TexasCHLforum.com

This is why I want my CHL.

Best single piece of writing on defensive firearms I've ever read--and I read a lot.

http://www.americanhandgunner.com/GunCrank2.html

Be prepared to sit down and think about it for a while.

Good article and reminded me of why I've recently decided to legally carry.

My wife was a LEO and spent the bulk of her time dealing with situations AFTER the commission of a crime. Once in a while she would get lucky and catch someone with some serious warrants during a stop, but its extremely rare to have a LEO present DURING a violent crime. In fact, it is pure luck.

There is no-one other than courageous citizens willing to step up and protect themselves, their loved ones, and anyone else requiring assistance in the event of a violent crime against them. Its about having the ability to stop a violent crime before someone is victimized like Lizzy and her mom.

For a sobering report on violent crime in Texas, see this report.
http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/crimerepor ... t05ch2.pdf

Approx 121,000 violent crimes in 2005. Thats 529.7 per 100,000 population.
Of those, 42% were cleared, i.e. the bad guy(s) were caught and prosecuted.

Unfortunately no stats on how many crimes were prevented by citizens.

TS

Those clearance rates do not look very good. Under 18% for all crimes, with property crimes hanging down between 10-15%.

Do we need more LEOs, better training, both or something else?

stroo wrote:Those clearance rates do not look very good. Under 18% for all crimes, with property crimes hanging down between 10-15%.

Do we need more LEOs, better training, both or something else?

That question is way out of my league but there are probably a few elements that are common sense things.

Closure rates on violent crime is probably better due to the number of dedicated resources and urgency commited to follow-though. Not only more resources, but more skilled resources as well.

From a statistical standpoint, the ratio of non-violent to violent crime is about 10:1, so the volume is much greater and resources that could be commited to follow-through are very likely at their limits.

The good news is that overall crime rates in Texas dropped 3.5% between 04 and 05 so you would need to look at the factors that drove that decline. It wasn't more LEO's because that number dropped .5% between 04 and 05.

A few more statistics -

http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/crimerepor ... t05ch3.pdf

cnorman18 wrote:This is why I want my CHL.

Best single piece of writing on defensive firearms I've ever read--and I read a lot.

http://www.americanhandgunner.com/GunCrank2.html

Be prepared to sit down and think about it for a while.

John Conner's is my favorite column in AH and Guns. His column is both informative and entertaining.