that isn’t the highest carry rate we can find. About half the eligible adults in some Pennsylvania counties have their permits. Constitutional carry rates should fall somewhere in between.
Why does that matter to the citizens of Ohio? We all want to be safer. The Ohio permit requires 8 hours of training and costs about $120. That doesn’t seem like a lot, but the results are dramatic.
The costs we impose on honest citizens to carry in public reduced the number of people who got their permit. More law-abiding adults went disarmed. Compared to the states with high carry rates like Alabama, Ohio disarmed over 1.1 million honest adults. To put that number in perspective, the gun-control laws in Ohio disarmed the eligible adults in Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Toledo combined. What do you think would happen if we disarmed the honest adults in those cities?
The good news is that the overall rate of violent crime in Ohio is lower than the USA average. The bad news is that the rate of crime in Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati is several times the national average. Even if every city in Ohio were exactly average when it comes to crime, our 1.1 million disarmed citizens became disarmed victims over four thousand times a year, including over 300 disarmed rape victims.
Those disarmed victims were the price we paid for gun control in Ohio. We can also examine Ohio’s murder rate and see what happens to those million honest citizens who were disarmed.
Ohio’s gun-control laws take the tools of self-defense away from 57 murder victims every year.
That is the cost of gun control in Ohio.
We can do better. The cost of a permit in Pennsylvania is about $19. Alabama charges slightly more, but recent legislation eliminated the fees for a permit in Alabama.
In Ohio, we disarmed 57 citizens who are no longer alive to tell us that gun-control disarms the victims. When it comes to saving innocent lives, being average isn’t good enough.
About Rob Morse
The original article with sources is here. Rob Morse writes about gun rights at Ammoland, at Clash Daily, and on his SlowFacts blog. He hosts the Self Defense Gun Stories Podcast and co-hosts the Polite Society Podcast. Rob is an NRA pistol instructor and combat handgun competitor.
“The Ohio permit requires 8 hours of training and costs about $120. That doesn’t seem like a lot, but the results are dramatic.” Contrary to many CCW and ‘Constitutional Carry’ aficionados, I have only one complaint about the requirement to be ‘licensed’ to carry a concealed weapon. That is ANY or ALL **FEES** some Fed, State, Local government charges! I like the idea that people are ‘screened’ just a mite before being legally lawful stomping around ARMED. They contend that “the pen is mightier than the sword,” and I’m not charged a ‘fee’ to exercise my ‘rights’ under that FIRST… Read more »
Thank you for your article, Mr. Morse. However, don’t confuse the Communist (Democrap Party) Left with the facts. Their REAL agenda has NOTHING to with public safety. The Communist Left wants to disarm every citizen in the United States so that they have NO ONE to oppose their destruction of the Constitutional Republic of the United States and their replacement of same with a Centrally Controlled Communist Police State Government! THAT IS THEIR GOAL!!! You want my guns? MOLON LABE!!!
No statistics on anything but the CCW permits in Arizona. Since we’re a Constitutional Carry state, everyone over 18 can carry open and everyone 21 and over can carry concealed without any permits, authorization or permission so there is no tracking and no statistics; just the way it should be across the country.
South Carolina hasn’t updated the stats yet.
Active Permits as of January 1, 2019…….459,793
Population – 5,148,714 (2019)
Over 21 – 3,861,535 (Approx. 75%)
CWP percentage – 11.9%
We should not have to pay for a carry permit, but FYI, the FBI charges Law Enforcement and Private employers $18 (last time I checked) for a Criminal Background Check, part of your permit fee pays for that. If your State uses the FBI, then it should not be much more than that for the local Law Enforcement or you are getting ripped off.
One of the things Americans have never experienced, having no freedom. That can change in one election, it is a sad thing that many of those who live in this country today are willing to gamble their freedom away with their eyes wide open, and their minds closed to the truth that socialism/communism enslaves.
I am an old Marine, a Vietnam veteran, the only way I won’t be voting is when I am in an urn under my headstone in the local veterans cemetery. My wife of over 50 years will be with me there also.
I know what it is like to lay my life on the line for my country, I am not afraid to do it again.
Vern, unfortunately, if you are dead, you might still be vote – Democrat. Half of their votes are by the dead and illegals.
Christ raises the dead to life everlasting, the democrats only raise their voting ability for a few minutes at every election cycle then drop them back to the grave.
Looking at the choice the democrats have now is pretty pitiful, but the dead don’t have a choice who they are voting for, that is the way democrats like it.
Illegals? they don’t care, just give them the freebies, that is all they are here for in the first place.
Vern . . . AMEN!!!
Anyone who legislates, judges, lawyers, enforces of funds any law that delays or denies any free American of his right to keep and bear arms is criminal to the point of treason and is culpable for any damage or loss or loss of life sustained by the citizen, the family of the citizen and the friends of the citizen. Assault, rape, murder by proxy is still assault, rape or murder. By denying or delaying the citizen’s right to keep and bear arms, they have empowered the criminal. Carry. Carry every day, all day, wherever you are even if you are… Read more »
What if Americans simply exercised their rights and told the politicians to go pound sand?? Then if the politicians get froggy, sue the bejeezus out of them or whatever else it takes?
The problem is that when one person stands against the politician they will loose and usually you will not find a group of people willing to go and physically fight with that one person to show a strength by numbers because people may not believe that there will be enough people to get them to back down. That is why you will probably not see an uprising in this country because people are scared to loose their liberties by becoming a criminal in the eyes of the politicians. Where our rights were 50 years ago to where they are today… Read more »
“The RIGHT of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” Our forefathers went through the same stuff when Brittan ruled the colonies. They, like we, complained about the erosion of GOD given rights. This continued right up to the point when the British attempted firearm confiscation. So, if history repeats itself, a, maybe the, turning point will be when the government trys the same thing. I hope you have been stocking up with gear because you/we are likely going to need it — soon.
Arm up, carry on.
@David, Well, form a group, then. Get organized. Run a few scenarios, but don’t forget to include the logistics tab.
Will . . . The federal bench is as corrupt as congress! Frankly, it would be good to get President Trump to a safe distance and then NUKE Washington, D.C.!!!
@noby, Yep, the libtards have had many years to fill up the fed. judiciary with their fellow libtards. Trump has managed to place Constitution honoring judges in about 200 slots. That is having an impact, already.
If Trump can replace libtards for another four years, he will have nominated almost half of the fed. judiciary, and have another shot or two at the S. Ct.