Michigan Concealed Carry

[mikeb302000]

http://www.freep.com/article/20110731/NEWS06/107310482/10-years-after-concealed-weapons-law-unclear-why-many-state-were-gun-shy?odyssey=tab">The Detroit Free Press has published a two-part article about how well the Concealed Carry Permit laws are working out for Michigan.

Ten years after Michigan made it much easier for its citizens to get a license to carry a concealed gun, predictions of widespread lawless behavior and bloodshed have failed to materialize.

Today, nearly 276,000 -- or about four out of every 100 eligible adult Michiganders -- are licensed.

But violent crimes have been rare among carrying a concealed weapon license holders. Only 2% of license holders have been sanctioned for any kind of misbehavior, State Police records show.

I have two problems with that.

First, I don't believe the "Police records" that show this statistic are reliable or comprehensive. There are often problems in communicating between cities and counties, people who commit crimes in one district, continue to enjoy gun rights in another. So, the percentage is much higher.

Second, who decided that 2% is low? Even if it were an accurate number, which I've already shown in unlikely, it's HIGH. Did you do the math? 2% of 276,000 is 5,520. To me that's not acceptable.

Consider another thing. The 5,520 are concealed carry permit holders whom we KNOW have committed crimes. Imagine how many have not been caught. It's hard to guess, but what would you think, another 2% only? I'd say the percentage of hidden criminals among the 276,000 CCW guys is much higher than that. Let's use a universally accepted standard, the http://mikeb302000.blogspot.com/2009/06/famous-10.html">Famous 10%. That would give us another 27,000 dangerous people with carry permits.

Needless to say, I disagree strongly with the article's attempt to spin the Michigan situation. But, did we really even have to go through all that. Michigan is the proud home of Detroit. 'Nuff said?

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.