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For Immediate Release
May, 27 2010, 11:39am EDT
Contact:
Marty Langley, Violence Policy Center, 202-822-8200 x109, mlangley@vpc.org
Murder Arrests, Murder-Suicide Among New Concealed Handgun Permit Holder Incidents Reported in VPC's 'Concealed Carry Killers' May Update
Arrests for murder and a murder-suicide
are among the new incidents involving concealed handgun permit holders
detailed
in the May update of Concealed Carry Killers, a Violence Policy Center
(VPC)
on-line resource (http://www.vpc.org/ccwkillers.htm)
that tallies news reports of such killings. Since May 2007, concealed
handgun
permit holders have killed at least 166 individuals, including nine law
enforcement officers.
WASHINGTON
Arrests for murder and a murder-suicide
are among the new incidents involving concealed handgun permit holders
detailed
in the May update of Concealed Carry Killers, a Violence Policy Center
(VPC)
on-line resource (https://www.vpc.org/ccwkillers.htm)
that tallies news reports of such killings. Since May 2007, concealed
handgun
permit holders have killed at least 166 individuals, including nine law
enforcement officers.
Among the new incidents included in the May
update
are:
Tennessee--On April
15,
2010, concealed handgun permit holder Norman Bren Whitton, 69, allegedly
shot
and killed fellow retiree Larry Butcher, 74, after a road-rage incident
at an
upscale East Tennessee retirement village
involving Whitton's Cadillac sedan and Butcher's golf cart. Whitton was
charged with second-degree murder.
Washington--On April
28, 2010, concealed handgun permit holder Amanda Knight, 21, was
allegedly part
of a group of four criminals who took part in a home-invasion robbery
that
resulted in the shooting death of James Sanders, 43. Knight was charged
with
first-degree murder, first-degree robbery, and second-degree assault.
Virginia--On May 2,
2010, former Navy Captain and concealed handgun permit holder Robert
Klosterman, 64, shot and killed his wife Rebecca, 57, in their home
before
shooting himself to death.
The VPC web site categorizes the 99
incidents, which
occurred in 25 states, and offers detailed descriptions of each incident
(some
incidents may fit into multiple categories). Of these incidents, 16
were
murder-suicides involving firearms and 15 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).
Private citizens were killed in Alabama,
Arkansas,
California, Colorado, Florida (16 incidents), Georgia, Idaho (two
incidents),
Indiana (two incidents), Kentucky (two incidents), Massachusetts (two
incidents), Michigan (nine incidents), Minnesota, New York, North
Carolina
(five incidents), Ohio (nine incidents), Oklahoma (two incidents),
Oregon,
Pennsylvania (seven incidents), Rhode Island, South Carolina (two
incidents),
Tennessee (nine incidents), Texas (three incidents), Utah (five
incidents),
Virginia (seven incidents), and Washington (two incidents).
Violence Policy Center Legislative Director
Kristen Rand states, "Each month the evidence
builds that lax concealed carry laws are arming killers who shoot at the
slightest provocation--in road-rage incidents, arguments over parking
spaces,
and domestic disputes. In contrast, proponents of concealed carry can
point to no legitimate evidence that permit holders enhance public
safety. We
have a system that has licensed 15 mass shooters and nine cop killers.
It's past time to repeal these dangerous laws."
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 primarily as reported by news outlets.
It
is likely that the actual number of fatal 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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