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For Immediate Release
December, 16 2009, 10:24am EDT
Contact:
Mandy Wimmer, Violence Policy Center, 202-822-8200 x110, mwimmer@vpc.org
Concealed Handgun Permit Holders Have Killed at Least 9 Law Enforcement Officers, 98 Private Citizens Since May 2007
"Concealed Carry Killers” Web Site December Update
WASHINGTON
Concealed handgun permit holders have killed
at least nine law enforcement officers and 98 private citizens (including 12
shooters who killed themselves after an attack) since May 2007 according to the
latest update of Concealed Carry Killers, a Violence Policy Center (VPC)
on-line resource that tallies news reports of such killings. The web
site, located at https://www.vpc.org/ccwkillers.htm,
is updated monthly to include new fatal shootings since May 2007 by concealed
handgun permit holders and any changes in the legal status of 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 VPC web site categorizes the 61 incidents, which
occurred in 19 states, and offers detailed descriptions of each incident (some incidents
may fit into multiple categories). Of these incidents, 12 were
murder-suicides involving firearms and 10 were mass shootings (three or more
victims) that claimed as many as 11 lives at a time. Law enforcement
officers were killed in Alabama, 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 (11 incidents), Idaho
(two incidents), Kentucky, Michigan
(five incidents), New York, North
Carolina (five incidents), Ohio
(five incidents), Oklahoma (two incidents), Oregon, Pennsylvania
(three incidents), South Carolina (two
incidents), Tennessee (six incidents), Texas, Utah (two
incidents), Virginia (four incidents), and Washington. All
but one of the killings were committed with guns.
Violence Policy Center Legislative Director Kristen Rand
states, "When the National Rifle Association launched its state-by-state
campaign for lax concealed handgun laws, it made this promise:
'People who get permits in states which have fair right-to-carry laws are
law-abiding, upstanding community leaders who merely seek to exercise their
right to self-defense.' To the contrary, concealed handgun permit
holders are killing people over parking spaces, football games, and family
arguments."
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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