Concealed Handgun Permit Holders Have Killed 139 Since May 2007, Including 9 Law Enforcement Officers—“Concealed Carry Killers” Web Site February Update

Washington, DC--Concealed handgun permit holders have killed at least nine law enforcement officers in addition to 130 private citizens (including 14 shooters who killed themselves after an attack) since May 2007 according to the latest update of Concealed Carry Killers, a Violence Policy Center (VPC) on-line resource that tallies news reports of such killings. The web site, located at http://www.vpc.org/ccwkillers.htm, is updated monthly to include new fatal shootings since May 2007 by concealed handgun permit holders and any changes in the legal status of permit holders facing criminal charges. (Any concealed handgun permit holders who are eventually acquitted of their alleged crimes are not included in the tallies maintained on the site although the facts surrounding the shooting are detailed.)

The VPC web site categorizes the 78 incidents, which occurred in 22 states, and offers detailed descriptions of each incident (some incidents may fit into multiple categories). Of these incidents, 14 were murder-suicides involving firearms and 13 were mass shootings (three or more victims) that claimed as many as 11 lives at a time. Law enforcement officers were killed in Alabama, Florida (two incidents), Idaho, Ohio, and Pennsylvania (two incidents). All of the law enforcement killings were committed with guns.

Private citizens were killed in Alabama, California (two incidents), Colorado, Florida (13 incidents), Idaho (two incidents), Kentucky, Massachusetts (two incidents), Michigan (six incidents), Minnesota, New York, North Carolina (five incidents), Ohio (six incidents), Oklahoma (two incidents), Oregon, Pennsylvania (six incidents), Rhode Island, South Carolina (two incidents), Tennessee (six incidents), Texas (two incidents), Utah (five incidents), Virginia (five incidents), and Washington. All but one of the killings were committed with guns.

Violence Policy Center Legislative Director Kristen Rand states, “When the National Rifle Association launched its state-by-state campaign for lax concealed handgun laws, it made this promise: ‘People who get permits in states which have fair right-to-carry laws are law-abiding, upstanding community leaders who merely seek to exercise their right to self-defense.’ To the contrary, concealed handgun permit holders are killing people over parking spaces, football games, and family arguments.”

Because most state systems that allow the carrying of concealed handguns in public by private citizens release little data about crimes committed by permit holders, the VPC reviews and tallies concealed handgun permit holder killings primarily as reported by news outlets. It is likely that the actual number of fatal incidents involving concealed handgun permit holders is far higher.

The Violence Policy Center is a national non-profit educational foundation that conducts research on violence in America and works to develop violence-reduction policies and proposals. The Center examines the role of firearms in America, conducts research on firearms violence, and explores new ways to decrease firearm-related death and injury.