Preventing hate crimes? Huffington Post article suggests concealed carry.
I can’t begin to tell you how often I read something on The Huffington Post that has me shaking my head in amazement. In the aftermath of the shooting at the Holocaust Museum today, I was making the rounds to get a sense of what everyone (yes, everyone) was saying and I found this. Astonishing.
While GOProud, the only national gay conservative group, doesn’t take a position on the current hate crimes legislation, we do strongly support empowering individuals to protect themselves – which is why GOProud urges the Senate to amend the current hate crimes legislation to include a provision dealing with concealed carry reciprocity.
A bill in the Senate, S. 845, co-sponsored by Senator John Thune (R-SD) and Senator David Vitter (R-LA), allows for reciprocity among all the states that currently allow citizens to lawfully carry a concealed firearm.
I’m astonished to see an article advocating such a thing at HuffPo. That they’ve permitted it speaks well of them and raises their status with me, at least. Don’t hold your breath about it staying there, but I’m not writing them off, either. The bill referenced would allow an individual who is licensed to carry a concealed firearm in his home state to also carry it in another state so long as 1) that state also permits concealed carry and 2) the individual complies with the concealed carry law of that state while so carrying. The author of the article is up front about the reasons for his support:
No matter what the left wants you to believe, the truth is that law-abiding gun use saves lives. Guns are used 2.5 million times a year in self defense – that’s 6,850 times a day in this country. Furthermore, concealed carry laws have reduced murder and crime rates in states that have enacted them.
According to a comprehensive study which reviewed crime statistics in every county in the United States from 1977 to 1992, states that passed concealed carry law reduced their rate of murder by 8.5%, rape by 5%, aggravated assault by 7%, and robbery by 3%.
More recent statistics compiled in those states and others that have since enacted concealed carry laws bear this trend out. States and localities that have enacted gun bans, refused to issue carry licenses to ordinary citizens, or enacted procedures designed to make adherence to carry requirements onerous – such as Chicago, New York, and DC – have all seen those statistics rise over the same period. This is a good move to make and I agree with GOProud’s stance on the matter.
