Carry Laws Dont Increase Gun Theft, Decrease Police Effectiveness

[dyno dan]

Crime Prevention Research Center: Carry Laws Don’t Increase Gun Theft,
Decrease Police Effectiveness

Monday, July 8, 2024


Gun-control groups campaign against right-to-carry laws by claiming
that guns carried in public pose a substantial threat to public
safety, and that concealed carry permitting laws lead to more violent
crime, not less. Giffords, for instance, alleges that “the dangers of
permissive public carry laws” include an increase in gun thefts and
“other undesirable outcomes,” with absolutely no counterbalancing
public safety benefits.

Professor Carl Moody and Dr. John Lott of the Crime Prevention
Research Center (CPRC) have just released an updated paper, How Does
Concealed Carrying of Weapons Affect Violent Crime? (May 31, 2024).
These researchers examined information related to claims that carry
concealed weapons (CCW) laws indirectly increase violent crime by
driving up firearm thefts or by decreasing police effectiveness. Using
a unique new data set that employs the number of permit holders as the
variable of interest, the authors found no evidence that CCW laws are
associated with significant increases in gun thefts or impact the
effectiveness of police.

On gun thefts generally, an existing government source on how
criminals obtain their firearms suggests that only a small amount of
crime guns are acquired by theft. A Bureau of Justice Statistics
report, Source and Use of Firearms Involved in Crimes: Survey of
Prison Inmates, 2016 (Jan. 2019) shows that only 6.4% of state and
federal prisoners who had possessed a firearm during the offense for
which they were serving time listed “theft” (burglaries, thefts from
retail sources or a family/friend, or “other”) as their gun source.

Previous literature from the CPRC indicates that CCW permit-holders
are unlikely to be violent criminals – in fact, as a class they tend
towards the extreme opposite end of the law-abiding spectrum. In
jurisdictions where information on crimes and permits is available, it
shows that permit-holders are less likely to drive recklessly or under
the influence than non-permittees, and permit-holders are “convicted
of firearms-related violations at one-twelfth the rate of police
officers.”

Professor Moody and Dr. Lott analyzed the theft question (whether CCW
permit holders are a significant source of stolen guns beyond the
amount expected due to the existing burglary rate) using variables
that included the number of CCW permits (and a dummy variable for
constitutional carry laws), the number of stolen guns, and the
burglary rate as a control. “Stolen guns,” they conclude, “are
apparently independent of CCW permits or permitless carrying.” The
evidence revealed that neither the number of CCW permits nor the
effect of constitutional carry laws had a significant impact on the
rate at which guns are stolen. Constitutional carry states do not have
significantly higher gun theft rates but, because most of the
constitutional carry laws are relatively recent (since 2015), “it may
be too early to draw any conclusions” on their impact.

The second issue examined was whether CCW permit-holders were
associated with declines in police effectiveness, measured as the
clearance rate of violent crimes. Variables included the clearance
(arrest) rates and the number of crimes recorded for several given
violent crimes types. Here, too, the analysis showed that “police
effectiveness is unrelated to either the number of CCW permits and or
existence of constitutional carry laws.”

These results confirm what many in the Second Amendment community know
already – that despite all the spurious rationalizations advanced
against lawful carrying, CCW permittees and others carrying
responsibly are not the ones who threaten public safety or produce
more crime.

https://www.nraila.org/articles/20240708/crime-prevention-research-center-carry-laws-don-t-increase-gun-theft-decrease-police-effectiveness


-dan z-

[Dave Wainwright]

Crime Prevention Research Center: Carry Laws Don’t Increase Gun Theft,
Decrease Police Effectiveness
Monday, July 8, 2024
Gun-control groups campaign against right-to-carry laws by claiming
that guns carried in public pose a substantial threat to public
safety, and that concealed carry permitting laws lead to more violent
crime, not less. Giffords, for instance, alleges that “the dangers of
permissive public carry laws” include an increase in gun thefts and
“other undesirable outcomes,” with absolutely no counterbalancing
public safety benefits.

Giffords is a waste of carbon atoms.

Professor Carl Moody and Dr. John Lott of the Crime Prevention
Research Center (CPRC) have just released an updated paper, How Does
Concealed Carrying of Weapons Affect Violent Crime? (May 31, 2024).
These researchers examined information related to claims that carry
concealed weapons (CCW) laws indirectly increase violent crime by
driving up firearm thefts or by decreasing police effectiveness. Using
a unique new data set that employs the number of permit holders as the
variable of interest, the authors found no evidence that CCW laws are
associated with significant increases in gun thefts or impact the
effectiveness of police.

Police lose weapons all the time. Many are never found.

On gun thefts generally, an existing government source on how
criminals obtain their firearms suggests that only a small amount of
crime guns are acquired by theft. A Bureau of Justice Statistics
report, Source and Use of Firearms Involved in Crimes: Survey of
Prison Inmates, 2016 (Jan. 2019) shows that only 6.4% of state and
federal prisoners who had possessed a firearm during the offense for
which they were serving time listed “theft” (burglaries, thefts from
retail sources or a family/friend, or “other”) as their gun source.
Previous literature from the CPRC indicates that CCW permit-holders
are unlikely to be violent criminals – in fact, as a class they tend
towards the extreme opposite end of the law-abiding spectrum. In
jurisdictions where information on crimes and permits is available, it
shows that permit-holders are less likely to drive recklessly or under
the influence than non-permittees, and permit-holders are “convicted
of firearms-related violations at one-twelfth the rate of police
officers.”
Professor Moody and Dr. Lott analyzed the theft question (whether CCW
permit holders are a significant source of stolen guns beyond the
amount expected due to the existing burglary rate) using variables
that included the number of CCW permits (and a dummy variable for
constitutional carry laws), the number of stolen guns, and the
burglary rate as a control. “Stolen guns,” they conclude, “are
apparently independent of CCW permits or permitless carrying.” The
evidence revealed that neither the number of CCW permits nor the
effect of constitutional carry laws had a significant impact on the
rate at which guns are stolen. Constitutional carry states do not have
significantly higher gun theft rates but, because most of the
constitutional carry laws are relatively recent (since 2015), “it may
be too early to draw any conclusions” on their impact.

Liberals never let facts get in the way of a lie.

The second issue examined was whether CCW permit-holders were
associated with declines in police effectiveness, measured as the
clearance rate of violent crimes. Variables included the clearance
(arrest) rates and the number of crimes recorded for several given
violent crimes types. Here, too, the analysis showed that “police
effectiveness is unrelated to either the number of CCW permits and or
existence of constitutional carry laws.”
These results confirm what many in the Second Amendment community know
already – that despite all the spurious rationalizations advanced
against lawful carrying, CCW permittees and others carrying
responsibly are not the ones who threaten public safety or produce
more crime.
https://www.nraila.org/articles/20240708/crime-prevention-research-center-carry-laws-don-t-increase-gun-theft-decrease-police-effectiveness