Orange County Register explaining evidence on “More guns, less crime”

From Adam Summers, a columnist for the Orange County Register (September 16):

. . . One of the primary ways gun laws in much of the country have been loosened is through the easing of restrictions on carrying a concealed weapon. A number of states no longer require a government permit at all. A recent report from the Crime Prevention Research Center, a nonprofit organization established by the man who literally wrote the book on “More Guns, Less Crime,” John R. Lott Jr., examines this trend, since just prior to the beginning of the Obama administration, and its relation to falling rates of violent crime.

Among the study’s findings are the following:

• “Between 2007-14, murder rates have fallen from 5.6 to 4.2 (preliminary estimates) per 100,000. This represents a 25 percent drop in the murder rate at the same time that the percentage of the adult population with permits soared by 178 percent. Overall violent crime also fell by 25 percent over that period of time.”

• “Concealed handgun permit holders are extremely law-abiding. In Florida and Texas, permit holders are convicted of misdemeanors or felonies at one-sixth the rate that police officers are convicted.”

• While 5.2 percent of the U.S. population has a concealed carry permit, the rate is only 0.24 percent in California. According to the CPRC study, “State level permit data suggest that each 1 percentage point increase in the adult population holding permits is roughly associated with a 25 percent drop in the murder rate.” However, “Giving government officials discretion in who gets permits reduces the percent of adults who get permits by more than two-thirds.”. . .

As Mr. Lott’s research demonstrates, this surge in the number of responsible citizens keeping and bearing arms bodes well for individual liberty and public safety, both in the U.S. and in Panama.