UPDATE, July 22: Though 58 of the 100 senators (including 20 Democrats) voted for the concealed-carry amendment today, it needed 60 votes to be added to the bill. Also, it should be noted that there are many reciprocity agreements between individual states.
Just as new research indicates holders of concealed-carry gun permits are killing more people, Congress is close to approving legislation that would allow anyone with a permit from one state to carry a concealed weapon in any of the 40 states that issue them.
Permit holders were involved in 31 fatal shootings of 44 people in 17 states from May 2007 to April 2009, the Violence Policy Center found. Florida had the most shootings, 10, including one of a law-enforcement officer. Other states with multiple killings were Ohio, four (one officer); Pennsylvania, two officers; North Carolina, two private citizens; and Utah, two. States with one shooting incident were Alabama, Colorado, Idaho (an officer), Kentucky, Minnesota, New York, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. (Read the study)
"Critics, including police organizations, big-city mayors and gun-victims groups, decried the legislation as creating 'a new national lowest common denominator' for ownership of firearms," Shailagh Murray reports for The Washington Post. "But twice this year, Republicans have succeeded in rolling back restrictions on guns with substantial backing from moderate Democrats, many newly elected from Western states with strong Second Amendment traditions." (Read more)
Meanwhile, a law passed this month in Tennessee will allow the state's 237,750 handgun carry permit holders in the state to take their weapons into places that serve alcohol unless the establishments specifically ban them – arguably forcing the hospitality industry to tell their patrons ‘No,’ Michael Cass reports for The Tennessean. Perhaps surprisingly, 80 percent of the businesses are banning guns. (Read more)
Poster needs to be clear on this report as there is a big difference between "killings" and "murder".....which is it?
ReplyDeleteSorry, the term "murder" should not have been used. Also, the item originally said there were 31 killings; that was the number of shooting incidents, in which 44 people were killed.
ReplyDeleteThere is a very obvious slant to this article. Some of the people killed were not killed with a gun, some were accidents and some were questionable because although charges have been filed, not enough time has passed for all of them to have been dismissed yet.
ReplyDeleteHow many murders have occurred in the US in that same time period? What percentage does this account for?
The Report was also put together by a anti-gun group, as evidenced by the intro.
Instead of trying to skew and already slanted report, maybe you should try to actually be objective.