Right to Carry

The Right to Carry

Many controversial topics are discussed in today’s society. One of the most discussed and reappearing topics is guns and gun laws. Gun laws are being discussed by every class of people: the poor, the rich, and the politicians. Everyone has their own opinion about what is right. The gun law that is in the most heated debates is the Right to Carry. Can everyday people carry a concealed weapon? Since 1987 when Florida first introduces the Right to Carry Law, states everywhere have been following in their footsteps letting qualified people carry firearms to protect themselves. The Right to Carry protects innocent people and lowers the crime rate in a state, Florida is a prime example of this success.
The Right to Carry a firearm is respected in 40 states, with 8 more states having restrictively administered discretionary issue systems as stated by the N.R.A. Only two states prohibit carrying firearms altogether. These are Wisconsin and Illinois as stated by the N.R.A. (www.nraila.org). Protecting oneself by using a weapon is not a new way of thinking; it has been around for over 2,000 years. Even Cicero said, “If our lives are endangered by plots or violence or armed robbers or enemies, any and every method of protecting ourselves is morally right” (quoted by the NRA). Cicero shows that every method of protecting oneself is right. If that means using a firearm to ward off, injure or kill an intruder who is about to endanger a person or a person’s wellbeing or the wellbeing of one of his or her family member, then using a firearm is acceptable. If firearms were not used to protect oneself then not every method would be used as Cicero stated. Therefore, qualified people who pass a test should be allowed, in all states, to carry a firearm in order to protect themselves.
An award winning criminologist, Gary Kleck, said it is safer to carry a firearm; “robbery and assault victims who used a gun to resist were less likely to be attacked or to suffer an injury than those who used any other methods of self protection or those who did not resist at all” (The Right to Carry). In additionally, John Lott and David Mustard launched plans to study crime trends in every country of the United States. What they found was surprising. They found that if the non Right to Carry States would have allowed the law that a number of people would have avoided being murdered, raped, or assaulted. They also found that when people carry concealed weapons in a state, the murders, rapes, and assaults rates fall due to armed citizens scaring off criminals.
“Allowing citizens to carry concealed weapons deters violent crimes and it appears to produce no increase in accidental deaths. If those states which did not have Right to Carry concealed gun provisions had adopted then in1992, approximately 1,570 murders; 4,177 rapes; and over 60,000 aggravated assaults would have been avoided yearly…[W]hen state concealed handgun laws went into effect in a county, murders fell by 8.5%, rapes and aggravated assaults fell by 5 to 7 percent”(NRA).
The study cited by the N.R.A. shows that firearms, in the hands of reasonable citizens, can have drastic changes on the crime that happens in a state. In addition, a study from the Department of Justice found that 34% of felons had been “scared off, shot at, wounded or captured by an armed victim” (www.nraila.org). The Department of Justice also said that “40% of felons have not committed crimes, fearing potential victims were armed” (www.nraila.org). Looking at these statistics, there should be no reason that everyone should not be allowed to carry a firearm. Firearms are a great deterrent against criminals. Firearms give good citizens an equal chance to fight and protect themselves against individuals who what to cause them bodily harm.
Florida is a prime example of the Right to Carry Law working. Many people including anti-gun groups, politicians, and news media’s predicted that when Florida established the Right to Carry that Florida would become the “Wild West” with shootouts on the corner of the every street. This turned out to be false. In 1994, State Rep. Ron Silver who once opposed the Right to Carry Law confessed that the law was working better then he thought. He said, “I am pleasantly surprised to find that I think it’s working pretty well…” (The Right to Carry). Since 1987, Florida homicide rate dropped by 23%, while the national average for homicide grew by 9% says the NRA (www.nraila.org). Permit holders do not abuse the Right to Carry Law (www.nraila.org). In fact, Florida has over 1.2 million Permits holders, more than any other state, and only 157 of these permit holders have lost their permit do to gun crimes (www.nraila.org). That is only (0.01%) of the population that owns a permit. One of the biggest supporters of the Right to Carry is police officers. In a national survey, police officers supported laws in favor of an everyday person able to carry a concealed hand gun by 3 to 1. The Law Enforcement Alliance of America (LEAA) has supported the Right to Carry for over a Decade. The (LEAA) often has lectures that dismiss myths about the Right to Carry being dangerous to the public safety. Florida has led the way for many other states to allow citizens the right to carry a concealed firearm. Florida has proven that those citizens who arm themselves with a firearm will be less likely to become a statistic in a criminal report and a survivor of what could have been a deathly experience.
Many objections appear that do not support the Right to Carry a firearm. Many citizens believe that having more firearms in the hands of more people causes more robbers, murders and thugs to obtain more firearms to use on innocent citizens. Roughly, 1.5 million Guns are stolen every year giving more robbers, murderers and thugs the advantage of using firearms in their evil acts (The Final Bullet). These guns that are stolen are lawfully possessed guns by law biding citizens. Now these firearms are on the streets, in the hands of criminals. In addition, another objection is that any kind of law that increases gun ownership puts more firearms in the hands of criminals. A prime example of firearms falling in the wrong hands is when firearms were stolen from Sean Penn. Sean Penn was one of the few people to get a Right to Carry permit in California is since it is not a Right to Carry state. After Sean Penn got his permit, he went out and bought a 9mm Glock and a .38 Smith & Wesson. Penn, after getting his firearms, went into a restaurant to eat. He left his firearms in the trunk of the car only to come out of the restaurant to find the car stolen. He was able to retrieve the car but was unable to recover the either of the guns. Thus, putting legal guns in hands in the hands of more citizens means that more guns are going to fall in the hands of criminals on streets. These two objections represent the opinion of the American population that does not support the Right to Carry. They fear that these Right to Carry laws gives more criminals easy access to guns and creates more crime rather than lowering the crime rate.
However, people should be allowed the Right to Carry guns in all states. The right to protect oneself is not a new way of thinking it has just evolved to use firearms. Numerous research projects focus on the Right to Carry, and the statistics prove that guns reduce crime. Florida is one of the best examples of the Right to Carry working. People who carry firearms feel more secure and experience more of the world then they would be sitting in their house because they do not feel protected when they leave. People who carry guns legally go through a rigorous test to make sure they have the capability of carrying a firearm to use for self defense. It is the right of the people to protect themselves by any means necessary. The Right to Carry a weapon is part of the United States Constitution. The Second Amendment, the Right to Bear Arms should never be taken away. Firearms are one of the only ways everyday people can protect themselves from becoming a victim in the endless violence that fill the streets. Firearms are the one advantage citizen can count on when their life becomes threatened by dangerous criminals.