If you were to suggest that the majority of academics are vehemently opposed to “letting” Americans exercise their natural, civil and Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms on campus, or anywhere else for that matter, you wouldn’t get much of an argument from me, If you were to link their opposition to a misplaced faith in their own intellectual superiority and their willful unwillingness to consider the facts of the matter, that’s another point against which I would not protest. But if you were to say that all academicians are that stupid, well, here’s evidence to the contrary [via idahostatesman.com] . . .
The wonderful thing about federalism is that each state is effectively a public policy experiment. If an idea works in some states you can see it as evidence that the idea is valid. The results of the experiment are now in; repealing the license requirement does not endanger public safety; quite the opposite.
In Alaska, murder rates for the period 1993 through 2003 (when Alaska had a concealed weapon permit law similar to Idaho) averaged 7.0/100,000 people; after passage of a law similar to HB 89 murder rates for 2004 through 2012 averaged 4.6/100,000.
Similarly, Arizona and Wyoming passed laws similar to HB 89 in 2010 and 2011 respectively. Wyoming’s murder rate fell from 2.6/100,000 (for 2002-2011), to 2.4/100,000 (for 2012). Arizona’s murder rate fell from 7.4/100,000 (for 2001-2010 ) to 5.8/100,000 (for 2011-2012). In the case of Alaska and Wyoming, murder rates fell faster than the national murder rate.
How could repealing a gun control law reduce murder rates? Because gun control laws are primarily passed to create the illusion of safety; for example; states that have adopted mandatory background checks on firearms transfers since 1960 are more likely to have murder rates rise than fall. Of course, I am assuming concealed weapon licensing is about reducing murder and non-negligent manslaughter, and not just making people feel safe. American history suggests otherwise.
Clayton E. Cramer knows of what he speaks. Here’s his bio via wikipedia.org:
Clayton E. Cramer is an American historian, author, and software engineer. He played an important early role in documenting errors in the book Arming America by Michael A. Bellesiles, a book that was later proven to be based on fraudulent research. His work was cited by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas in United States v. Emerson, 46 F.Supp.2d 598 (N.D.Tex. 1999). His research also informed the Supreme Court decision in the seminal Second Amendment cases District of Columbia v. Heller and McDonald v. Chicago. He holds an MA in history from Sonoma State University. He currently resides in Horseshoe Bend, Idaho, near Boise.
As you can see, Mr. Cramer is one of those rare educators who supports gun rights. His students are lucky to have him, as are the rest of The People of the Gun. Especially when he writes stuff like this:
The concealed weapon laws of the U.S. have a fascinating history of illusion. California’s current concealed weapon permit law (under which licenses are generally granted to people with political influence or big campaign contributors to the sheriff’s election campaign), was originally passed in 1923 as part of a bill that supporters forthrightly admitted was passed to disarm Chinese and Hispanics.
Florida’s law regulating the carrying of guns passed in the 1890s, according the Florida Supreme Court decision Watson v. Stone (1941), was passed to disarm blacks and give whites a better feeling of security. The statute was never intended to be applied to the white population. As the Enlightenment criminologist Cesare Beccarin observed in “On Crimes and Punishments” (1764), laws forbidding the carrying of arms primarily disarm victims and have little impact on people who intend to commit some of the worst crimes such as murder and rape.
Historically accurate common sense gun rights analysis from TTAG’s Gun Hero of the Day. Kudos to you sir, and both the College of Western Idaho and the Statesman for giving you a platform for your views. You can buy his book Concealed Weapon Laws of The Early Republic: Dueling, Southern Violence, and Moral Reform at amazon.com. Free shipping for college students!