Assume for now that their numbers are legitimate. For my state, WA, they report 17 murders by CPL holders (after subtracting suicides) for their 6-year reporting period. The murder rate in WA is 3.0/100,000. With a population of 3,600,000, that's about 204 murders/year.
Per VPC's numbers, they claim 2.8 murders/year by CPL holders, which, given 360,000 CPL holders, amounts to an annualized rate of 0.8/100,000 ? 27% of the rate for the state overall.
Because the overall murder rate for the state includes all residents of all ages, whereas the CPL-holder murder rate includes a portion of the population that is 21 and older, a fair comparison of rates would show CPL holders to be even less dangerous in comparison.
For example, let's assume 80% of the state's population is 21 or older ? 2,900,000 such folks. Of these, 360,000 are CPL holders and 2,500,000 are not. The CPL holders murders about 3 people per year, while the remainder of the population murders about 201 people per year. Some of these 201 murders are committed by those under 21, I'm going to credit them with 51, under the assumption that nearly half of all murders are committed by those between 18 and 25. That leaves 150 murders for the 2,500,000 without CPLs. The resulting murder rates:
- CPL holders ? 0.8/100,000/yr
- non-CPL holders ? 6.0/100,000/yr, or 7? that of CPL holders.
Every study I'm aware of shows those that carry concealed are 5-to-10 times less likely to commit murder than their counterparts without CPLs. The VPC is just taking statistics and reporting them outside of a meaningful context ? a classic modern liberal-progressive ploy.
