Straight Shooter on Concealed Weapons

In the article last Sunday dealing with the recent string of slayings in our safe communities, I find it interesting that Ventura County Sheriff Capt. Larry Robertson would suggest arming yourself as a way to protect against random acts of violence.

In an article titled “Crime Deterrence and Right to Carry Concealed Handguns” in the January issue of The Journal of Legal Studies, John Lott Jr. of the University of Chicago Law School reports that when state right-to-carry (concealed weapons) laws went into effect in a county, murders fell by 8.5%, rapes fell by 5% and aggravated assaults fell by 7%.

Professor Gary Kleck and Marc Gertz of Florida State University wrote in the January 1996 issue of Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology that Americans use guns approximately 2.5 million times a year in self-defense, and in 76% of these defensive uses, the firearm was never discharged.

Obviously, Robertson is on the right track. Now it’s time for our legislators in Sacramento, our sheriff and police chief organizations and the media to get on board, as 32 other states have, and reform our concealed weapon permit issuance laws.

Society is safer when criminals don’t know who is armed.

TODD J. SANDS

Camarillo