Anti-Gun Schemers – More Crow for Dinner Tonight

By Gerard Valentino and Brian Stewart

The Texas Department of Public Safety released the number of concealed carry license holders convicted of crimes in 2005. In yet another embarrassing defeat to the anti-gun schemers, permit holders in Texas proved to be in the 99th percentile of all law-abiding citizens. What that means is you are less likely to be a victim of a crime perpetrated by a license holder in Texas, than you are likely to see Sarah Brady make a straw purchase of a shotgun for her son.

For those out there who have fought the good fight on the concealed handgun issue, let the gloating begin.

One more set of unquestionable data has proved what the anti-gun schemers do everything to deny: America’s concealed handgun license holders are among the most law-abiding of all citizens. That is in any country, and compared to any demographic group.

While not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, license holders are still less likely to commit a crime than most police officers, doctors, lawyers or politicians. None if that is a knock on any of those other demographic groups; instead it is a testament to the integrity and character of license holders because the other groups are also among the most honest in America.

Organizations like the anti-gun Brady gang will spring on the statistics by saying there were 27 license holders convicted of unlawfully concealed carry. They will fail to point out that over 2900 non-license holders were convicted of the same crime. That puts the conviction rate of license holders compared to the general public at .9240%. When considering other criminal acts the conviction rate of license holders remain just as infinitesimal.

The Brady gang, however, will only point to the number of license holders convicted of crimes. They will not admit that by choosing to go armed in Texas, which has a decent concealed carry law, license holders are often more at risk for arrest. Which is more indisputable evidence that license holders are incredibly dedicated to following the law and do so while protecting those who refuse to make personal safety a personal responsibility.

We already know that the anti-gun schemers will never get it, and stopping them from crusading to take our guns is impossible. It is the great middle ground on guns that is vitally important to our cause since their sheer number can overwhelm activists on either side of the gun debate.

Disseminating the incredible statistics about how much license holders try to follow the law is vitally important to our cause. It’s vital we remain vigilant in pointing out that having a concealed handgun license will not turn the average honest person into someone prone to criminal acts of jackassery. Despite predictions of "blood in the streets", the Texas statistics provide quantifiable proof that the opponents of concealed carry were, and remain, wrong. As John Adams used to say, "Facts are stubborn things."

A single Texas license holder was convicted of criminal negligent homicide during 2005, a far cry from the Wild West like scenario likely to be put out by the anti-gun con-men. While one license holder being convicted is one too many, it doesn’t change that well over 100,000 license holders in Texas went through life armed in 2005 and there was only one such criminal incident.
Again, that is a testament to the care and seriousness that Texas license holders took in going armed. Which isn’t an easy proposition considering the myriad of laws most states have designed to trip up the most fervently honest concealed carry license holder.

Most other states don’t keep such detailed records of crimes committed by license holders but anecdotal evidence tends to support the statistics found in Texas. Ohio’s concealed carry law has been wildly successful despite the fact that it is the most restrictive in the nation and Pennsylvania, a state with a great CHL law also has almost no crime among license holders.
The Ohio establishment media’s powerful lobby succeeded in gaining access to license holders’ private information in an attempt to be able to prove the failure of legal concealed carry. It backfired on them because crimes by license holders have been few and far between.

The anti-gun schemers and con-men would have you believe that every license holder is a ticking bomb waiting to explode in an orgy of violence. There is nothing to support their claim, however, and other than a complicit establishment media nobody believes their ridiculous premise. Despite the anti-gunners claims to the contrary, Americans are by nature law-abiding people who make a conscious effort to do what is right.

Claims that everyday Americans are incapable of handling the responsibility of owning and carrying a gun are absurd. As a people, we’ve achieved at an unthinkable level, beaten despots, tyrants and lunatics alike, and done so with an unwavering sense of doing the right thing. America alone has taken foreign lands and given it back to the people who live there.

To think a people with such a remarkable resume have to rely on government for self-protection is laughable. Politicians and anti-gun schemers are the only two groups still willing to believe everyone should call 911 and wait for the police to come and save them.

Most Americans know better and realize their personal safety is a personal responsibility.

Only criminals and anti-gun crusaders make up the limited group of Americans who know the difference between right and wrong, and still chose to do the wrong thing.

Concealed carry proponents know better and have confidence in the responsibility of law-abiding people. The statistics released by the Texas Department of Public safety are further proof that, as usual, the side betting on the best in Americans is on the right side of an issue.

Gerard Valentino is the Buckeye Firearms Association Centraol Ohio Chair.

Brian S. Stewart is a former infantryman and an Iraq War veteran. He recently graduated from the Ohio State University with a degree in Political Science.