Anti-gun lobby view too conditional

In Garret Evans’ June 20 Fence Post letter, “More guns would mean more deaths,” he makes several unsubstantiated comments. He says that law-abiding citizens carrying guns would “lead to more senseless violence.” The data simply do not support that statement.

States with concealed carry do not have higher crime rates, and usually actually have lower crime rates than Illinois (which remains the only state to completely prohibit carrying firearms).

He also specifically says that students having guns during the Virgina Tech shooting would have made things worse. This is also not supported by the available data. In 2002, a shooter at Virginia’s Appalachian School of Law was held by two armed students until authorities arrived. The students didn’t even fire.

Mr. Evans uses the same normative phrases as most anti-gun activists: phrases like “would be,” “would have,” “possibly” and “more than likely.” The problem with his and the anti-gun lobby’s emotional “would” arguments is that they simply do not stand up to the documented results of concealed carry in other states.

Tyler Benjamin

West Chicago