On Zimmy's statement to the court

[spin]

37. Let's look at some facts and statistics ...

Florida passed "shall issue" concealed carry in 1987.

Since 1987 Florida has issued 2,167,283 Concealed Weapons Permits. Currently 919,831 are valid. 106,496 of these permits are held by people who live outside of Florida.

During the twenty four years that this law has been in effect only 168 permits have been revoked for a crime involving the use of a firearm committed after the license was issued.

sources:
http://licgweb.doacs.state.fl.us/stats/cw_monthly.pdf
http://licgweb.doacs.state.fl.us/stats/cw_active.pdf

Not all of the 168 license that were revoked involved a shooting. Unfortunately the state doesn't provide statistics on why the licenses were recalled.

It should be obvious that "shall issue" concealed carry has not turned Florida into the Wild West that Hollywood imagines.

In my opinion at this time and with the information that I have been able to glean from the news, I feel that Zimmerman is guilty of second degree murder or manslaughter. However I believe in our legal system and refuse to replace it with trial by the media. I am glad that Zimmerman has been arrested and may change my views on his guilt as I find out more of the evidence that will be released during the proceedings. If it is true that Zimmerman left his vehicle after being instructed by dispatch to not continue to follow Martin, I feel he is guilty of escalating the situation and had he not done so, the situation would have ended peacefully.

While it is true that people who have been licensed to carry concealed are an amazingly law abiding and responsible group as a whole, they are not all angels. While one Zimmerman gains attention, the many times that a licensed carrier of a firearm uses his/her weapon for totally legitimate self defense are totally ignored by the national media and at the best only receive occasional local media attention.

Did you hear anything about this story on national news?

Man buys knife, stabs 2 at Salt Lake City store
April 26th, 2012 @ 7:45pm

SALT LAKE CITY — A man stabbed two people at the Smith's Marketplace grocery store in downtown Salt Lake City before being subdued by a bystander.

The attack took place around 5:30 p.m. in the parking lot of the store at 455 S. 500 East.

According to a witness, it appears one man was stabbed in the side of the head and another was stabbed in the stomach. The exact condition of the victims is unknown, but police believe the injuries are very serious and possibly critical.

Police say a bystander with a concealed carry permit witnessed the attack and stepped in to keep it from escalating.emphasis added
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=20161608&title=man-stabs-2-at-salt-lake-city-store-witness-subdues-attacker&s_cid=featured-1

The media which definitely has a bias against concealed carry often publishes the view that all people who have permits to carry are bloodthirsty vigilantes looking for any opportunity to blow another person away. The fact that none of the states that has passed "shall issue" concealed carry has repealed the law is proof of the fact that the media lacks the power that it imagines that it has.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/148250/americans-regain-confidence-newspapers-news.aspx

One of the explanations of the lack of confidence in the media is their distortions of the facts on issues relating to gun control. There are 80,000,000 firearm owners in our nation that have a good to excellent knowledge of firearms.
When the media portrays a semi-auto firearm used in a crime as a fully automatic military class weapon, these gun owners immediately see the lie and resent it. They realize that if the media can't be trusted to correctly report the facts on an issue as simple as firearms, why should they be trusted to report the truth about far more complicated issues.

We do live in a free country and you have every right to believe whatever you wish and if you wish to consider all the people who have concealed carry permits in Florida to be part of a "LICENSED CCW manly man brethren" it is your choice. Obviously you are ignoring the fact that many women in Florida have concealed carry permits.

http://licgweb.doacs.state.fl.us/stats/cw_holders.html

I don't claim that all those who have carry permits in Florida never misuse their firearms. I would simply like to point out that as a group we are unusually responsible and crime free. In fact a higher percentage of police officers misuse their weapons to commit crime than do those with carry permits.