Thread: Do CCW permits reduce crime?

I found an interesting atticle
this is older data but valid this is for Florida only but the article has several state by state histories

Florida

Florida's 1987 reform law set off the modern wave of carry reform that has now been copied in many other states. Among all the states, Florida has collected the most detailed information about the impact of the carry laws. Florida also provides a good test case for the possible negative impacts of carry reform. A high-crime state with heavy urbanization, a massively over-crowded prison system, and an extremely diverse (and often tense) ethnic mix of population, Florida has all the ingredients for concealed carry disaster.
Vermont, which has never required a license for open or concealed carry, might be expected to suffer few consequences from widespread handgun carrying; the state already has a low crime rate, is relatively homogeneous, and is mostly rural. Florida, being just the opposite, should be the place where concealed carry would cause major problems, if concealed carry were capable of causing problems anywhere in the United States. The Florida problems might be expected to be especially severe in Dade County (Miami) where crime and racial tensions are higher than in all but a few major American cities.
In 1987, Florida adopted a non-discretionary concealed weapon permit law that guaranteed issuance of a concealed weapon permit to any Floridian who is 21 or older; "Does not suffer from a physical infirmity which prevents the safe handling of a weapon or firearm"; has not been convicted of a felony; has not been convicted of a drug charge in the preceding three years; has not been confined for alcohol problems in the preceding three years; has completed any of a number of firearms safety classes; and has not been committed to a mental hospital in the preceding five years. A 1993 revision allows American citizens who are not Florida residents to obtain a permit that can be used when visiting Florida.
The only area of discretion was that a license could be denied if an applicant had been convicted of any misdemeanor crime of violence, or was on probation for such a crime, within the preceding three years. [32] Judges were required to take the firearms safety class, but were otherwise exempted from the rest of the list of requirements. [33]
The Florida permit ended the power of local law enforcement to deny carry permits for arbitrary reasons. Under the old system, a doctor who performed abortions and whose clinic had been bombed was denied a permit because he was not in the professional security business. [34]
Coverage of the Florida reform in The Economist (a British newsweekly) typified most of the American national media's coverage. The magazine asserted that after taking a few hours of training, "Anyone who wants to carry a pistol may now do so." Apparently, the provisions about minimum age requirements, drug abuse, felony convictions, mental hospital commitment, and misdemeanor convictions, excluded no one in The Economist's eyes. [35] The Florida media were sometimes hysterical, predicting that the law would increase lawlessness and death. Opposing legislators warned that Florida would become "the GUNshine state."
How many permits were issued? From October 1, 1987, when the new law went into effect, to December 31, 1993, there were 205,631 applications received. A total of 986 applications were denied (572 for criminal history, 414 for incomplete application). A total of 188,106 licenses were issued, of which 105,214 were valid as of December 31 1993. (Many licensees did not renew.) Several thousand applications were either in process, denied and under appeal, suspended, or withdrawn by the applicant. [36]
A total of 350 licenses have been revoked. The revocations were for: clemency rule change or legislative change (66); illegible prints (10); crime prior to licensure (74, of which 4 involved a firearm); crime after licensure (182, of which 17 involved a firearm); and "other" (18). Thus, of the 188,106 licensees, approximately 1 in 10,000 (1/100th of 1%) had a license revoked for a crime involving a firearm. [37]
Dade County (Miami) has compiled more detailed data. Dade showed a dramatic change in the number of permits as a result of the new law. The number of permits increased from 1,200 (in September 1987) to 21,092 (in August 1992). The Dade police kept detailed records of all arrest and non-arrest incidents involving permit-holders in Dade County. The following incidents of criminal misuse of a firearm leading to a conviction and a license revocation were reported: two cases of aggravated assault involving a firearm (one of which involved the gun being fired); one case of armed trespass of cultivated land; and one case of a motorist shooting at another car. Besides the above firearms crimes, there was one case where a permit-holder accidentally attempted to enter the secured area at Miami International Airport carrying a firearm in her purse, and one case where a man accidentally shot himself in the leg. The Dade police recorded the following incidents involving defensive use of licensed carry firearms: two robbery cases where the permit-holder produced a firearm and the robbers fled; two cases involving permit-holders who intervened to attempt to stop a robbery, but the robbers were not apprehended (and no one else was hurt); one robbery victim whose gun was taken away by the robber; a victim who shot a pit bull that was attacking him; two cases involving the capture of a burglar; three cases of burglars being scared away but not captured; [38] one case of thwarted rape; and a bail bondsman firing two shots at a fleeing bond-jumper who was wanted for armed robbery. [39]

The Florida/Dade reports show the following:
- A very small number of permit holders were convicted of perpetrating crimes with firearms. - A relatively larger (but still small overall) number of permit holders used their firearms to thwart or attempt to thwart crimes. - There was no known incident of a permit-holder intervening in an incompetent or dangerous manner, such as shooting an innocent bystander by mistake.
>From the enactment of the 1987 Florida carry reform until August 31, 1992, the Dade County permit incident tracking project provided the most detailed information available about actual incidents involving carry permit holders. The tracking program had been created as result of intense fears among some police administrators about the consequences of the carry reform law. The tracking program was abandoned in the fall of 1992, because of the rarity of incidents involving carry permit holders, and the greatly diminished concern about the issue on the part of law enforcement administrators. The fact that negative incidents involving permit holders were so rare as to not be worth counting is in itself evidence of the lack of negative effects of carry reform.
Representative Ron Silver, the leading opponent of Florida's carry reform, graciously admitted in November 1990, "There are lots of people, including myself, who thought things would be a lot worse as far as that particular situation [carry reform] is concerned. I'm happy to say they're not." John Fuller, general counsel for the Florida Sheriffs Association, stated, "I haven't seen where we have had any instance of persons with permits causing violent crimes, and I'm constantly on the lookout." [40]
Based on the reports of incidents known to the police, the Florida carry reform law would appear to be a net plus for public safety. The pro-safety result becomes even more lopsided if one believes that the persons who committed crimes with their licensed firearms probably would have committed the same crimes even without a license.
At the same time, the sum of known incidents does not tell us everything that would be desirable to know. Many crimes are not reported to the police. We have no certain figures for the number of crimes perpetrated or thwarted by permit holders which never came to the attention of the police.
Accordingly, we now look at the overall trends in Florida murder rates. Of all the states that enacted concealed carry reform, Florida shows the most dramatic change. As the graph details, Florida's murder rate throughout the period 1975-1986 was between 118% and 157% of the murder rate elsewhere in America. After passage of Florida's law, the murder rate began declining, rapidly, dramatically, and consistently, at a time when the rest of the U.S. was experiencing an increase in murder rates. By 1991, Floridians were less likely to be murdered than people elsewhere in America. Only in 1992 did the murder rate percentage stop falling. Even then, this is because the U.S. murder rate fell more than 10% from 1991 to 1992, while the Florida murder rate fell "only" 5%.
Greater safety for Florida residents and American tourists may be the reason for another notable characteristic of Florida in recent headlines--criminal attacks on foreign tourists. These tourists stood out because of the distinctive rental car license plates that Florida issued until recently. Unlike Florida residents or American tourists (who might shoot back), foreign tourists would certainly be unarmed, suggests the head of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. [41]
Carry reform, even though it coincided with a drop in the Florida homicide rate, is obviously not sufficient in itself to solve all the problems of a dysfunctional criminal justice system. Parts of Florida remains extremely unsafe, for reasons that would strike many Americans as intuitively obvious. Perhaps as a result of the pressure put on the criminal justice system by the "drug war," Miami is astonishingly lenient with serious criminals. According to study by the Miami Herald, only 15% of convicted felons in Dade County (Miami) are sent to state prison, compared to 46% nationally. Even compared to cities such as Los Angeles, New York, or Washington, Dade County sends its felons to prison at a much lower rate, and if the felons do go to prison they stay in prison for much less time than felons in other jurisdictions. A resident of metropolitan Miami is at a higher risk of being victimized than a resident of any other city in the United States. [42] Concealed carry permits are obviously not a complete solution to a criminal justice system that has nearly collapsed. But given the government's manifest inability to protect the populace, it is certainly appropriate that the people be allowed to protect themselves.


"Shall Issue": The New Wave of Concealed Handgun Permit Laws history of CCW entire article

Lol, my CCW expired a long time ago, and I still carry my 1911 around in my car. I know that shit is fucking dumb.