Makes me feel super-safe. Especially the last one: http://www.vpc.org/graphics/ltk3.pdf Texas concealed handgun license holders have been arrested for more than two crimes a day since the law went into effect. o Texas concealed handgun license holders have been arrested for nearly two serious violent crimes per month since the law went into effect including: murder/attempted murder, manslaughter/negligent homicide, kidnapping,5 rape, and sexual assault. o Texas concealed handgun license holders have been arrested for more than two crimes against children per month since the law went into effect including: sexual assault/aggravated sexual assault on a child, injury to a child, indecency with a child, abandon/endanger a child, solicitation of a minor, and possession or promotion of child p*rnography. o Texas concealed handgun license holders have been arrested for more than three drunk driving offenses per week since the law went into effect. o Family violence was identified in one in 20 incidents involving concealed handgun license holders. o Texas concealed handgun license holders have been arrested for nearly two weapon-related offenses per day since the law went into effect. o From 1996 to 1999, Texas concealed handgun license holders were arrested for weapon-related offenses at a rate 66 percent higher than that of the general population of Texas, aged 21 and older.
If a person drinks with a weapon that person is a criminal according to Texas CHL laws. CHL holders are far less likely to commit crimes than the rest of the population. Do you have any facts to back up your fears or concerns? (besides chaos theory which could actually be used to argue that with or without guns anything could happen)
Because, yeah, the majority of people like you and me, have guns and a CHL license Read back your own posts, tell me how you're not implying that you want to give guns out to almost everyone. "I can name about 30 people that probably wish they would have had one today." "Better than the guy I'm shooting at." "Its called a right to self defense. How can I defend myself against a guy with a gun? My hands? If I cannot carry a gun I cannot defend myself. Just like the 30+ that are dead." "I think if more people thought like you alot of more student would have lived today." "Could you please point out any example of how a gun free zone would have stopped this? Cause I can easily point out how NOT having a gun free zone could have." I mean man, not a lot of reading between the lines needed.
As of year 2000, less than 2% of Texas adults had CHL's. And of those, I would guess that only a portion actually carry a gun at any given time.
If you read the article you posted, over half of those "weapon-related offenses" were for illegally carrying a handgun. I'm not sure if that means they forgot their license or what but I'd be interested to know more about that because that takes away a huge portion of the arrests.
Drinking and driving is against the law, so is is underage drinking. That never happens a college campus now does it? Yes. Anything can happen. I would just feel safer if it didn't involve guns.
Get your info from a reliable source. Like umm Texas department of public safety! http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/administration/crime_records/chl/ConvictionRatesReport2005.pdf
The data used in the report is from the DPS. The numbers you show are convictions in 2005. The data in the other report were arrests in 1996-1999. It would be useful to know what % of the population are CHL holders during this period to make the data useful. I am curious in Ottomaton's statistics though - as they present a 180-degree different view.
Shouldn't convictions matter more than arrests? Also, seeing as your info is from a period starting more than 10 years ago, don't you think a 2005 study is more relevant to the current discussion?
250K holders in Texas right now. http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/administration/crime_records/chl/ConvictionRatesReport2005.pdf
when looking at the numbers you also need to take into account the vast disparity of men who have chl's vs women.
Yes and no. Not all cases are prosecuted fully - and since a ton of cases get pleaded down, it can dilute statistics a bit. For example, since you have to be a non-criminal to get a CHL, then most CHL holders are likely committing their first crime and are able to plead it down more than someone who is a career criminal (and by definition, not a CHL holder). Arrests has its problems too, but it gets you a better picture of the original crime committed. In terms the data - certainly modern data is more useful than older data. But a larger sample size is also more useful. For example, 2.4% of "Criminal Negligent Homicide" convictions were by CHL holders - but that totals to 1 person (out of 42). Looking at those stats posted by CaseyH, that includes a lot of different crimes - many not really weapons-related. It's not my contention that CHL holders are likely to commit more crimes (they obviously aren't since career criminals are not eligible). It's that having a weapon makes it more likely that they will commit a worse crime than if they didn't. There are a number of ways to measure this - violent crime, weapons-related crime, random violent crime, etc. Mixing in things like burglary or public lewdness is not really where I think CHL holders decrease my safety. So all the data is helpful, but I guess interpreting them is a bit more complex.
Thank you for realizing that 1 out of 42 is not a large enough sample size to condem all CHL holders.
Having not seen anything about it in the survey, do cases pleaded down not count as convictions? Not trying to sound smart/snappy, I'm just not sure if they only count cases that go through to verdict.
