I have never owned a handgun and I highly doubt I ever will. Moreover, I definitely do not need to carry a handgun to school for protection. So clearly I am against the repeal of the ban on concealed handguns, right? No.
Most often when I hear someone say they are against handguns, especially concealed handguns, it is because they feel handguns are unnecessary for protection. That is fine. I have come to the same conclusion. However, there are people who believe handguns are necessary for their protection. Why should we deny them the right to carry weapons if they feel it will keep them more safe?
The usual answer involves an appeal to common sense. Guns are dangerous, so we should try to eliminate guns as much as possible. Therefore, gun control, which limits legal access to guns, should make us safer. This argument seems fairly logical. Fortunately, this argument can be tested scientifically.
So, does gun control lead to a safer community? No, or more accurately, there is no significant proof that gun control leads to less crime, violence or suicide. The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, which in the past has been a strong booster of gun bans, has just released a monumental study of gun control laws. The study reviewed over 51 published studies that stretched over a time period of nearly half a century. According to the official report, the study \found insufficient evidence to determine the effectiveness of the firearms laws or combination of laws.""
Again and again the report points out that the only consistent finding is that results have been inconsistent. Sometimes gun control correlates with reduced violence, sometimes it correlates with increased violence.
I am surprised that people expect gun control laws to actually work. These laws only curtail gun use in law-abiding citizens. If someone needs a gun for a crime, he will most certainly find one whether or not there are gun control laws. As the CDC notes concerning background checks, ""denial of an application does not always stop applicants from acquiring firearms through other means."" Americans own around 200 million guns. Each year around 10 million guns are estimated to change hands; less than half of these transactions occur in retail sales.
Unsurprisingly, the report calls for more studies. Measuring social trends is very messy and it is difficult to control variables relating to any given law. The CDC notes that ""insufficient evidence to determine effectiveness should not be interpreted as evidence of ineffectiveness."" This is most certainly true.
However, this indicates that governments have been pushing gun control with no evidence that it will provide any benefit at all. When our government decides to curtail a certain liberty, I expect it to have a good reason. Our current conceal-and-carry ban has only anecdotes and personal emotion to support it. If there is any positive effect from gun control, it must be fairly small to have escaped documentation for the past half century.
Gun control advocates will argue that this study does not prove that guns prevent crime. This is also true. Certain pro-gun groups have attempted to push for liberalization of gun laws by promoting possible crime prevention benefits. The CDC report casts doubt on this claim as well. There is no evidence that allows us to conclude concealed weapons will reduce crime. This leads others to argue that there is no reason to repeal the current ban on concealed handguns because there is no proof it will reduce crime. This argument is misguided.
If the government desires to ban an activity or object, then it has the responsibility to justify the ban. Individuals should not be required to explain why it should not be banned. This is why the authors of the Constitution included the Ninth Amendment, which reads ""the enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.""
The burden of proof is on the government to justify the curtailing of specific liberties. Since the evidence that gun control increases safety is woefully inadequate, our state has yet to prove that the banning of concealed weapons is worth the loss of liberty. Until there is some evidence that gun control laws work, I see no reason why concealed weapons should be banned. Welcome to the polite society.
