Dr. John Lott talked ot Cam Edwards at Bearing Arms.
Dr. John Lott, the founder and president of the CPRC, joins me on today’s Bearing Arms’ Cam & Co. to crunch the numbers, starting with the fact that we’d likely be at 20-million or just a hair below if it weren’t for the fact that many jurisdictions have either restricted the ability to apply for a concealed carry license or stopped accepting applications altogether over the past few months. As I noted earlier today, residents in Pittsburgh, PA are currently being told that they can apply for their license in March of 2021, while Philly residents are facing a year-long wait to exercise their right to bear arms.
Lott says that the growing number of constitutional or permitless carry states is also beginning to have an impact on the number of concealed carry licensees. The CPRC reports that the number of residents in Arkansas and Oklahoma who are licensed to carry is now less than 10% of residents, which Lott attributes to the fact that a license to carry is no longer needed in those states (though residents wanting to carry in most other states will still need a concealed carry license that’s recognized).
Despite those factors, the number of concealed carry holders still grew by about 820,000 people over the last year, according to the CPRC’s research, and Lott says that five states (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Texas) now have more than 1-million license holders. In fact Florida now has more than 2-million concealed carry holders, and it’s worth noting that since the state adopted “shall issue” concealed carry in 1987, the state’s violent crime rate has declined by almost 66%; from 1,024 violent crimes per 100k people to 378 violent crimes per 100k in 2019. Florida’s homicide rate has also dropped dramatically; in 1987 it stood at 11.4 per 100k, while in 2019 it was 5.2 per 100k. . . .
Cam Edwards, “The Right To Carry Revolution Nears The 20-Million Mark,” Bearing Arms, October 6, 2020.
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