States that weaken covert-carrying laws see spikes in violent crime: study

States that have weakened concealed carry laws have seen increases in violent crime, according to recent studies.

Concealed carry laws, which require people who want to carry and conceal a handgun outside their home, have long been a target of gun rights advocates who argue that the laws hinder Second Amendment rights. They won in June from the US Supreme Court, which overturned a New York state law that requires people seeking concealment carry permits to show they have to defend themselves.

The ruling will have far-reaching implications across the United States and will limit the ability of government agencies to deny applicants a concealed permit. Several recent studies have found that several states experienced increases in violent crime after passing laws allowing anyone to carry and conceal a handgun in public.

A study released Sept. 20, conducted by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, found that “right-to-carry” laws in 34 states were associated with a 24 percent increase in firearm assault rates. This increase was moderated in states with edged weapons safety training requirements.

Daniel Webster, co-director of the Center for Gun Violence Solutions at the Bloomberg School, said of the findings in a press release: “Our findings suggest that the more objective you can be about states that issue concealed carry licenses, the better off.” the results in terms of screening out potentially dangerous individuals.”

The study is consistent with other recent research on concealed carry.

For example, a 2022 study by the National Bureau of Economic Research examined the impact of right-to-carry laws in 47 cities across the United States. It turned out that these laws led to a 29 percent increase in violent crime involving firearms — along with a 32 percent increase in gun robberies.

The study’s authors also warned that scrapping concealed carry laws could hurt law enforcement officers’ ability to fight crime.

“The end of the federal ban on assault weapons and the associated federal ban on high-capacity magazines or the elimination of gun-free zones may well be associated with a decline in police effectiveness,” the study said.

The study continues, “Certainly, the experiences of the 2018 Parkland High School mass shooting and the 2022 Uvalde mass shooting were examples of police reluctance to confront a teenage killer armed with an AR-15.”

Ahead of November’s midterm elections, millions of Americans will ponder gun laws — particularly after the shooting at Uvalde’s Robb Elementary School in May that killed 22 people — calls for new gun safety laws have continued.

Although inflation remains the top issue for most Americans, more than 50 percent of Americans consider gun control an “extremely or very important” issue for them, according to a Monmouth University poll conducted Sept. 21-25 was carried out. The survey surveyed 806 adults and has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.

news week has approached the National Rifle Association and Everytown.