Home > Michigan Death Records > If this proof that guna laws are working?

If this proof that guna laws are working?

February 7th, 2010 Leave a comment Go to comments

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008801060602

Michigan sees fewer gun deaths — with more permits
January 6, 2008

By DAWSON BELL

FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

Six years after new rules made it much easier to get a license to carry concealed weapons, the number of Michiganders legally packing heat has increased more than six-fold.

But dire predictions about increased violence and bloodshed have largely gone unfulfilled, according to law enforcement officials and, to the extent they can be measured, crime statistics.

The incidence of violent crime in Michigan in the six years since the law went into effect has been, on average, below the rate of the previous six years. The overall incidence of death from firearms, including suicide and accidents, also has declined.

More than 155,000 Michiganders — about one in every 65 — are now authorized to carry loaded guns as they go about their everyday affairs, according to Michigan State Police records.
About 25,000 people had CCW permits in Michigan before the law changed in 2001.

"I think the general consensus out there from law enforcement is that things were not as bad as we expected," said Woodhaven Police Chief Michael Martin, cochair of the legislative committee for the Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police. "There are problems with gun violence. But … I think we can breathe a sigh of relief that what we anticipated didn’t happen."

John Lott, a visiting professor at the University of Maryland who has done extensive research on the role of firearms in American society, said the results in Michigan since the law changed don’t surprise him.

Academic studies of concealed weapons laws that generally allow citizens to obtain permits have shown different results, Lott said. About two-thirds of the studies suggest the laws reduce crime; the rest show no net effect, he said.
But no peer-reviewed study has ever shown that crime increases when jurisdictions enact changes like those put in place by the Legislature and then-Gov. John Engler in 2000, Lott said.

In Michigan and elsewhere (liberal permitting is the rule in about 40 states), those who seek CCW permits, get training and pay licensing fees tend to be "the kind of people who don’t break laws," Lott said.

Nationally, the rate of CCW permits being revoked is very low, he said. State Police reports in Michigan indicate that 2,178 permits have been revoked or suspended since 2001, slightly more than 1% of those issued.
Another State Police report found that 175 Michigan permit holders were convicted of a crime, most of them nonviolent, requiring revocation or suspension of their permits between July 1, 2005, and June 30, 2006.

But even if more armed citizens have not wreaked havoc, some critics of Michigan’s law chafe at how it was passed: against stiff opposition in a lame duck legislative session and attached to an appropriation that nullified efforts at repeal by referendum.

Kenneth Levin, a West Bloomfield physician, was one of those critics. In a letter to the Free Press in July 2001, he referred to the "inevitable first victim of road or workplace rage as a result of this law."

Last month, Levin said he suspected "it probably hasn’t turned out as bad as I thought. I don’t think I was wrong, but my worst fears weren’t realized."

But the manner in which the law was enacted was nevertheless "sneaky" and "undemocratic," Levin said.
Other opponents remain convinced that it has contributed to an ongoing epidemic of firearms-related death and destruction.

Shikha Hamilton of Grosse Pointe, president of the Michigan chapter of the anti-gun group Million Moms March, said she believes overall gun violence (including suicide and accidental shootings) is up in Michigan since 2001. Many incidents involving CCW permit holders have not been widely reported, she said.

The most publicized recent case came early in 2007, when a 40-year-old Macomb County woman fired from her vehicle toward the driver of a truck she claimed had cut her off on I-94. Bernadette Headd was convicted of assault and sentenced to two years in prison.

Hamilton said that even if gun violence has ebbed, it remains pervasive, tragic and unnecessary. At the least, a more liberal concealed weapons law means there are more guns in homes and cars and on the street, she said, and more potential for disaster"
Advocates for the law argue that there is nothing equivocal about the experience of the CCW permit holders who have warded off threats and, in a few instances, saved themselves from harm.

In September, a 36-year-old Troy man killed an armed 18-year-old assailant who, with three other suspects, attempted to steal his car outside Detroit Police headquarters.

Michelle Reurink, 40, a consultant in Lansing, got her CCW permit last year, not so much because she felt an imminent threat to her well-being, she said, but because she’s a strong believer in the Constitution’s Second Amendment — the right to bear arms.

"The primary reason I got it is because I feel like I have the right to have it," she said.

Still, she doesn’t often carry her gun during her daily routine, though she takes it when she and her husband go on their boat, she said.
Having the license and a handgun makes her feel more secure in her home (where no one needs a CCW license to have a gun), she said. She also feels more secure because of the required training, including self-defense lessons, she took as part of the license application.

Mark Cortis of Royal Oak, who conducts concealed weapons license training and sits on the Oakland County gun board, said he believes the benefits of an armed citizenry are evident in small ways almost every day, as permit holders deter trouble and live more confidently.

"The police just can’t protect you," Cortis said. "If you have to call 911, it’s probably already too late."
Guna* is a typo, I meant to use "Gun"

It makes complete sense to me.

As the old cliche says, when guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.

Imagine there had been an armed teacher at Columbine, or a legally armed student at Virginia Tech. Much loss of life might have been avoided.

And as the article stated, the revocation of permits to carry handguns is very rare. Sure, require a background check, maybe even a psychological examination. But allow the honest citizens to carry guns, and I can pretty much guarantee you that overall violent crime will be reduced.

  1. David H
    February 7th, 2010 at 18:16 | #1

    this proves what anyone that spends more that 10 sec thinking about the subject will realize immediately. people who buy and carry guns legally simply do not use them to commit crimes, and criminals who are going to use guns for violent crime(murder, armed robbery, etc) don’t really care if it is illegal to carry a gun in the first place because they are planning to use it to break the law anyway.. my 2 cents
    References :

  2. Rick K
    February 7th, 2010 at 18:48 | #2

    It makes complete sense to me.

    As the old cliche says, when guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.

    Imagine there had been an armed teacher at Columbine, or a legally armed student at Virginia Tech. Much loss of life might have been avoided.

    And as the article stated, the revocation of permits to carry handguns is very rare. Sure, require a background check, maybe even a psychological examination. But allow the honest citizens to carry guns, and I can pretty much guarantee you that overall violent crime will be reduced.
    References :

  3. JohnnyO
    February 7th, 2010 at 19:06 | #3

    It only stands to reason that if more people are carrying guns, criminals know their chances of their potential victim being armed are much greater. There are many more "good guys" than there are "bad guys", so if EVERYONE is armed, violent crimes would plummet and we would no longer be victimized by our government with it’s restriction of our second amendment rights. EVERY gun law on the books that restricts our rights to own or carry is unconstitutional anyway.
    References :
    common sense and 20 years of dealing with violent criminals as a corrections officer

  1. No trackbacks yet.