On the recordDecember 6, 2017
My friends on the other side of the aisle made a number of arguments about how, if everyone has a concealed weapon, America will be safer. Mr. Speaker, I have two studies here which directly rebut that: A 2017 Stanford University study found that in States that adopted the most permissive concealed carry laws, violent crime is 13 to 15 percent higher than it would have been had the State retained a more restrictive law; A 2017 study by researchers at Boston University found that States with shall-issue laws had a 10.6 percent higher handgun homicide rate, consistent with the results of the Stanford study. Both of those empirical studies disprove the claim that we make America safer if everyone carries a hidden, loaded firearm.
