The Violence Policy Center’s ongoing Concealed Carry Killers project continues to put the lie to the Gun Lobby’s ‘Good Guys with Guns’ talking point. The project’s most recent update shows that since 2007, concealed handgun permit holders have been responsible for at least 2,541 deaths not involving self-defense.
This latest update comes as legislation has been introduced in the U.S. House (H.R. 38) and Senate (S. 65) to allow individuals with state-issued concealed firearm permits to carry their weapons in any state that issues carry permits or does not prohibit the carrying of concealed firearms.
“For the firearms industry, this proposed legislation is good for business,” the VPC said in a statement. “For the gun lobby, it’s one more organizing tool. For the rest of us, it’s the latest pro-gun assault on public safety.”
Because there is no comprehensive recordkeeping of deaths involving concealed handgun permit holders (and many states, in fact, bar the release of such information), the examples in Concealed Carry Killers are drawn primarily from news reports along with limited information collected by a few states. Hence, they likely represent a tiny fraction of actual events. To read the most recent update, click here. To see a state-by-state breakdown of fatal incidents involving concealed carry, click here.
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