Simple: a pro-rights weblogger who has only been writing for about a year now wrote up a post documenting the growth of concealed handgun permits and decrease in firearm-related crime, he sent it to a reporter, and she took the ball and ran with it:
Compared to last year, almost 33,000 more people can carry a concealed handgun in North Carolina. During that same time period, the crimes involving handguns has decreased.
Permit holders said it is about prevention.
“The comforting part is knowing that you have the means to protect yourself, your family, your loved ones,” said Phil Stanberry.
Statewide, the number of people who got a concealed carry permit increased by almost 17 percent last year.
Not only are the facts out there, folks, the facts are very plain for just about everyone to see – historically speaking, on average, handgun carry permit holders are generally more law-abiding than their “unpermitted” brethren *. This is not guesswork. This is not propaganda. This is not a baseless assumption. This is verifiable fact.
And the media is starting to catch on to those facts, as well as the notion, if the quotes in that article are any indication, that self-defense is not only a basic human right, it is also a good idea that a whole lot of people from all kinds of backgrounds share and support.
One day, the sight of a couple walking down the street with 1911s openly strapped to their waists will be as common and unremarkable as the sight of a mixed-ethnicity couple holding hands on the other side of the street. We are not there yet. We may not be there in my lifetime. But the facts are on our side, and we are winning.
(* – On the other hand, members of Mayors Against Illegal Guns are 45 times more likely to be convicted of crimes than Florida concealed firearm license holders. Go figure.)
Thanks for the link. I wore my Gunwalker T-Shirt to the Occupy Raleigh protest and saw that reporter there. Sadly North Carolina requires me to choose between First and Second Amendments, so it was talking, not carrying. Had fun talking to people. The reflexive “empower the government” attitude they have just baffles me.
And just think, Japete is Sean’s blog mother… LOL.
@Patrick: I encourage you to tell her that. See if you can get her on camera when you tell her. Double points if you tell her that when she has a mouthful of soda.
33,000 more people can Carry in North Carolina, and from the Info released by CalGuns, there are only 33,000 total carry permits in the entire state of Kalifornistan.
Wow. I hadn’t seen the Cali numbers. According to Wikipedia, the population of Los Angeles County alone is almost half a million more people than the entire state of North Carolina. Los Angeles, metropolitan statistical area is double NC’s population. Cali’s total population is nearly 4 times the entire state of NC, and we ADDED more people to the CHP roles than the entire state of CA has with active permits. With one quarter of the population, we have almost 7 times the number of active permits.
The article and the link to the downloadable pdf with the break down.
http://calgunsfoundation.org/blog/entry/on-the-heels-of-ab-144-cgf-publishes-2011-statewide-carry-license-stats.html
@ Sean D Sorrentino: That particular law in NC has always confused me… but it seems to be a popular one amongst the states… probably had something to do with the original racist roots of gun control and the white ex-slave-owners not wanting the ex-slaves massing together in armed fashions.
And, yeah, Kalifornistan’s situation regarding carry permits is pretty pathetic… If you live in the boonies, getting one is about as easy as any other state, but if you live in any of the big cities or along the coast, you have to demonstrate “acutal need” and jump through all manner of never-ending hoops. When I lived there, San Diego’s permit count was in the three-digits, if that.
@ Patrick: And there is the quote of the day for tomorrow!
@ Duane: Seems there is a fair argument to be made that one can determine the freedom of a state by the number of carry permits in it… ‘Course, that fails on the California-of-the-East
.
[...] site were the reason Sean Sorrentino started weblogging? Patrick did, which allowed him to make this priceless comment regarding how Sean is helping improve the media’s perspective on firearm owners: And just [...]