Retired police captain kills texter in theater during movie trailer

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172. Not really. Of course to really understand the incidents such as this that involve ...

people licensed to carry in Florida you first have to understand that since October 1987, the date when "shall issue" concealed carry went into effect, Florida has issued 2,581,087 concealed weapons permits. Only 168 permits have been revoked for the commission of a crime involving the use of a firearm after the license was issued in that time frame. (ref: http://www.freshfromflorida.com/content/download/7499/118851/cw_monthly.pdf)

Currently 1,215,708 concealed weapons permits are valid but 161,139 are owned by people who live outside the state. Therefore over 1,000,000 resident Floridians have a valid license to carry (1,054,569 to be exact) (ref: http://www.freshfromflorida.com/content/download/7502/118869/cw_active.pdf)

In any sample of over one million people in any state, you would find a higher rate of firearm misuse than exists among those licensed to carry in Florida. In fact if you took a random sample of one million people who live in Florida, you would find a higher rate of firearm crime than exists within the concealed weapons group.

Of course since Florida is the leading state in the number of people who have carry permits and since the main stream media is basically against anti-gun rights, it is logical that any incident involving the misuse of a firearm in Florida by a person with a concealed weapons permit will receive national attention. Sure, it makes Florida look bad but the media rarely mentions the facts I have presented above.

Still not all people who are licensed to carry in Florida are angels. A very small percentage misuse their license to carry with tragic results. A much higher percentage use their firearms to stop an attack in legitimate self defense which rarely receives national attention. Often such stories do not even make local news as no shots are fired. Predators often run when they realize their victims are armed.

If anything the fact that very, very few citizens of Florida who have carry permits ever misuse their permit to murder or commit crime shows that the Florida Concealed Weapons program is a success not a failure. Reports from other states that allow "shall issue" concealed carry (such as Texas) show the same results.