Friday, August 28, 2009

Cost-Benefit Analysis of Concealed Carry

The Brady Campaign and the Violence Policy Center have both been vociferous opponents of liberalized concealed carry laws. The VPC recently issued a report which claimed that liberalized concealed carry was responsible for the deaths of many innocents, including several police officers.

Now, Austin Gun Rights Examiner Howard Nemerov has examined that charge in great detail. Using data from the Texas Department of Public Safety, the FBI and the Dept. of Justice, Howard demonstrates that the average Texas CHL-holder is much less likely to commit a crime than the average non-licensee. He is able to quantify the benefits of concealed carry:

However, if the general population were as law-abiding as CHLs, the corresponding reduction in crime costs would have saved about $42.4B, reducing Texas’s cost for these crimes to $12.9B. The 2007 amount alone is equivalent to a tax rebate of $238 for every Texan man, woman, and child.
Excellent stuff! Don't miss it!

Link.

1 comment:

BobG said...

Seems like I remember reading something a few months back that your chances of being accidentally shot by a LEO was higher than being shot by a CCW holder.