The startling headline knocked me out of my morning news-browsing haze. “More Than 2,500 Non-Self Defense Deaths Involving Concealed Carry Killers Since 2007, Latest Violence Policy Center Research Shows,” the headline seemed to scream at me.
“Oh, no,” I realized. “They’ve caught us. Finally, the truth has come out about how truly dangerous it is to have people walking around all over the country with concealed firearms and a bloodlust for innocent victims.”
Actually, that’s not at all what I thought. However, after reviewing the article from an organization that has never encountered an anti-gun proposal it didn’t support, I realized that’s the impression they wanted to create with the headline. The beginning of the article clearly indicates their purpose—to attempt to halt any momentum that National Carry Reciprocity might currently be gaining.
“Concealed handgun permit holders are responsible for at least 2,541 deaths not involving self-defense since 2007, according to the Violence Policy Center’s (VPC) ongoing Concealed Carry Killers project, an online resource that provides examples of non-self-defense killings involving private citizens with permits to carry concealed handguns in public,” the press release began. “This latest update comes as legislation endorsed by the gun lobby and firearms industry has been introduced in the U.S. House (H.R. 38) and Senate (S. 65) to allow individuals with state-issued concealed firearm permits to carry their weapons in any state that issues carry permits or does not prohibit the carrying of concealed firearms.”
Instead of TTAG readers having to waste their time on the report, I bit the bullet and did it for you. And now, as Paul Harvey would say, here’s the rest of the story.
From 2007 through 2024 is 17 years. Simply dividing the VPC total by 17 yields 149 such deaths each year. For perspective, that national total is four times fewer than the number of murders in Chicago in a given year. Thinking that number was likely low for any group of people, I considered moving on and ignoring the rest of the report. Thankfully, I didn’t.
As it turns out, the vast majority of what VPC calls “Non-Self-Defense Deaths caused by Concealed Carry Killers” are actually suicides. In fact, according to the figures in the report, that accounted for 1,505 of the non-self-defense deaths—nearly 60%!
The study went on to break down deaths into several other categories: cases where the carrier was convicted (561), cases where he or she perpetrated a murder/suicide (64), was the victim in a murder/suicide (24), cases still pending (83), firearm accidents (40) and cases still under investigation (11).
When you discount all of the categories that don’t match VPC’s horrid headline—suicide, murder/suicide victim, cases still pending, accidents and cases still under investigation—the final total is 625 over a 17-year period. Do the math, and it equals 36 a year, equal to about two holiday weekends in Chicago.
Of course, this assumes that VPC’s figures are even close to being correct. It’s hard to expect an anti-gun organization not to manipulate some numbers to support their argument these days.
Note that I’m not dismissing the significance of suicides, as the loss of any life is a tragedy. However, it’s clear that suicides don’t align with what VPC intended for people to believe when reporting on “Non-Self-Defense Deaths Involving Concealed Carry Killers.”
Ultimately, this is merely the latest effort by VPC to portray concealed carry as negative and those who carry concealed as even worse. However, this assertion has been proven false in every state that has expanded or deregulated carry without a corresponding increase in violent crime.
Unfortunately, that likely won’t stop the so-called “mainstream” media from running with the story, as they are in cahoots with the antis and will be working overtime to try to nip concealed carry reciprocity in the bud.
Read the full article here
