If law-abiding citizens are allowed to carry concealed handguns, people
will end up shooting each other after traffic accidents as well as
accidentally shooting police officers.
Millions of people currently hold concealed handgun permits, and some
states have issued them for as long as 60 years. Yet, only one permit
holder has ever been arrested for using a concealed handgun after a
traffic accident and that case was ruled as self-defense. The type of
person willing to go through the permitting process is extremely
law-abiding. In Florida, almost 444,000 licenses were granted from 1987
to 1997, but only 84 people have lost their licenses for felonies
involving firearms. Most violations that lead to permits being revoked
involve accidentally carrying a gun into restricted areas, like airports
or schools. In Virginia, not a single permit holder has committed a
violent crime. Similarly encouraging results have been reported for
Kentucky, Nevada, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and Tennessee
(the only other states where information is available).
