After 10 Years, No Handgun Bloodbath in Texas

El Paso Times: Concealed gun law turns 10

As the Texas Legislature gears up for the biennial legislative push, the issue of concealed weapons has become just another routine program in need of tweaking.

"When it passed, there was a big hue and cry about blood in the streets," concealed handgun permit holder Harold Shirley said of Texas' decade-old experience with letting residents carry hidden firearms. "Obviously, that hasn't happened."

Shirley is a retired sergeant major who settled in El Paso for the climate, recreational opportunities and low crime rate. And he is one of about 2,500 El Pasoans who have earned concealed handgun licenses since September 1995. Statewide, more than 225,000 Texans have concealed handgun licenses, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety, which issues the licenses.

That is more than 225,000 too many for Northeast El Pasoan Jessie Gonzalez.

PAUSE!

What do you think Jessie Gonzalez will base her objections upon?

1. The collective ownership society ought to flex in regards to the defense of the individual?
   
2. The impracticality of deontological notions towards self-ownership?
   
3. The potential negative externalities of firearms in the hands of non-law enforcement actors?
   
4. They make society more dangerous?

*drumroll*

Concealed handguns "are no good," she said. "You might be around children, and that's very dangerous."

She said that although concealed weapons aren't allowed in certain places and their carriers are licensed, she would still feel safer if they weren't around.

"People shouldn't be in a restaurant with a gun, period," she said. "I work in a hospital, and they don't let anybody in with a gun at all, so, yes, that's safer."

Copyright © 2005 El Paso Times, a Gannett Co., Inc. newspaper.

I have no idea whether Charles K. Wilson, the author of this article, deliberately distorted Miss Gonzalez's remarks of left them to stand on their own precarious legs. What is presented here is just awful. I wish I didn't have reason to view this as indicative of wider attitudes, even in Texas.

Via Disaster Center (data from 1994-2000) and Texas Crime Reports (2001-2003), here are some relevant statistics on Texas crime rates since the concealed handgun law went into effect:

Year	Population	Violent	Property	Murder	Forcible Rape	Robbery	Aggravated Assault
1993	18,031,000	137,419	1,023,612	2,147	9,922	40,469	84,881
1994	18,378,000	129,838	949,387	2,022	9,102	37,643	81,071
1995	18,724,000	124,303	940,033	1,693	8,563	33,667	80,380
1996	19,128,000	123,270	968,732	1,477	8,376	32,804	80,613
1997	19,439,000	117,126	948,231	1,327	8,011	30,522	77,266
1998	19,760,000	111,566	898,496	1,346	7,913	28,677	73,630
1999	20,044,000	112,306	896,261	1,217	7,614	29,405	74,070
2000	20,852,000	113,653	919,658	1,238	7,856	30,257	74,302

As can be clearly seen, crime dropped after the adoptation of the law. This is not to say the law caused the drop in crime. It just emphasizes that relatively educated humans who at least have rudimentary concepts of personal responsibility and respect for individual rights won't go on killing sprees at the drop of a whim if they are allowed (with several nontrivial restrictions, mind you) to carry handguns in public.

I do have a a concealed carry license but I don't use it much because I don't go out in public with my Browning Hi-Power very often at all. TASB, my employer, prohibits individuals from bringing firearms into it's buildings, so for the bulk of my time away from home, I voluntarily disarm. I don't make too many shopping trips, but when I do, they aren't usually in high-risk areas. I never carry when I go out with friends to bars.

I don't think I ought to have to register my handgun ownership with the state in order to carry in public, but I did this before my recent political conversion. My father offering to pay for the instructional course and fees as a gift, so that helped, too.

Posted by Drizzten at February 08, 2005 02:39 PM