Concealed carry predictions way off target (No blood in the streets) [View all]

[hack89]

When the Wisconsin Senate gathered in June of 2011 to take up a bill allowing the state's citizens to carry concealed weapons, protesters around the Capitol building were still in a state of high dudgeon. As a result, Republicans were accused of "rushing" through "socially divisive" bills such as concealed carry and voter identification through the legislative process while the state's attention was focused elsewhere.

Naturally, there were hyperbolic predictions that Wisconsin would become the "Wild West," where hypothetical people at traffic stops would suddenly open fire on one another. Current Senate Minority Leader Jennifer Shilling (D-La Crosse), whose parents were tragically shot to death more than 20 years ago, once argued that legalizing concealed weapons "kills people," and that "Guns will beget guns."

Yet nearly four years later, nearly 250,000 concealed carry licenses have been issued, and one would be hard-pressed to notice any difference in the state. Total violent crimes and murders dropped between 2010 and 2011, the first year concealed carry was partially in effect. After increasing between 2011 and 2012, both measures dropped once again in 2013. Between 2008 and 2013, Wisconsin averaged about 153 murders a year, a far cry from the average of 225 between 1990 and 1995.

Of course, anyone paying attention to the facts would have known this to be the case. When Wisconsin passed concealed-carry, it became the 49th state to do so. And upon passage of similar laws in other states, exactly none of them became the open firing ranges concealed carry opponents feared.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/concealed-carry-predictions-way-off-target-b99474747z1-298642531.html