THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 2, 1996 TAG: 9603020011
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 36 lines
Richard Parise (letter, Feb. 23) provides the best possible argument against his own point of view. He speaks of the average person not having a platoon of policemen to guard him from ``lunatics carrying guns under the governor's concealed-weapon law.'' The inadequacy of police protection for the individual is the greatest argument in favor of legal concealed carry. The police have no obligation to protect you; it isn't their job.
Mr. Parise assumes that the gunman at the Governor's Mansion had aquired his weapon legally - perhaps a flawed assumption but really immaterial, as the ease of acquiring an illegal weapon is so well-documented. Finally, he tries to tie the actions of one crazed person to the behavior of thousands of law-abiding, legally armed civilians.
While it may be too early to tell what the results of Virginia's new right-to-carry law will be, year-end data from the FBI and Florida's Department of State provide clear proof of the success of that state's right-to-carry law.
Since 1987, when the law was enacted, the homicide rate has dropped 27 percent, the firearm-linked homicide rate is down 34 percent and the handgun-linked homicide rate is down 38 percent. In the interim, nationally, rates have increased 8 percent, 28 percent and 43 percent, respectively. Overall, violent crime is 21 percent lower in states with liberal carry laws.
RICHARD POPKIN
Norfolk, Feb. 24, 1996 by CNB