Myth 4: People are not responsible enough to conceal carry... "if you give someone a gun they will use it."

Myth 4: People are not responsible enough to conceal carry... "if you give someone a gun they will use it."

Fact 4a: Revocation of RTC permits are almost non-existent relative to the number issued. As of mid-2002, for those states reporting RTC numbers (please note that these numbers are cumulative, not annual; and "revoked for any reason" includes non-firearm reasons. If Florida is representative, most of the revoked licenses are NOT due to firearm related causes):

State RTC Permit Statistics
Florida (10/1/87-2/29/02) 798,732 issued, 146 (0.02%) revoked due to firearm violation by licensees. (Dept. of State)
Kentucky As of 10/31/01, 71,770 valid permits. From 10/1/96-12/31/01, 585 (0.8%) revoked for any reason. (State Police)
Louisiana (11/1/96-2/28/02) 15,319 issued, 67 (0.4%) revoked for any reason. (State Police)
Oklahoma (2/28/ 2002) 35,329 issued, 108 (0.3%) revoked for any reason. (SBI)
North Carolina (12/1/95-9/29/01) 47,046 issued, 242 (0.5%) revoked for any reason. (SBI)
South Carolina (8/96-5/26/02) 33,492 issued, 164 (0.5%) revoked for any reason. (SLED)
Texas (1/1/96-5/1/02) 223,584 issued, 1,772 (0.8%) revoked for any reason. (DPS)
Tennessee (12/96-5/4/02) 130,187 issued, 1,126 (0.9%) revoked for any reason. (DPS)
Utah As of Dec. 31, 2001, 44,173 issued, 565 (1.3%) revoked for any reason.
Virginia (7/95-4/02) 172,347 issued, 372 (0.2%) revoked for any reason. (State Police)
Wyoming (10/1/94-2/02) 7,480 issued, 20 (0.3%) revoked for any reason. (Dept. of Criminal Investigation)

Fact 4b:Only about 1-5% of the people eligible to apply for a concealed-carry permit actually complete the application and eligibility process. Of those, a small percentage will be carrying a firearm at any one time. Some use the permit to carry lethal non-firearm weapons or firearms on only an occasional basis. However, predators do not know who is carrying and must assume that any target they identify will be carrying, thus increasing the risk to the criminal and, as the numbers show, greatly decreasing the risk of crime and injury to law abiding citizens. "One has to realize that the criminal is always weighing the risks... the riskier you make it for him, the lower the risks for you" (Joe Harpold, FBI Behavioral Science and Services Unit).

Fact 4c: Every day, 550 rapes, 1,100 murders, and 5,200 other violent crimes are prevented just by showing a gun. In more than 99% of all "gun incidents" the gun is never fired (yes, that's correct, less than 1% of the time is the weapon fired!) (National Crime Victimization Survey, 2000, Bureau of Justice Statistics and BATF estimates).

Fact 4d: Most "gun violence" occurs between criminals and this should be the focus of public policy. 71% of gunshot victims have previous arrest records and 64% have been convicted of a crime; each had an average of 11 prior arrests (R. Lumb & P. Friday, City of Charlotte Gunshot Study, Dept. of Criminal Justice, 1994). Most "child" gun violence occurs among those ages 17-21 and are gang and/or drug related. They do not involve concealed carry holders.