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http://www.katv.com/news/stories/1206/383732.html

More Arkansans are Getting Gun License Due to Rising Crime
Thursday December 28, 2006 8:00pm Reporter: Anne Pressly

More Arkansans are getting a license to carry a gun that's according to local shooting instructors. They say a rising crime rate is the reason why.

According to state police about 6-thousand people have obtained a new concealed carry permit so far this year. At Shooter's Gallery twice as many people signed-up for concealed carry classes in 2006 than in 2005.

You may not expect to find a woman staring down the barrel of 9-millimeter. But Yu Jones decided to bite the bullet and get her concealed carry permit a few years back. Now it's time to renew her license.

(Yu Jones, Renewing permit)"Know how to use your gun for your safety if you have to…Have a license and know how to shoot if you have to."

She's not alone according to Range Master Terry Skinner. Skinner taught twice as many concealed carry classes this year compared to last. Many of students are women just like Yu Jones.

(Terry Skinner, Shooter’s Galley, INC.)"They're afraid of being carjacked, afraid of being abducted...being broke into their houses, cars, whatever...the single female is an easy target."

This is why more women go to target practice.

(Skinner)"With the crime rate increasing the way it has, the police are secondary, they're coming after the fact. People are looking at defending themselves."

About 50-thousand Arkansans have permits according to state police.

KBCraig wrote: About 50-thousand Arkansans have permits according to state police.

[Sarcasm] More than Texas I see [/Sarcasm]

Way to go
Does anyone know why the crime rate is going up everywhere it seems that the criminals have no regards to human life anymore.

Shu wrote:Way to go
Does anyone know why the crime rate is going up everywhere it seems that the criminals have no regards to human life anymore.

That is right Shu. That is the reason it is going up.

Liberty wrote:

KBCraig wrote: About 50-thousand Arkansans have permits according to state police.

[Sarcasm] More than Texas I see [/Sarcasm]

Huh?

As of last year, TXDPS was showing 247,345 active CHLs.

Harris county alone has overr half as many as the entire state of Arkansas.

KD5NRH wrote:Harris county alone has overr half as many as the entire state of Arkansas.

Then per capita, Arkansas is way ahead, because there are a million more people in Harris County (3.7 million) than in the whole state of Arkansas (2.7 million).

Kevin

KD5NRH wrote:

Liberty wrote:

KBCraig wrote: About 50-thousand Arkansans have permits according to state police.

[Sarcasm] More than Texas I see [/Sarcasm]

Huh?

As of last year, TXDPS was showing 247,345 active CHLs.

Harris county alone has over half as many as the entire state of Arkansas.

I was being sarcastic, reffering to the AP quote in another thread. Reality is that they credited Texas with 72,235 which is still more than Arkansas.

I think the shooting requirement is MUCH more lax, even easier than in TX. An old friend relayed a very eye opening experience at his CHL class. It seems approximately 2/3 of the class could barely hit the ground in front of them with a Ruger 22. I think another factor is that the state is mostly rural but almost everyone goes to Little Rock on a periodic basis. I haven't checked lately but Little Rock has historically been in the top cities for per capita murder rate. So you have lots of country folk going to the city and wanting a little comfort:)

AR Traveler wrote:I haven't checked lately but Little Rock has historically been in the top cities for per capita murder rate.

Assuming they don't add to the tally before midnight, Little Rock will close the year with 57 murders. In a city of 180,000, that's a rate of 31 murders per 100,000 population.

http://www.katv.com/news/stories/1206/384042.html

Kevin

KBCraig wrote:Assuming they don't add to the tally before midnight, Little Rock will close the year with 57 murders.

I spoke too soon. The 58th murder victim of 2006 was a two year old boy stabbed to death by his father.

http://www.katv.com/news/stories/1206/384411.html

Meanwhile, much smaller North Little Rock had their 13th murder on Sunday, giving them a rate of 22/100k for 2006, compared to Little Rock's 32/100k.

I lost track of Pine Bluff; last I'd heard, they had 16 or 17 murders this year, in a town of 22,000 (a rate of 77/100k).

Every year that goes by makes me less sad about giving up my plan to retire in Arkansas. New Hampshire gets upset about the "crime wave" when there are five murders a year in the whole state.

Kevin

KBCraig wrote:The 58th murder victim of 2006 was a two year old boy stabbed to death by his father.

What a shame.

This illustrates something about raw crime figures that I am kind of a bore about: Most violent crimes involve people who know one another. Random stranger-on-stranger attacks are less common that we might think.

Certainly they occur, and we should be prepared; but we don't have to be unnecessarily alarmed.

- Jim