Hear the facts about right-to-carry law
As the Illinois legislature considers a concealed carry bill, I wanted to share some gun facts with the readers. Every year, law-abiding citizens defend themselves with firearms between 1.5 million and 3 million times. In 98 percent of those times, the simple display of a firearm, without shooting, is sufficient to stop an attack. Of the remaining 2 percent, three quarters are warning shots.
Florida passed its right-to-carry law in 1987. Since then, their murder rate has averaged 36 percent lower than before the law was passed. Texas passed right-to-carry in 1996 and their murder rate has averaged 30 percent lower since. Michigan passed it in 2001 and has seen a 4 percent drop. Four percent seems small, but that’s double the national decrease.
My sources are the Clinton administration’s Dept. of Justice, criminologists at the University of Florida and the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program. Don’t believe the emotional, unscientific and sometimes patently false data the anti-gun lobby spreads.
The Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police, the Chicago Police Sergeants Association, and the Illinois Sheriff’s Association all support concealed carry in Illinois, because the facts support it. Illinois is currently the only state in the Union that has no provision whatsoever for law-abiding citizens to carry a firearm in their daily travels. It is time for Illinois to stop keeping its citizens defenseless.
Tyler Benjamin
West Chicago