By Mr. Greene
I remember back in the early 1990s, when the idea of legal concealed carry was novel even to lifelong gun owners. It is heartening to see how far we’ve come.
A new study from the University of Washington published in the American Journal of Public Health found that the number of Americans carrying a handgun daily for personal defense doubled from 3 million in 2015 to 6 million in 2019. Over the same time period, the number who carried at least once per month increased from 9 million to 16 million.
To put these numbers into perspective, consider that there are only 800,000 sworn federal, state, and local law enforcement officers in America. Only those who are ideologically opposed to guns can deny that the country’s army of armed citizens serves as a dramatic force multiplier against the violent criminal element.
With more people carrying, we will see more mass shooters stopped in their tracks by good guys with guns like the kid in the Indiana mall and the Uber driver in Chicago. Our world is a better place with more good people carrying guns, period.
Yet I will never understand those folks who carry just some of the time, as if they can predict when shit might go sideways. If you’re going some place where you think the chance you will need a gun is so great that you break your routine of not carrying, then just don’t fucking go. It’s not worth it.
As the University of Washington researchers indicate in their study, the 6 million number is probably much greater now after the pandemic. Let’s hope it is 8 or 9 million today. Why?
Federal surveys of prison inmates show that violent criminals fear attacking an armed victim more than they fear being caught by the police and incarcerated. Increasing their fear is a good thing. This happens only as more law-abiding citizens carry guns.
Be part of the solution, not the problem. Learn how to use a gun and carry the damn thing.
