This is not a good time to be part of the anti-gunner lobby. It seems that over the past few years, more and more evidence has emerged further proving that their efforts to keep regular folks from keeping and bearing arms is not saving the lives they promised.
Indeed, despite the reality that people are more likely to use their firearms to defend themselves or others, Democrats and other anti-gun fanatics insist on gaslighting the public into believing there is no such thing as a “good guy with a gun.”
Nevertheless, attitudes on guns are a-changing. More people are becoming gun owners. Even better, the Democrats’ radical anti-gun agenda has been a complete and utter failure.
A new study analyzing gun crime in Minnesota revealed even more troubling findings for those who believe only the government should be allowed to keep and bear arms. The Minnesota Department of Public Safety’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) released a report showing that about 1,260 concealed carry permit holders committed a gun crime. This number is out of almost 400,000 concealed carry holders living in the state. This means only about .03 percent of those who possessed a concealed carry license in 2022 actually engaged in illegal activity involving a firearm.
The Reload reported:
The FBI’s National Incident-Based Reporting System found there were 246,893 gun crimes in 2021. That same year, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated there were 332,031,554 Americans. That means the average American was more than twice as likely to commit a gun crime than somebody licensed to carry a gun in Minnesota. The same trend holds within Minnesota itself, according to the same data.
Additionally, the fact that the FBI only details the use of guns in violent crimes while Minnesota’s report counts any crime where a gun is involved combined with poor compliance with the NIBRS’s voluntary data collection system (the agency notes on its website that only 66 percent of the population is covered by its data) suggests the gap between the average American and licensed gun carriers may be significantly wider.
The Reload noted that these numbers “suggest that those who obtain a concealed carry license, which requires a background check and firearms training” are typically more law-abiding than the general public. Indeed, this tracks with what I was told when I went through the process to obtain mine in Texas in 2021.
The report noted that overall, people with permits committed 4,199 gun crimes, which was the highest number recorded among permit holders. Still, this only accounted for about one percent of all permit holders. Also, it is important to take into account the nature of the crimes these individuals committed – they weren’t exactly engaging in bank robberies and shootouts.
“More than 60 percent were DWIs or other traffic offenses,” BCA noted in its report. “15 percent were from the ‘Other’ category, which includes both less serious offenses such as city ordinance violations and DNR hunting, fishing and recreational vehicle violations and less common but more serious offenses such as stalking and riot.”
These numbers are significant in that it also shows how braindead politicians in states like California and New York are when it comes to issuing licenses to carry. These people would have you believe that by making it more difficult to obtain a permit, they are somehow making residents safer when the numbers clearly show that folks who go through the process to get licensed are far less of a threat than others – especially criminals who obtain their firearms illegally.
Speaking of illegal guns – anyone familiar with the gun debate knows that the vast majority of gun homicides are committed using weapons that were obtained through illegal means – another indicator that placing more barriers to legal gun ownership does almost nothing to save lives. Indeed, it only makes people more vulnerable to being victimized by the bad guys.
Nevertheless, President Joe Biden and his anti-gunner comrades are still pushing for more gun control laws, arguing that these will somehow prevent mass shootings and address gun violence in inner cities. On Tuesday, he announced a new executive order that will increase the use of “red flag” laws and create more background checks. These are more symbolic measure, most likely. But the fact remains – these people will never stop lying about the efficacy of gun control legislation.
But why should they?
These people have shown time and time again that their aim is not to curb gun violence, but to disarm the public as much as they possibly can. They know that banning supposed “assault weapons” won’t make people safer. But they also know that can’t just ban handguns willy nilly, so scary-looking black long guns are the first step in the process.
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