"FBI justifiable homicide data indicates that police officers may be safer in states where law-abiding citizens are empowered to carry concealed handguns in public. "
Interesting read. It was a link on the NRA'a website. I'll let you draw your own conclusions.
Diplomacy is the Art of Letting Someone Have Your Way
TSRA
Colt Gov't Model .380
IMHO, the answer to the question in the subject line is No.
There is a correlation between the rate of LEO-involved shooting and other violent incidents and the prevelance of non-LEO concealed carry, but there is no cause and effect.
What we see in states that have had high overall crime rates since the mid-20th century or earlier is more restrictive weapons laws, including banning concealed carry (and in most cases any form of practical carry). Those states are more dangerous for police simply because they have higher crime rates, and most of the crime involves drug gangs. If the police go looking for gangsters, the police are going to be targets of violence.
I think what we can draw from this information is the conclusion that non-LEO concealed carry poses no threat to officers.
Concealed carry affects the crime rate only to the extent that an armed and alert citizen can stop crimes in which he or someone around him is the intended victim.
- Jim
Fear, anger, hatred, and greed. The devil's all-you-can-eat buffet.
