November, 17 2009, 08:41am EDT
Concealed Handgun Permit Holders Have Killed 8 Law Enforcement Officers, 77 Private Citizens Over 2.5 Year Period According to New On-Line Resource
Concealed handgun permit holders killed
eight law enforcement officers and 77 private citizens (including 10 shooters
who killed themselves after an attack) during the period May 2007 through
October 2009 according to a new Violence Policy Center (VPC) on-line resource
that tallies news reports of such killings. The web site, CCW Killers, is
located at https://www.vpc.org/ccwkillers.htm
and is updated monthly to include new fatal shootings and changes in the legal
status of concealed handgun permit holders fa
WASHINGTON
Concealed handgun permit holders killed
eight law enforcement officers and 77 private citizens (including 10 shooters
who killed themselves after an attack) during the period May 2007 through
October 2009 according to a new Violence Policy Center (VPC) on-line resource
that tallies news reports of such killings. The web site, CCW Killers, is
located at https://www.vpc.org/ccwkillers.htm
and is updated monthly to include new fatal shootings and changes in the legal
status of concealed handgun permit holders facing criminal charges. (Any
concealed handgun permit holders who are eventually acquitted of their alleged
crimes are not included in the tallies maintained on the site although the
facts surrounding the shooting are detailed.)
The new VPC web site offers detailed descriptions of the 46
incidents, which occurred in 18 states. Of these incidents, 10 were
murder-suicides involving firearms and eight were mass shootings (three or more
victims) that claimed as many as 11 lives at a time. Law enforcement
officers were killed in Florida (two
incidents), Idaho, Ohio,
and Pennsylvania
(two incidents). All of the law enforcement killings were committed with
guns.
Private citizens were killed in Alabama, California,
Colorado, Florida (nine incidents), Idaho (two incidents), Kentucky, Michigan
(three incidents), New York, North Carolina (two incidents), Ohio (three
incidents), Oklahoma (two incidents), Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina (two
incidents), Tennessee (five incidents), Texas, Utah (two incidents), and
Virginia (three incidents). All but one of the killings were committed
with guns.
Kristen Rand,
legislative director for the Violence Policy Center, states, "This new web
site makes clear that contrary to the false promises of the gun lobby the
simple and deadly fact is that state concealed handgun systems are arming
cop-killers, mass shooters, and other murderers."
Because most state systems that allow the carrying of
concealed handguns in public by private citizens release little data about
crimes committed by permit holders, the VPC reviews and tallies concealed
handgun permit holder killings as reported by news outlets. It is likely
that the actual number of fatal criminal incidents involving concealed handgun
permit holders is far higher.
The Violence Policy Center (VPC) works to stop gun death and injury through research, education, advocacy, and collaboration. Founded in 1988 by Executive Director Josh Sugarmann, a native of Newtown, Connecticut, the VPC informs the public about the impact of gun violence on their daily lives, exposes the profit-driven marketing and lobbying activities of the firearms industry and gun lobby, offers unique technical expertise to policymakers, organizations, and advocates on the federal, state, and local levels, and works for policy changes that save lives. The VPC has a long and proven record of policy successes on the federal, state, and local levels, leading the National Rifle Association to acknowledge us as "the most effective ... anti-gun rabble-rouser in Washington."
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