The headline crossed my Twitter stream without comment: North Carolina extends concealed carry to bars.
I shook my head. How could anyone think mixing alcohol and ammo is a good idea? It sounds like the wild west to me.
But it turns out a lot of folks this it’s a good one. They say that concealed carry owners are “responsible” — as contrasted with … being “irresponsible” if you don’t want to have a concealed permit? Not clear; not defined.
When I lived in the south, just about everyone owned a shotgun and a single-shot rifle because just about everyone went hunting. But I didn’t know anyone my age who had a pistol or a concealed carry permit. (Did they exist then?)
I was pretty sure that the violent crime rate in the US had peaked at least 20 years ago, but I wanted to check. Atlantic Cities reported this last year:
Annual homicide rates in 24 U.S. Metros
Annual homicide rates peaked in most major US cities between 1985 and 1993, the height of the crack cocaine epidemic. The graphic charts annual homicides during each city’s peak year, in 2001 and in 2010.
Where did rates increase?
I was surprised to see the uptick in 2010 homicide rates anywhere.
In the article, John Roman hypothesizes about economic impacts but reaches no conclusions. I decided to see which states had stand your ground laws. In some cases the increase or decrease (2001 to 2010) is incremental but it is still a change.
Increased 2001-2010
- Massachusetts – no (rate 11.0 to 11.8)
- Michigan – yes (rate 41.3 to 43.4)
- Nevada – yes (rate 11.9 to 18.3)
- Ohio – no (rate 11.3 to 13.3)
Decreased 2001-2010
- Arizona – yes (rate 15.3 to 8.0)
- California (rate multiple cities) – no
- Colorado – yes (rate 7.9 to 3.6)
- Florida – yes (rate 9.9 to 9.7)
- Illinois – no (rate 22.9 to 16.0)
- Indiana – yes (rate 14.0 to 13.4)
- Maryland – no (rate 38.7 to 35.9)
- New York – no (rate 8.1 to 6.5)
- Pennsylvania – yes (rate 20.4 to 20.0 )
- Tennessee – yes (rate 24.1 to 15.7)
- Texas – yes (rate multiple cities)
- Wisconsin – no (rate 21.1 to 15.9)
- Washington DC – no (rate 40.6 to 21.8)
No clear pattern here (acknowledging that correlation doesn’t equal causation in any event).
It’s possible that the FindLaw article is not up-to-date. Let me know if that’s the case and I’ll update any specific state link.
Inspired by this ProPublica article.
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Known for gnawing at complex questions like a terrier with a bone. Digital evangelist, writer, teacher. Transplanted Southerner; teach newbies to ride motorcycles. @kegill (Twitter and Mastodon.social); wiredpen.com