Story here from ULTRA-leftist MSNBC. (H/T ECM)
Excerpt:
Americans overall are far less likely to be killed with a firearm than they were when it was much more difficult to obtain a concealed-weapons permit, according to statistics collected by the federal Centers for Disease Control. But researchers have not been able to establish a cause-and-effect relationship.
In the 1980s and ’90s, as the concealed-carry movement gained steam, Americans were killed by others with guns at the rate of about 5.66 per 100,000 population. In this decade, the rate has fallen to just over 4.07 per 100,000, a 28 percent drop. The decline follows a fivefold increase in the number of “shall-issue” and unrestricted concealed-carry states from 1986 to 2006.The highest gun homicide rate is in Washington, D.C., which has had the nation’s strictest gun-control laws for years and bans concealed carry: 20.50 deaths per 100,000 population, five times the general rate. The lowest rate, 1.12, is in Utah, which has such a liberal concealed weapons policy that most American adults can get a permit to carry a gun in Utah without even visiting the state.
The decline in gun homicides also comes as U.S. firearm sales are skyrocketing, according to federal background checks that are required for most gun sales. After holding stable at 8.5 to 9 million checks from 1999 to 2005, the FBI reported a surge to 10 million in 2006, 11 million in 2007, nearly 13 million in 2008 and more than 14 million last year, a 55 percent increase in just four years.
Read more at CNS News and Newsbusters.
UPDATE: ECM commands me to update the post to recommend the book “More Guns, Less Crime” by John Lott, (University of Chicago Press, 2000). But a much easier book to read is “The Bias Against Guns” (Regnery, 2003).
Related posts
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- Formal debate on gun control featuring John Lott and Gary Kleck
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- Grandmother jailed for five years for owning family heirloom handgun
- Do gun-free zones prevent multiple-victim public shootings?
- 61-year-old British man convicted for cutting up fruit with a Swiss Army knife
- Understanding how concealed carry laws save lives
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- John Lott on gun-free zones and multiple victim public shootings
WINTERY KNIGHT 
“But researchers have not been able to establish a cause-and-effect relationship…”.
Ha ha, they’ve got to be kidding! This is SO obvious that even my 4 year old could “establish the cause-and-effect relationship”. What criminal is going to risk his life committing a crime when law abiding citizens ALSO get to carry guns. In gun free areas only the criminals get to carry the guns so they’re safe and there’s no reason (morality aside) not to commit crimes.
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Found this interesting article: http://forum.prisonplanet.com/index.php?topic=63564.0;wap2
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Gun control laws have never deterred criminals. In fact, they make it easier for them since only the law abiding are affected by such regulations making them helpless, disarmed victims.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. Good people with guns are not a threat to society, they are the first line of defense against violent criminals.
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All of lotts books are easy to read. Also read his book “Freedomnomics” and “Debacle “.
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Freedomnomics is one of my favorite books, especially the sections on crime and abortion.
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