By Steve Chapman
Gun control advocates [are] alarmed that the Illinois legislature may vote to let licensed individuals carry concealed handguns. The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence calls the measure "dangerous." Kristen Rand of the Violence Policy Center says that it would lead to Tucson-style mass shootings as well as the killing of police.
But concealed-carry, as it is known, is not a radical notion in most of the country. Thirty-seven "shall-issue" states grant permits to carry to anyone meeting certain requirements, and 48 allow citizens to carry guns under some circumstances.
What the gun control groups don't tabulate is how many homicides have been averted by a licensed, concealed handgun. Kleck, who has done extensive research on the topic, says it is "quite reasonable to expect that thousands of lives are saved by defensive gun use by persons who carried guns in public places."
A generation ago, few states allowed concealed-carry. Instead of an epidemic of violence, the nation saw a drop [in violence]. Since 1991, the murder rate has been cut nearly in half. You don't have to believe that "shall-issue" laws caused the decline to grasp that they certainly didn't get in the way.
The record of the past two decades demonstrates that you can strengthen the right of law-abiding adults to protect themselves against crime without making the world more dangerous. That knowledge is helpful in Illinois, to those willing to learn from experience.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/03/31/the_unconcealed_truth_about_carrying_guns_109401.html
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