Texas Licenses to Carry Concealed Guns

* “Felons Get Concealed Gun Licenses Under Bush’s ‘Tough’ Law” (Oct. 3) misses the point of concealed carry permits. When you shine a spotlight on any group of people, whether they be clergy, policemen or stockbrokers, you are going to find some bad seeds. The important thing to consider is how arrest rates for Texas concealed carry holders compare with arrest rates for the general population.

Concealed carry licensees are actually more law-abiding than the average person. Licensees are 5.7 times less likely to be arrested for violent offenses and 14 times less likely to be arrested for nonviolent offenses than the general public. In fact, the general public is 1.4 times more likely to be arrested for murder than concealed carry licensees.

In light of John Lott’s research, which shows that states that allow their citizens to carry concealed handguns see substantial reductions in serious crime, it is not surprising that serious crime in Texas has fallen 50% faster than for the nation as a whole since the passage of the concealed carry law.

H. STERLING BURNETT

Senior Policy Analyst, National

Center for Policy Analysis, Dallas

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Is Texas so filled with danger that over 200,000 people in the state feel the need to carry concealed weapons? Why do Texans feel it necessary to carry guns in an amusement park or house of worship? What is their crime rate? What’s the big idea of Texas giving concealed weapons permits to the criminal and mentally ill population?

George W. Bush talks of individual accountability or responsibility. I see neither a responsible state government nor an accountable one in Texas. I thank God that I live in California, a state that has sought to enact gun laws because it is the sensible thing to do.

GARY SWEARINGEN

Camarillo

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It does seem, after reading the article, that the laws are tough. That they are circumvented somehow by criminals or felons should not come as a big surprise, however. Here in California driver’s licenses are fraudulently obtained and still the problem persists. Which is the more dangerous proposition?

A felon with a fraudulent license to carry a weapon (which he cannot possibly legally own by law) is likely to carry the weapon anyway. Is there an argument that the laws inhibit felons from carrying or possessing weapons? The possibility that the DMV is allowing rampant identity theft through its lax procedures is easily the more damaging. The Times needs to stay home and take care of business locally before it goes off on agendas of mostly political importance that have no practical benefit to society.

GORDON LANGSTON

Huntington Beach