The solution to gun violence is not more gun violence. Carrying a concealed loaded weapon does not work. When people with a concealed-carry license use their guns to kill someone, very few of these shootings are found to be lawful self-defense. In a review by the Violence Policy Center of eight years of news accounts of 722 such deaths only 16 cases were reported to be self-defense.
The review looked at 544 concealed-carry shootings in 36 states and the District of Columbia. Included in the numbers were 28 mass shootings, defined as three or more victims, which resulted in the deaths of 136 people. The study also showed that licensed gun carriers killed 17 law enforcement officers.
The numbers are almost certainly under-reported because the review did not cover all 50 states, but even this limited review points out that armed citizens are not the solution to mass shootings.
These facts repudiate the Dec. 9 Viewpoints letter titled “More ‘common sense’ gun control proposals.”
Allowing people to carry a concealed weapon is far more likely to result in killings that are not lawful self-defense. Business owners certainly have a right to prohibit concealed carry in their premises and the facts support that decision.
We do not need more armed citizens. Universal background checks, stopping the straw purchase of guns, prohibiting those on the no-fly list from possessing guns, bans on assault weapons, and limiting magazine capacity will do far more to reduce gun violence.
The gun is the vector of violence.
John Barrett
Oak Park
