Gun control in the past decade has become an extremely hot topic due to many mass shootings and violent crimes. The news and the social media are pointing their fingers at guns in America and propose more gun control in America to stop all the violence. Gun control activists have been pushing their argument harder than ever to create a safer country. Pro-gun activists however feel that taking away guns from law abiding citizens will not only violate their second Amendment rights, but create a country that is far more dangerous. Criminals do not follow gun laws and most of them do not use registered guns in crimes in the first place, so their guns aren't even on record and cannot be taken away from them because they do not exist on paper. One major focus point for gun enthusiasts is concealed carry. Many situations where you might need a gun will occur away from your home. The majority of violent crimes happen away from the home. There needs to be more people on the streets legally practicing their concealed carry rights, provided that they have a permit, completed the classes and passed the background checks. Statistics show us that crime rates have dropped in many areas after concealed carry became legal there. If concealed carry becomes a more common practice, criminals will be at a much greater risk while committing a crime. The people cannot simply rely on police to stop a theft or a mass shooting because the police cannot be everywhere at once. Criminals and shooters will continue to take advantage of the lack of protection the American people provides for themselves and each other. 

It is a pretty well known fact that most criminals who actually use guns in violent crimes off of the black market, and therefore cannot be traced. Gun laws can only be applied to guns that can be traced. Such guns that can be traced are those that are purchased legally, of which the majority of legally purchased and registered firearms are not used to commit violent crimes. Many Americans don't understand why people need and want a gun. Unless you are very lucky, the average police response time is about 9-10 minutes, but the average interaction between a criminal and a victim is 90 seconds. This really isn't much protection from the police. Saying you do not need guns because you have police is like saying you don't need a fire extinguisher because you have firefighters. The problem, whether a criminal or a fire, doesn't wait for the designated government protector to show up. 

Criminologist Cesare Beccaria, in the 18th century, writes:

"False is the idea  ...  that would take fire from men because it burns, and water because one may drown in it  ...  The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws of such a nature. They disarm those only who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes. Can it be supposed that those who have the courage to violate the most sacred laws of humanity, the most important of the code, will respect the less important and arbitrary ones, which can be violated with ease and impunity, and which, if strictly obeyed, would put an end to personal liberty. Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides  ... " (Beccaria)

Even though this was written in the 18th century, this quote still fully applies to the modern world today. Although technology and societies change with time, we still live in a world in which it is necessary to be able to protect ourselves from others who do not have a problem with killing you for what you have. Laws for firearm control do not really affect criminals not only because you their guns are untraceable and can therefore be taken away, but if criminals are willing to break laws against murder and theft, then they are willing to break laws against gun control.

Understanding gun control and how it affects both citizens and criminals differently is extremely important in understanding the necessities of concealed carry. People that choose to own guns in order to protect themselves each have their own reason. Many people want to keep their family and themselves safe while inside of their home, and many people feel the need to protect themselves while away from their home. Concealed carry is a way for American citizens to protect themselves away from their home, and they should have the right to do so. Whether just for protection at all times, in their car, at their work or walking alone, many people want to practice their right to have a gun on their person in order to feel safe and capable of taking care of themselves in case something were to happen. 

Another important concept behind concealed carry is the protection of others around you. Even if the victim or victims aren't carrying a gun, there might be someone around who hears or sees what is going on, and they can analyze for themselves whether or not it is a good idea to intervene with their weapon and how to do so safely and effectively. Some examples of this might include: robberies in crowded stores or locations such as banks or gas stations, rapes, car hijackings, or mass shootings. The likelihood of someone with a concealed weapon being there to help increase with the number of permits issued. That being said, it should not be easy to obtain a concealed weapons license. Training permit holders situational awareness, legal knowledge, how to handle high-stress situations, accuracy, and speed is extremely necessary knowledge for those who wish to concealed carry. If concealed carry laws follows these steps, most importantly teaching situational awareness and when and if to unholster a weapon, then concealed carry will help make America a safer place. 

In 1987 Florida passed the "shall-issue" law, which requires authorities to issue permits for a concealed weapon to qualifying citizens upon their request (Adelmann). By the year 2000, 28 states in the U.S. began to liberalize their concealed carry laws, and 12 more states joined them in the next 14 years (Yamane). Before this time, it was almost impossible for a regular citizen to be licensed to legally do this. From 2007 to 2011, concealed carry permits in Florida increased by 90%. In that same time period, firearm related violent crimes in Florida dropped by one-third, while violent crime of any kind dropped 26%. (Adelmann). The initial critics of the Florida shall issue law were afraid that Florida's crime would soar and there would be constant gunfights in the streets. As it turned out, "homicide rates dropped faster than the national average and through 1997 only one permit holder of the 350,000 was convicted of homicide (Adelmann). Proving those who doubted the Florida lawmen wrong, the "shall-issue" law actually ended up making Florida a much safer place to live.

Concealed carry is just one of the many purposes of gun ownership. When looking at all of the places where violent crimes occur, you can see why the concealed carry in public places is important. In 2003 a statistician for the U.S. Department of Justice released a report called Weapon Use and Violent Crime National Crime Victimization Survey, 1993-2001. In it, Craig Perkins reported some of the statistics of the locations of violent crimes. Perkins says that the most common locations for violent crimes occurred away from the victims home compared to being at or near the victims home. He claims most violent crimes including a weapon occurred while the victims was engaged in leisure activities or while going to or from their work. In Perkins' study he found that the criminal had a weapon in about half of the time in robberies, a fourth of assaults, and a twelth of rapes and sexual assaults (Perkins). What Perkins found shows that victims need to be able to defend themselves while away from their home, since that is where the majority of violent crimes occurred in his study. 

Robert Boatman, author of Living With Glocks, has a chapter in his book that talks about why you are socially obliged to carry a gun. Boatman believes that "only when the custom of carrying a gun once again achieves its deserved high level of social legitimacy and political priority will this country get back on the track of respect for human freedom and dignity that has set it apart from the rest of the world for two centuries" (Boatman). Boatman talks about how the media has made the image of guns and gun ownership into something that makes you a violent person. Boatman believes that citizens need to carry guns so that they can better protect themselves and those around them. When concealed carry becomes more popular in the United States and something for criminals to fear, the American people start effect the way criminals think. If concealed carry is popular and starts to prove itself, a criminal will be forced to reconsider due to the likelihood of his or her failure and personal injury. In this situation the problem starts to take care of itself and no one will get hurt. Most criminals do not have to be scared and therefore the chance of the committing petty crimes and violent crimes is more likely. The way you stop criminals is to give them something to fear besides possibly being caught and going to jail, which clearly is not enough. 

The percentage of "Hot burglaries", or burglaries when the victims is home is 59% in England, which has gun-control laws that basically ban any civilian from owning a gun. In the U.S. the rate is 13%. Most criminals in the United States fear robbing houses when the owner is home because of the likelihood of the owner having a gun. Handgun ownership in Britain was banned in 1997. In the following decade, firearm use in crimes in Britain nearly doubled. In 2008 Britain's violent crime rate was five times that of the United States (Gun Facts). Congress released The Citizens' Self Defense Act of 2009, which stated that every year more than 2,400,00 citizens in the United States use a gun in defense of themselves against a criminal, meaning that a gun is used for protection 60 times more often to protect an honest victim than to take their life. 92% of the 2,400,000 times the gun isn't fired, and is just used to scare away the criminal (Bartlett). Not only does this help show how guns are used for good, but it proves that criminals do not like it when they see a victim has a gun. At that point their option is to either run or be shot. This helps explain why a popular and successful concealed carry practice in the United States can help stop crimes before they even happen by causing the criminal to think twice about who might have a gun on them. 

In an article from the Washington Times, it is said that since 2007, the number of concealed handgun permits increased from 4.6 million to over 12.8 million, according to the Crime Prevention Research Center. During this time, murder rates have fall by 25% in the U.S. (Howell). 1.7 million permits were issued in 2014, which was 15.4% more than the year before. 

 

There has been many mass shootings in recent years, most of which occurred at schools, but the only major steps that the American people hear about is more gun control. More gun control is not an immediate approach and cannot stop them from happening any time soon. Schools need armed security guards and armed principals even. Controlling who goes in and out of the school to the point of stopping any mass shooter is realistically pretty impossible and most of them will stop at nothing and find a way into the school. Not having an armed, capable, and trustworthy person at a school is idiotic. If this is not done these tragedies will continue to happen. If the school systems and parents allow for even one an armed guard that would be fantastic. Although, the more teachers and heads of schools that can be found more than trustworthy that carry on their person the better. Such teachers should have more trainier and stricter background checks. These schools shootings keep happening, and it is absolutely insane how someone can possibly walk into a school and do such a thing, but it is real and happening. These guys do not care about gun free schools zones and it will not somehow magically stop them. It isn't just guns, but they will use knives, bats, homemade bombs, etc. Having a zone at a school that is gun-free is an open invitation to these maniacs because they know no one will be able to stop them. It is scary how big of a target school children are to some people in this world while there is absolutely no solution to protect them. Even if the police come in time they can't go inside because the shooter will just kill more. Even if there are only armed guards, they are in uniform. If the shooter is smart, he would shoot them first and proceed. 

Heavily crowded areas are also huge targets for these kinds of people. If by some miracle the police come and stop the shooter from doing any more damage, there is still too much time and lives wasted. One of the worst things you can do in these situations is bring in a police in uniform. For example, when the Aurora shooting happened in 2012, if someone with a concealed carry permits had been there, the shooter would have had no idea and probably wouldn't see one person in a crowd of people taking out a gun and taking aim. 

Gun homicides were 10% higher in states with restrictive concealed carry laws from 1980 to 2009. In Texas, murder rates declined 50% faster than the national average after they passed the shall-issue law. Rapes declined by 90% in the first year of the law being passed. In the second year, rapes fell by 500% and assaults by 250% (Gun Facts).  After concealed carry became legal in Illinois, Chicago saw a major decrease in crime rate. Kelly Riddell of The Washington Post wrote an article about Chicago's decrease in crime. 

Since Illinois started granting concealed carry permits this year, the number of robberies that have led to arrests in Chicago has declined 20 percent from last year, according to police department statistics. Reports of burglary and motor vehicle theft are down 20 percent and 26 percent, respectively. In the first quarter, the city's homicide rate was at a 56-year low (Riddell). 

During this time the police didn't change their routine for stopping criminals. By the end of July 2014, the state had issued 68,549 licenses, and the executive director of the Illinois State Rifle Association guesses that there should be around 100,000 by the end of the year. In Illinois, a weapons permit costs $600 and 16 hours of classes, yet so many people immediately wanted to get a license (Riddell). 

The victim is the one that is there in that moment. Unless the victim gets lucky and a squad car is down the street, the police probably will not be able to help you until after the crime is done. If you had a gun and a phone, which would you reach for first? As of 2008, half a million citizens defend themselves with a gun away from their own home yearly. After the first 15 years that the shall-issue law in Florida was in place, it was found that alligator attacks were more likely than a concealed carry holder committing a crime (229 to 155).Even then, most of these crimes were pretty insignificant; most involved accidentally taking their concealed weapon into a restricted area (Gun Owners of America). 

Another large part of stopping criminals is psychological. When you make it very clear to the public that, for example, every house is legally required to have a gun, or that women in your city have been trained to use a gun and are carrying guns with them (even if none of this is actually true) you are letting the criminals know that the risk just got a lot worse. In 1982, Kennesaw, Georgia made it illegal to not have at least one gun in your home. Household theft fell 89%. In 1966, Orlando's local rape rates fell by nearly 90% because the local media highly publicized a firearms course for women. The Carter Justice Department in 1979 discovered that when women were armed with a gun or a knife only 3% of attempted rapes were successful, but if they weren't, 32% of attempted rapes were successful (Gun Owners of America). 

As long as more and more citizens continue to get permits, crime rates will fall. There is no other immediate solution to stop criminals from obtaining firearms illegally and coming after you. Even if a criminal is just using a knife or a baseball bat, the only way you will even out the disadvantage that the criminal brought to the table is with a gun. It is unreasonable to try and make every adult citizen in the U.S. carry a gun and that would be stupid for man reasons, but it is not unreasonable that 15%-20% of law-abiding citizens without serious offenses on their legal record carry a gun. There are many reports of permit holders stopping crimes and mass shootings in the past few years but do not get heavily publicized because there isn't enough of a story that the national media wants to share. These events need to be publicized so people can realize that someone just like them stopped a robbery, a rape, a murder, or a school shooting, and all they did was get a license and a gun.

