Illinoisians about to get right to carry guns

Steve Chapman writes at TownHall:

“Experience is a dear teacher,” said Benjamin Franklin, “but fools will learn at no other.” Give some credit to fools: At least they eventually learn from experience. What would Franklin say about people who don’t?

I don’t know what Franklin would say about them. But we know what we would say about them: they are liberals. Specifically, they are liberals who are bent out of shape that Illinois may become the 49th state to allow some form of concealed carry. Chapman writes:

What is extremely rare is a homicide committed by a permit holder in a public place in a fit of anger. Reviewing an earlier two-year database compiled by VPC, Kleck found only five cases “where possession of a carry permit may have contributed to the occurrence of the killing.” Such episodes are not quite flying pigs, but almost.

What the gun control groups don’t tabulate is how many homicides have been averted by a licensed, concealed handgun. Kleck, who has done extensive research on the topic, says it is “quite reasonable to expect that thousands of lives are saved by defensive gun use by persons who carried guns in public places.” Even if he’s wrong, it would take only a handful of such incidents to offset the homicides “caused” by concealed-carry laws.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at March 31, 2011 09:06 AM | Send