Despite decades of gun-lobby claims that more weapons (particularly concealed weapons) make people safer, its own confidential research proves the opposite, according to a new Rolling Stone/The Trace report.
One 2018 report, from gun industry trade group the National Shooting Sports Foundation, was based on a survey of 1,800 people from baby boomers to Gen Z. Researchers concluded that “more Americans feel less safe when it comes to people legally carrying concealed guns in public.” That finding applied to non-gun owners and gun owners alike, as well as to both ends of the political spectrum. “While millennials, liberals, and non-owners are more adamant about feeling less safe,” the study said, “a majority of gun owners and conservatives also don’t feel safe when it comes to concealed carry.”
Nevertheless, other secret NSSF reports obtained by Rolling Stone and The Trace make it clear that concealed carry is a major driver of gun-industry profits, and turning away from it would be detrimental to business. The NSSF is currently pushing the Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act, a federal bill that would bar states from fully enforcing their laws on gun carrying. The bill has broad support among conservative lawmakers, with 186 Republican co-sponsors in the House and 46 in the Senate. If the legislation arrives on President Donald Trump’s desk, he has pledged to sign it.