The Violence Policy Center sounds like someplace that focuses on, well, violence. That's not quite true. See, they don't care if your grandmother was stabbed to death or if your brother was killed by a guy with a hammer. If either were shot, they would, but not so much on any other act of violence.
In other words, it's a semi-innocuous name for a group trying to push gun control, and they have a history of trying to misrepresent data to create political change. This time, they're pretending licensed concealed carriers are a threat to public safety.
This was uncovered by my friend John Petrolino over at our sister site, Bearing Arms.
See, the VPC is trying to claim that since 2007, there have been 2,500 "non-self-defense deaths" carried out by those with concealed carry permits. Yet, as John notes, there are some problems with this claim.
As we dive into VPC’s data, keep in mind that near seven-year period indicating almost 7,000 arrests of police officers. VPC’s data set examines alleged “non-self defense deaths” from 2007 to present – an 18-year period.
“Concealed handgun permit holders are responsible for at least 2,541 deaths not involving self-defense since 2007, according to the Violence Policy Center’s (VPC) ongoing Concealed Carry Killers (concealedcarrykillers.org) project, an online resource that provides examples of non-self defense killings involving private citizens with permits to carry concealed handguns in public,” states VPC’s release.
The true motives of this sudden Chicken Little publicity stunt are reflected by the following statement by VPC:
This latest update comes as legislation endorsed by the gun lobby and firearms industry has been introduced in the U.S. House (H.R. 38) and Senate (S. 65) to allow individuals with state-issued concealed firearm permits to carry their weapons in any state that issues carry permits or does not prohibit the carrying of concealed firearms.
The group seems to be petrified by the notion of national reciprocity.
Sticking with the tradition of being less than above the fold, VPC stated that “Thirty-eight of the incidents were fatal mass shootings as defined by federal law.” The fact that there’s no “federal law” defining “mass shooting” does not stop VPC from making the inaccurate statement. “The U.S. government has never defined mass shooting, and there is no single universally accepted definition of the term,” a Rand report states.
Sugarmann’s group highlighted their methods on data collection:
Because there is no comprehensive recordkeeping of deaths involving concealed handgun permit holders and many states in fact bar the release of such information, the examples in Concealed Carry Killers are taken primarily from news reports along with the limited information collected by a few states.
There’s nothing there. The “data” is mostly from news reports. That’s no way to make statements of fact. In reality, they have no statistics. Just allegations.
Go and read the whole thing because there's a whole lot more there, including VPC's long history of misrepresenting facts to achieve anti-gun goals.
However, for the sake of argument, let's say the VPC is right. Let's say that since 2007, concealed carry permit holders have killed 2,500 or so people in shootings that weren't self-defense.
Now, that's a scary number, but if we assume this cuts off at the end of 2024, then we're looking at fewer than 150 instances per year. As of 2023, there were 21.8 million valid concealed carry permits in the United States. That doesn't count the people who lawfully carry in constitutional carry states, either.
Over the span of a single year, you're looking at what can only be honestly described as a statistically insignificant portion of licensed concealed carriers somehow taking a human life in a situation that isn't a matter of self-defense. As John notes in his piece, nearly three times as many law enforcement officers were arrested in half the period for various allegations. Police officers also account for far fewer people, with around 800,000 sworn law enforcement officers in the United States according to the Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.
It doesn't take much to see the profound difference in instances, yet no one would seriously consider disarming police officers, now would we?
Granted, there is a slight difference as those law enforcement arrests include all sorts of other things, but the point remains. There is no evidence to suggest that people who are lawfully carrying a firearm represent a threat to anyone other than a criminal.
But the truth of the matter is that there will always be the anti-gun jihadists who will use statistics to lie in whatever way they can, much like I highlighted earlier this week.
What bothers the leftists like those who run the VPC is that people who are armed aren't afraid. They need fear to justify nearly everything they do, and if we're unafraid, we won't be so easily manipulated.
We can see through the smoke and the lies and call them on what they're doing. Carry your guns and be prepared to defend your right to do so.