Weekly Spotlight 1/12/24 – 1/18/24
Ohio brings receipts on the effectiveness of constitutional carry
Last year, the United States became a majority-constitutional carry nation. That means that a majority of states – 27 to be exact – have implemented legislation to remove the permitting burden for law-abiding gun owners who want to carry their firearms in public for self-protection. Some states have had constitutional carry in effect for years, while others came to the trend later – Nebraska and Florida were the most recent to implement it last year.
In most states that have enacted constitutional carry, there was a substantial outcry from the pro-gun control wing while the legislation was being deliberated. They claimed it would turn their state into the “Wild West,” where anybody and everybody has a gun, criminals with firearms run rampant, and nobody is safe. Their claims were never grounded in data. In no state did a constitutional carry law remove the background check requirement for firearms purchases from federally licensed dealers. Any criminal or felon already prohibited under the law from owning or possessing a firearm would still be prohibited.
And now, we have concrete evidence that constitutional carry actually makes communities safer. It did not come as a surprise to us. Still, it likely ruffled some feathers among the anti-gun crowds when Ohio released a study demonstrating that gun crime has decreased overall across the state’s eight biggest cities since their constitutional carry law took effect. The data, “spanning from June 2021 to June 2023 – a year before and a year after the law took effect – focus[ed] on crimes involving firearms, verified gunshot-detection alerts and the number of officers struck by gunfire.” The cities of Columbus, Cleveland, Toledo, Akron, Parma, and Canton all saw significant decreases in crimes committed with firearms, while Cincinnati and Dayton saw only slight increases.
While this only provides a glimpse into one out of 27 states implementing constitutional carry, we expect similar results from other states prioritizing their citizens’ right to carry firearms for self-defense. Constitutional carry does not empower criminals – it does the opposite. It’s possible that would-be criminals are less prone to taking risks, knowing the chances are higher that their victim will be armed.
The USCCA-FSL Action Fund proudly supports constitutional carry at the state level while also encouraging every law-abiding gun owner to pursue ongoing training and education. While we recognize that not all 50 states will implement it, it’s clear that the states that have are headed in the right direction regarding reducing violent crime. That’s why we need more states to step up and for Congress to finally pass national concealed carry reciprocity. Promoting a positive culture of self-defense and gun ownership could substantially impact making communities across the nation safer.
Learn more about concealed carry rights and national reciprocity!
OTHER NEWS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED
- Maine Wire: Gun Control Advocates Flock To Maine State House As Legislature Kicks Off Second Session
Andee Reardon, a U.S. Concealed Carry Association (USCCA) and National Rifle Association (NRA) certified firearms instructor and owner of the East Coast School of Safety, was at Wednesday’s protest representing Maine’s chapter of Women for Gun Rights. “I really want to bring mental health to the forefront of this discussion,” Reardon told the Maine Wire. “I think more gun laws on the books are not going to do anything — we already have thousands of gun laws on the books, they’re not being enforced.”
Many California firearms instructors who teach a class required to get a state concealed weapons permit are no longer certified, at least for now, under new state Department of Justice regulations. The rules were issued as part of the DOJ’s implementation of Senate Bill 2, a controversial new state law that went into effect on Jan. 1 and that widely limits where concealed weapons can be legally carried and by whom. The law has been the subject of several recent and dueling judicial rulings. The latest ruling, from an appeals court, cleared the way for the state law to move forward and be implemented.
- The Reload: Gun Carry Lawful Again In California As Ruling Against ‘Unconstitutional’ Restrictions Put Back Into Effect
Californians with a gun-carry permit can lawfully carry a gun in most areas of the state once again. A three-judge panel on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals removed a stay applied to a lower court ruling against California’s SB2, which created a near-total ban on gun carry in the state. The action reinstates the lower court ruling that found the law violated the Second Amendment rights of those with gun-carry permits.
On Monday, the New Mexico Supreme Court is gearing up to hear a case that challenges Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s public health order, specifically the gun control measures within it. A diverse group of individuals, including Republican legislators, the National Rifle Association, and residents from the Albuquerque area, have brought this case forward. They contend that the prohibition of firearms in public parks and playgrounds in Bernalillo County is an infringement on the Second Amendment and the state constitution.