Myth 5: Law enforcement is opposed to civilian concealed carry.

Myth 5: Law enforcement is opposed to civilian concealed carry.

Fact 5a: For the first time a concealed carry question was included in the National Association of Chiefs of Police annual survey. The 2002 survey was mailed to 23,000 Chiefs of Police and Sheriffs in the U.S. and included the question "Do you agree that a national concealed handgun permit would reduce rates of violent crime as recent studies in some states have already reflected?" 68% agreed with the statement!

- "Gun control has not worked in Washington D.C. The only people who have guns are criminals. We have the strictest gun laws in the nation and one of the highest murder rates. It's quicker to pull your Smith & Wesson than to dial 911 if you're being robbed" (Lt. Lowell Duckett, Special Assistant to D.C. Police Chief; President of the Black Police Caucus, The Washington Post, 3-22-96).

- "All the horror stories I thought would come to pass didn't happen... I think it's worked out well, and that says good things about the citizens who have permits. I'm a convert" (Glenn White, President, Dallas Police Assoc., Dallas Morning News, December 23, 1997).

- "I... [felt] that such legislation present[ed] a clear and present danger to law-abiding citizens by placing more handguns on our streets. Boy was I wrong. Our experience in Harris County, and indeed statewide, has proven my fears absolutely groundless" (John B. Holmes, Harris County Texas District Attorney, Dallas Morning News, December 23, 1997).

- "...no record of any accidents or incidents from a lack of training" and that "Florida's concealed weapon law has been very successful. All major law enforcement groups supported the original legislation and in the eight years the program has been in place none of these groups has requested any changes...(S)ome of the opponents of concealed weapon legislation in 1987 now admit the program has not created the problems many predicted." (John Russi, former Florida Licensing Division Director in testimony before the Michigan House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, 12/5/95).

| Where are we? When civilian concealed carry programs are based on a licensing system that requires holders to have no felony convictions, no history of mental illness, no substance abuse problems, and to complete a training and certification program that includes registration and qualification:

- by a ratio of more than 14 to 1, lives are saved with the defense use of firearms;
$murders, rapes and assault crime rates plummet;
- license holders overwhelmingly do not violate the responsibility of carrying a concealed weapon;
- the streets do not turn into bloodbaths (violent crime goes down)
- police and civilians are not shot by crazed permit holders (people who attack police and civilians are called criminals and they will attack and shoot people regardless of the law);
- there is no increase in accidental shootings or deaths with passage of concealed carry laws, and
- concealed carry permit holders are law-abiding citizens; they follow the law and currently cannot carry in the state of Ohio; predators are not law-abiding citizens; they do not follow the law and currently carry lethal weapons in the state of Ohio.