MOCCW A Matter of Life and Death

The Following Letter was sent by Dr. Michael Gordinier, Professor, Washington University, to his former MBA students.

Concealed Carry Legislation: A Matter Of Life & Death Importance

Dear EMBA Alumnus:

On April 6, Missouri citizens will decide the fate of Proposition B, one of the most important anti-crime, pro-civil rights measures ever put before the voters of Missouri.

I’d like you to consider voting "YES" in support of Proposition B, a measure that would give law abiding citizens the option to carry a concealed firearm.

I know what you are thinking. "Has Mike gone crazy? This idea sounds dangerous". Believe me, I thought so too before I found out the facts … and the facts overwhelmingly support the concept of concealed carry.

As a statistics professor at Washington University’s Olin School of Business, my blood boils when I see facts misrepresented and data distorted. I believe that sensible public policy demands that hysteria and demagoguery not bury empirical facts and the truth.

But "bury the facts" is exactly what the extremist opposition is doing when they claim that

"blood will run in the streets" if Proposition B passes.

I care so deeply about this anti-crime, pro-civil rights issue that I am compelled to share with you, at my own expense, the results of my research, results that have convinced me that concealed carry is right for Missouri.

Here’s why I support Proposition B …

Did you know:

That 43 states already have several decades of overwhelmingly positive experience letting their law abiding citizens carry concealed weapons? And not one of these states has ever revoked the law once in place.

Over 230,000,000 US citizens live in states that have these laws (85% of the US population)? In these states, more than 2,400,000 law abiding citizens are legally carrying concealed weapons.

That none of the forecasted doom and gloom ["blood in the streets", "a return to the "Wild West", "car accidents escalating into shootouts", "guns in bars and schools", "increased gun accidents"] has never materialized?

That over 43 policemen have had their lives saved by legally armed citizens who came to their aid in an emergency?

So what does the empirical data say about the impact of concealed carry laws on crime? I was surprised to learn that:

Predicted mayhem has never been observed.

Violent crime has decreased (homicide down 8.5%, rape down 5%, aggravated assault down 7%) -- Wall Street Journal, August 8, 1996

Violent crime is 13% less in concealed carry states vs. states (like Missouri) without concealed carry laws -- FBI Uniform Crime Reports, 1996

Law abiding citizens remain law abiding after they get their concealed carry permits (Florida’s revocation rate is 0.0186%, Texas with 0.23%, Virginia with 0.1%, and South Dakota at 0.082%)

What’s the estimated net impact to Society when concealed carry laws are put into place?

To answer this question, legal scholar Professor John Lott, University of Chicago School of Law, recently performed the most rigorously comprehensive data analysis ever done on crime in America (More Guns, Less Crime: Understanding Crime and Gun Control Laws, The University of Chicago Press, 1998). Lott's sources are broad and inclusive, and his evidence the most extensive yet assembled, taking full account of the FBI's massive yearly crime figures for all 3,054 U.S. counties over eighteen years, the largest national surveys on gun ownership, as well as state police documents on illegal gun use.

In summary, here’s what he found:

"… if the states that did not have concealed carry laws had them in 1992, it is estimated that at least 1,570 murders and over 4,177 rapes, 60,000 aggravated assaults and 12,000 robberies would have been avoided"

"… the estimated annual gain in 1992 from allowing concealed handguns was over $6,210,000,000"

Concealed carry works … and it’s net benefit to Society is extremely positive.

Now here’s some shocking news about Missouri.

Did you know that outside of the home, nobody has a legal option to use a firearm to himself or a family member against a life threatening attack? In fact, if you do defend yourself or your child with a firearm, you become the criminal.

It’s ironic, but under current law, the State of Missouri makes the following unbelievable promise to all its violent criminals:

"The State Of Missouri hereby guarantees you, the violent criminals

and predators of Missouri, that all of your law abiding victims will be unarmed

and unable to defend themselves or hurt you"

This is morally bankrupt!

Who are some of the people currently "at risk" from violent criminal attack?

Off duty police officers that have received death threats from the criminals they've put in jail. That's right! Even off duty police cannot legally carry a concealed firearm to protect themselves and their families outside of their jurisdiction from revenge seeking criminals. Proposition B changes this, effectively putting more police on the streets at zero cost.
Women with restraining orders against violent ex-spouses. Dept. of Justice figures indicate that more than 70% of restraining orders are ignored by violent ex-spouses intent on deadly revenge. Proposition B gives women a fighting chance.
Doctors, nurses and people that work late in dangerous locations. We trust these people with our lives when we are in the hospital, but the State of Missouri doesn’t trust them in the defense of their own lives. Proposition B changes this.

Truck drivers, emergency medical personnel.

People that travel Missouri’s highways and use rest stops.

The elderly, the weak and the infirm.

Don’t we owe it to these people to give them the option of defending themselves and to revoke Missouri’s morally repugnant promise it makes to its violent criminals? They answer is a clear and forceful YES.

The concept of "deterrence" is why concealed carry works in the 43 states that have these sensible laws. What is deterrence and why does it work?

Concealed carry keeps the predatory criminal guessing as to which victim might be armed and therefore able to hurt him. This uncertainty "raises the cost" of doing business for the criminal. And this cost increase reduces the incidence of violent face-to-face encounters where criminals stand a chance of having the tables turned on them.

Dr. Lott’s study validates this common sense. It shows that while criminals in concealed carry states don’t give up crime altogether, they simply give up violent crime! They do exactly what we all do when the price of something increases to an unacceptably high amount – they switch to other criminal acts, like car robbery and burglary, where the chance of confronting an armed victim is acceptably small.

Therefore, legal concealed carry provides three important benefits, two of which are obvious:

In principle, it deters violent attacks from even taking place.

It provides the intended victim with an effective means with which to defend his or her life if an attack does take place. Dr. Gary Kleck, a noted Florida State University criminologist, has researched the use of firearms for defensive purposes. His research indicates that approximately 2,5000,000 times per year a firearm is used to thwart criminal activity without the firearm ever being fired. (Social Pathology, Jan., 1995, Vol. 1, Number 1, pg. 17)

But there’s a more powerful and subtle benefit to be derived from concealed carry. It’s something economists like to call a "free ride".

In the 43 states that have concealed carry laws in place, we know that only about 3% of the qualifying population actually takes the steps necessary to apply for a legal carry permit.

This means that even if you would never consider going about armed, 97% of the unarmed population will benefit from the "free ride" that deterrence provides. The criminal simply doesn’t know who is armed and so treats all of his potential victims as if they were armed.

The Bottom Line:

We know what’s really happened in the 43 states that have concealed carry laws. We don’t have to guess. Concealed carry works, it’s effective, it’s safe.
We therefore know what will happen in Missouri when Proposition B passes. It will work here, too.
None of the forecasted doomsday scenarios have ever occurred in any of the 43 states that already have concealed carry laws. To claim that it will, for the first time, occur in Missouri, implies that we are law abiding, less intelligent and less trustworthy than our fellow Americans.

We all know that it takes a "big person" to admit that they were wrong.

The following quotes demonstrate that the early critics of concealed were proven dead wrong about their predictions. They have all been big enough to admit, on the record, that their initial predictions of doom and gloom were wide of the mark.

If only Missouri’s anti-Proposition B extremists were such slaves to the Truth!

"All the horror stories I thought would come to pass didn’t happen … no boogie man. I think it has worked out well, and that says good things about the citizens who have permits. I’m a convert."

Senior Cpl. Glen White, President - Dallas Police Association

"A lot of people predicted mayhem on the streets, and that hasn’t happened."

Tulsa County Sheriff Stanley Glantz

"Virginia has not turned in Dodge City. We have not seen a problem"

Virginia Public Safety Secretary Jerry Kilgore

To "set the record straight …[T]he process is working … [T]he statistics show the majority of concealed weapon or firearm licensees are honest, law-abiding citizens exercising their right to be armed for the purpose of lawful self-defense"

Sandra Mortham, Florida Secretary of State

Scientists know that before an experiment is performed, all opinions are equally credible. But after the experiment is performed and the data is in, those "opinions" that contradict observed data are called false.

We’ve sailed ships around the Earth --- so to continue to believe that it’s flat would be wrong. We’ve traveled to the moon – so to continue to believe that it’s made of green cheese would be wrong.

Yet that’s precisely what the extremist opposition is doing when they continue to claim that

"blood will run in the streets" in a desperate attempt to scare you into voting against Proposition B. What they "think" is irrelevant – the facts are in and concealed carry works.

What about the Police? Do they support Proposition B?

One of the best kept secrets in Missouri is that street cops support Proposition B. Over 2,600 officers in the St. Louis Police Officers Association and the Missouri Deputy Sheriffs Association are actively campaigning for Proposition B. They and their family members are routinely threatened by criminals they’ve put in jail and even they are denied by the State of Missouri the ability to defend themselves off duty. They know that they have nothing to fear from honest, law abiding armed citizens. It’s the bad guys that bother them!

As Sgt. John Johnson, President of the St. Louis Police Officers Association wrote in a January 1999 press release in support of Proposition B:

"… we support the idea of law-abiding citizens having the option to carry a legally purchased firearm ..."

"… other states that have passed right - to - carry laws have not experienced the carnage that opponents predict …. In fact, serious crime rates have decreased in states that have right - to - carry laws...."

"As police officers, we continually ask the public to trust us. Our backing of this measure now gives us the opportunity to return that trust and support..."

However, the Missouri Police Chiefs Association and some mayors are opposed to

Proposition B. Why?

Either they are ignorant of how successful concealed carry has been in the 43 states that have it (which is unlikely), or they are responding to political pressure imposed on them by the sources of their funding – the Governor of Missouri and the Washington, DC bureaucracy (more probable).

Upon reflection, this should come as no real surprise, as politicians are used to groveling at the feet of their funding sources, doing and saying whatever their masters tell them to say, facts and public safety be damned.

How does Missouri’s Proposition B compare with the laws in other states? Contrary to the opposition, Missouri’s law will be tough!

Here’s what a law abiding citizen must go through to get a concealed carry permit. You be the judge as to its "toughness". An applicant MUST:

Be 21 years of age or older, a U.S. Citizen and a state resident
Submit to an FBI national criminal background check
Submit to a statewide criminal background check
Provide a set of fingerprints for these background checks
Allow a law enforcement review of Juvenile criminal records
Pay for and pass an expensive firearm safety course (minimum of 12 hours training) approved by the Missouri Department of Public Safety
Wait 45 days for permit processing and background checks
Pay an $80 initial permit fee plus a $35 renewal fee

AND the applicant MUST:

NOT be convicted of a felony or a violent misdemeanor
NOT be charged with a felony or a violent misdemeanor
NOT be a fugitive from justice
NOT be dishonorably discharged from military service
NOT be a habitual abuser of alcohol or drugs
NOT be mentally ill or been committed to a mental institution
NOT have exhibited violent behavior within the last five years

ADDITIONALLY:

Affidavits to deny a permit can be filed by anyone over 21 who has knowledge of why an individual should be disqualified.

Permit data will be entered into the Missouri Uniform Law Enforcement System (MULES), a system used by police during car stops.
Statutory restrictions define where concealed carry will be prohibited, e.g. churches, schools, government buildings.
Business and individuals have the option of posting signs denying entrance to permit holders
Department of Safety will issue a photo ID Card

I ask that you remember this list of extensive requirements the next time the opposition tells you that Proposition B "… is full of loopholes" and that drug dealers and gang members will get permits.

Think about it. By definition, a criminal lives his life outside of the law. So why would a criminal go to the sheriff and give him his fingerprints, undergo multiple federal and state background checks, pay a registration fee, pay for expensive mandatory training all to legally carry a gun that he is illegally carrying now?

Given these facts, I’m appalled that Mayor Harmon of the City of St. Louis said in a press conference that Prop. B is so full of loopholes that "… my dog could get one of these permits". Isn’t it sad that when the facts aren’t on the side of the extremists, they resort to illogical antics like this? You, the law abiding citizens of Missouri, deserve better "debate" that this.

In summary, I’ve decided to support Proposition B because:

All law abiding citizens are currently denied the option of using a firearm to legally protect their lives and the lives of their children against violent criminals. Currently we all have a choice to make: defend our lives and become a felon, or remain law abiding and potentially die. Let’s decriminalize the fundamental right to self-defense.

The combined experience of 43 other states proves overwhelmingly that law abiding citizens act responsibly and that concealed carry has saved the lives of citizens and police.

Proposition B is solid and has a large number of unique safeguards.

Proposition B revokes the government’s morally repugnant promise made to violent criminals that their victims are guaranteed to be helpless.

Finally, every murderer, rapist and violent predatory criminal will be voting against Proposition B because it represents the only real threat to their current way of life. Why vote with them?

I’m asking you to vote "YES" on Proposition B on April 6

Remember, even if you would never carry yourself, everyone benefits via the deterrence effect. A "yes" vote serves as a potentially life saving gift to those law abiding citizens that want and need the option to legally defend their lives and the lives of their children.

Please don’t deny them this fundamental right!

You have it within your power on April 6 to make right a tremendous historical wrong…. and in the process give hope to Missouri’s most vulnerable citizens.

Concealed carry saves lives … and if it saves just one life, your vote will have been worth it.

Sincerely,

Dr. Michael Gordinier

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