Gun Control & RKBA
In reply to the discussion: Are Guns Killing Our Freedom Instead of Defending It? [View all]spin
(17,493 posts)If so it would be logical to assume that those gun owners who have concealed carry permits would also wish to do the same. They probably would go looking for trouble so they could enjoy blowing someone away and in fact they would be vigilantes.
Currently there are over 800,000 people in Florida who have valid concealed weapons permits. Florida also has a victim rights law called "Stand Your Ground."
Why then do we not see far more incidents in which a gun owner with a concealed weapons permit provoked an attack from a street thug in hopes of killing him? After the Trayvon Martin shooting the Tampa Bay TImes analyzed all the homicides it could find in Florida since the "Stand Your Ground" law passed seven years ago where this law was used as a defense.
The Tampa Bay Times could only find 200 such cases or an average of 28.6 per year.
In the most comprehensive effort of its kind, the Tampa Bay Times has identified nearly 200 "stand your ground'' cases and their outcomes. The Times identified cases through media reports, court records and dozens of interviews with prosecutors and defense attorneys across the state.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/article1233133.ece
Now surely if your theory that many gun owners are looking for a chance to kill a thug, we would see far more of these cases. If only 25% of those who legally carry a firearm in Florida or 200,000 were hoping to have the chance to use it, surely in seven years we would see at least a thousand if not tens of thousands of incidents in which a legally armed civilian shot an attacker. It's not that hard to be a vigilante and attract the attention of a criminal if you are foolish enough to wish to do so.
My father once told me of a man in Pittsburgh in the 1940s who enjoyed fighting and would walk into a bar or store in the Hill District and flash a large wad of bills. He would then leave and walk down dark streets. He was a very mean character.