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« "Gun Guys" and Joyce Foundation | Main | Different approaches to gun makers »

Detroit Free Press: More Guns, Less Crime

Posted by David Hardy · 7 January 2008 05:37 PM

From the Detroit Free Press:

"Six years after new rules made it much easier to get a license to carry concealed weapons, the number of Michiganders legally packing heat has increased more than six-fold.

But dire predictions about increased violence and bloodshed have largely gone unfulfilled, according to law enforcement officials and, to the extent they can be measured, crime statistics.

The incidence of violent crime in Michigan in the six years since the law went into effect has been, on average, below the rate of the previous six years. The overall incidence of death from firearms, including suicide and accidents, also has declined.

More than 155,000 Michiganders -- about one in every 65 -- are now authorized to carry loaded guns as they go about their everyday affairs, according to Michigan State Police records.

About 25,000 people had CCW permits in Michigan before the law changed in 2001.
......
Kenneth Levin, a West Bloomfield physician, was one of those critics. In a letter to the Free Press in July 2001, he referred to the "inevitable first victim of road or workplace rage as a result of this law."

Last month, Levin said he suspected "it probably hasn't turned out as bad as I thought. I don't think I was wrong, but my worst fears weren't realized.""

· CCW licensing

8 Comments | Leave a comment

Jeff | January 7, 2008 7:12 PM | Reply

"I don't think I was wrong," Levin said. Well, it is good to see that facts, experience and empirical evidence aren't clouding his vision.

Letalis Maximus, Esq. | January 7, 2008 7:15 PM | Reply

"I don't think I was wrong," but I am too big of a pussy to admit I wasn't right.

Tarn Helm | January 7, 2008 8:16 PM | Reply

Kenneth Levin, a West Bloomfield physician, was one of those critics. In a letter to the Free Press in July 2001, he referred to the "inevitable first victim of road or workplace rage as a result of this law."

Last month, Levin said he suspected "it probably hasn't turned out as bad as I thought. I don't think I was wrong, but my worst fears weren't realized.""


Sounds like a typical Democrat of the sort who supports infringement of the Second Amendment (calling it "gun control") while admitting that violating the constitution by infringing civil rights does nothing to contribute "to the security of a free state."


"Why seek empirical knowledge and statistical evidence when it is so much easier to irrationally cling to prejudices?," Dr. Levin seems to insinuate.

I'm glad he is not my doctor.

Gary | January 7, 2008 8:21 PM | Reply

"I don't think I was wrong, but my worst fears weren't realized." Well then, YES. You were wrong.
Idiot.

wrangler5 | January 7, 2008 11:23 PM | Reply

Is it the cops or the reporters that just can't let it go? From what I see in the article there is ABSOLUTELY NO evidence that a dramatic increase in concealed carry permits has caused ANY increase in gun violence and bloodshed. But the article can only say that dire predictions of such results "have largely gone unfulfilled."

Doesn't a decline in violent crime and a decline in gun deaths mean that dire predictions to the contrary have been proven to be ABSOLUTELY WRONG? Or at least "completely unfulfilled?"

But of course, good news doesn't sell newspapers.

Sebastian | January 7, 2008 11:24 PM | Reply

One in every sixty five? Amateurs. I think we're one in every nineteen in PA.

Flash Gordon | January 8, 2008 12:08 AM | Reply

I wonder if the Doctor is disappointed that his predictions didn't come true? Sounds like it.

Ryan | January 9, 2008 11:12 AM | Reply

"Is it the cops or the reporters that just can't let it go?"

What do you mean? This is a article that was written in support of our (yes I am from Michigan, and carry) Concealed Carry Laws. Most of the police support it (some local police in liberal areas are hostile), and so does this reporter. Believe me. Read his other articles. He is one of the few that didn't have a anti-CPL agenda when the law was being changed.

"One in every sixty five? Amateurs. I think we're one in every nineteen in PA."

I know, and it makes me sad. I will say this in somewhat defense of my states citizens. A lot of counties were hostile to those of us that wanted a CPL even after we became a shall issue state. A lot of that resistance has faded now that those sheriffs departments see that it is actually helping them, not harming. Also, I believe our fees are higher than Pennsylvania.

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