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Latest Killings Involving Concealed Gun Permit Holders
What are state legislators across the country doing with concealed carry laws? They are making it easier for people to carry guns any and everywhere, including into restaurants and bars where alcohol is served. Two recent incidents of concealed carry permit holders killing inocent people highlight why pushing guns in every direction in our society is a dangerous and deadly idea.
Last week, in Houston a man fatally shot a middle schooler in the head during a road rage incident:
A man accused of killing a 13-year-old girl during a road rage incident is out of jail and has been given conditions for his release, KPRC Local 2 reported Friday.
Houston police said Richard Calderon, 24, hit the teen’s mother’s car at about 8:20 p.m. Wednesday and then left the scene.
The mother, a police officer at Texas Southern University, tried to catch up to the vehicle to get its license plate number. As she drove by the vehicle in the 14000 block of Fleetwell Drive, Calderon fired shots at her car, police said.
Alexis Wiley, 13, was shot in the head. She was taken to Memorial Hermann Hospital, where she died a few hours later.
Read more here.
And two weeks ago in Ohio, the Columbus Dispatch reported that a man whose “blood-alcohol level was above 0.08 percent” shot a 22-year-old woman in the abdomen, killing her:
Culbertson [the shooter] “went outside, loaded the weapon with a few rounds and fired them, then went back in the house,” the sheriff said.
When Vernon asked whether the gun was empty, Culbertson replied: “‘Let’s see.’ Then he pointed it at her, fired and hit her,” Kelly said.
Witnesses said Culbertson and Vernon did not argue before the shooting.
“I agree with that,” Kelly said. “I believe it was just carelessness with a firearm and alcohol. They do not mix.”
Read more here.
Despite stories like these, state legislators in Tennessee, Arizona, and now Virginia are expanding the places people can legally carry weapons. As we allow firearms to permeate our entire culture more and more, we can unfortunately expect to see more and more of these stories.
Learn more about concealed carry or look at other crimes by concealed carry permit holders.
Comments
What is missing
This story is missing an important piece of information. Until these people allegedly broke the law , they were law abiding, no criminal record, citizens of the United States of America.
And any one reading this can see that having, or not having, a License to Carry Firearms would not have changed the outcomes in my opinion.
I carry in bars all the time, but I don't drink anymore. Even when I did, I never caused any harm to anyone.
The Brady group has to write this stuff to get money , it is almost bankrupt in every way. The pendulum swing is flowing away from them and on to a true reading of the 2nd Amendment!
God Bless the USA!!
A Sad Day for the Anti's
How sad! I really feel sorry for the Brady Bunch. They have been reduced to chasing ambulances. I can just see them searching the internet hoping that someone with an Concealed Handgun License (CHL) has done something wrong so they can run to their blog and post it. This is truly pathetic.
In any group of people, i.e., police , lawyers, doctors , school teachers, clergy, etc., you can always find a few bad apples who have broken the law . Only a foolish person would attempt to paint the whole group with what a few bad apples have done. It is a totally fallacious argument made by people who have lost the battle and have nothing left to say because they have been rejected by the American People!
If one takes the time to study the facts, you will find that crime has been falling since more states have been allowing concealed carry by law abiding citizens. The facts are on the side of gun owners and the only thing the anti's have is there appeal to emotion which any logic 101 student will recognize immediately and reject.
Just curious
Does anyone know if the firearm murder rate is higher for people with concealed carry permits than for people without them? I apologize for the awkward wording but its the best I could come up with.
One example
Last August after the Pittsburgh gym shooting Brady, FSA and their ilk played this same card and I did a quick look at Pennsylvania to see if CCW permit holders stood out statistically. It turns out we do.
Using data from a July 2009 report by the Violence Policy Center, the 2008 Firearms Annual Report by the Pennsylvania State Police, and the 2008 Pennsylvania Annual Uniform Crime Report, it turns out that CCW permit carriers committed 0.1% of Pennsylvania’s murders in 2008. During that year, there were a total of 627,068 CCW permits amongst the state’s 12,448,279 citizens. So, a subgroup representing 5.03% of the population committed 0.1% of the murders. There is no other subgroup who can claim that record.
This is just one of the 50 states, and I haven't had a chance to do the research elsewhere.
One additional item to note: anytime one of these groups claims that a shooter had a CCW permit, try tracking down an official statement confirming it. About 50% of the time I cannot find any legitimate sources confirming their claim.
Another Example
I'll start off by saying that in this country, the United States of America, we do not punish everyone for the crimes of one person. Keep that in mind. In high poverty areas where crime is bred we do not gather the examples of minorities shooting one-another to determine that all minorities should lose their rights.
I can give you numbers for Florida as well, but only up to the 2008 year. The 2009 year does not show up on the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's web-site yet. They have it available in quarters but not in full.
Though I can't recall how many CWFL licensees in Florida were claimed to have become criminals by the Violence Policy Center, I believe it is something along the lines of 11 incidents between 05 and 07. So let us assume that 11 of the 701,088 citizens of Florida who are currently licensed to carry are responsible for illegal use of a firearm. Of the 701K licensees, .001% have misused their weapons. Not a tenth of a percent, not a hundredth of a percent - a one-thousandth of a percent.
Now during the 2008 year the Florida Department of Law Enforcement claims that there has been 34,585 illegal uses of a Firearm. From murder to rape to armed robbery , there's over 34.5K incidents in the 2008 year. Even if ALL ELEVEN (11) incidents recorded in Florida by the VPC were to have taken place during the 2008 year, licensees would be responsible for 0.031% of the illegal uses of firearms which took place.
Since VPC uses a method of study which spans three years, the percentage of crimes committed by licensees can go nowhere but down when compared to the overall number of murderers, rapists, and thieves out there. There is no epidemic. The Brady Campaign and the VPC are exploiting a few incidents, smearing law -abiding citizens, while criminals continue to steal, rape, and murder...
Here's Florida's Crime Reports:
http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/Content/getdoc/a324add7-5dd6-4201-9696-93bfd76bc36c/UCR-Home.aspx
Take a look at Stolen Property Amount and Recovery Amount over the years. Note how many firearms are stolen and never recovered. This is how criminals are arming themselves. Yet CNN and other news networks have the audacity to say that gun shows are to blame for guns on the streets and guns going to Mexico.
Liars.
Your question is good just the way it is, Jordan.
And an honest answer is that such numbers as the number of murders committed by carry permitees are not readily available.
The Brady posters would like the public to believe that the VPC compilations on this subject would be not only statistically valid but accurate--and they are not. The sources for many of the "reports" of murders committed by permittees are new articles and ones not updated at that. Crime reports may also be incomplete, and so on. In an earlier topic here on OV, the VPC study was found to be terribly inaccurate, to the tune of perhaps 40% overstatement of carry permittee homicide .
FWIW, I've tried to assemble an honest set of numbers, but good comparisons are not available--yet. The most respectable set of numbers I've seen are the ones that add up to permittees being at least six times less likely to commit a crime of violence than the general population.
gun control: the belief that a woman raped and strangled with her own hose is morally superior to one who defends herself with a firearm.
Mistaken causation.
The fact that they were both licensed is immaterial.
Douche #1 was unaware of his target before firing and his life was not in danger.
Douche #2 treated a gun as if it was unloaded and pointed the firearm at a target he did not intend to destroy.
Both of these cretins broke fundamental firearm safety rules and both are going to have a long, long, long time to study them as guests of the state.
They were both licensed carriers. They were also both males, does this mean that males should not be allowed to be permitted? According to your fuzzy logic, Brady, they shouldn't.
The Democratic National Committee approves of this website.
I almost read this...
Then I saw it was from the Brady Campaign.
I don't follow anyone, because those that appear to be on the same path usually end up just getting in my way.