Does concealed carry prevent crime?

77zach said:

I figure I'll keep the Fl page going while trying not to rehash the exact same stuff. Then we can all commiserate about Fl's OC situation. A few more years from now, hopefully I'll be at a place in my life where I have the time/funds to actually try and do something about it (if we're still in the same situation) instead of writing on OCDO.


I don't believe John Lott that concealed carry reduces crime. I'll admit that his book sort of drowned me in statistics. My argument is a very small % of people have carry permits. A small fraction of those people who have the permit ever carry a concealed firearm on their person. Almost all people you see out in public are unarmed. Many people in Fl do have firearms in their vehicles, but not afoot.

Criminals don't break into people's houses when they know someone is home. If you break into someones house at night in Fl, you die. Period. Is the rate low because they don't know who is armed and who is not? Well, yes. But they know their chance of survival is not good. They assume you are armed.

Something like this can never happen in the state of Florida:http://forum.pafoa.org/open-carry-144/147404-oc-may-have-prevented-crime-leo-encounter.html

According to the florida retail federation, it would have been better if this store owner were robbed or dead. If the OP was CC, this incident may have ended up with bullets flying. Is that the outcome they would prefer?

Tying this incident into the above paragraph, I wonder if these would be perps will be deterred in the future. They may not have to see an openly carried gun. They may now be more conscious of the fact that people in public carry weapons that they can't see.

Who can doubt that open carry has prevented many crimes in other states in incidents that no one knows about-where only the would be perp knows?

I think concealed carry is better than nothing but that's not saying much. I think there are specific circumstances where it would be preferable, tactically speaking. For example, I see the sense in Air Marshalls carrying concealed. The threat you are arming against is focused, committed, and highly motivated. I think for you and me, OC is superior because it will deter almost all common criminals who see it. If they don't see it, you're on them instantly. And OC is also the most effective political statement you can make without saying a word.

Oh well.

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hammer6 said:

and i made the comment- "that guy is so scrawny, why would i be intimidated by him?"

and she said, "why would you be intimidated by a fat out of shape guy?"

and the OBVIOUS only reason was this: THE GUN ON HIS HIP THAT I CAN CLEARLY SEE WITH MY EYES!!!


had a situation last year where i was pulling out from a business across a divided road- and i was getting into the middle lane in order to turn left. well, as i pulled out, i got cut off, and had to maneuver in such a way where the back end of my Nissan Titan was out in on coming traffic. had my windows down, and the car to my left coming at me yells out "yeah, well don't worry about us buddy!" and i instantly yell back "i can't help it- i didn't do it on purpose so shut up!" and as i turn to look at him, sure enough it's FHP. and he says, "oh yeah? well pull over!". he was talking on his cellphone, and told the person on the other line, "i'll call ou back i gotta go", and proceeded to pull me over for no reason.

but the point is- my demeanor and attitude INSTANTLY changed when i saw the black and tan with the lights on top. the same thing happens when you see a gun on the hip. they can be all big and bad, but when they see that gun, their tail goes between their legs....

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hammer6 said:

I thought of a hypothetical situation last night as i was fading in and out of sleep:

if a BG came up to me with a gun as i was getting in my car(unable to see my strongside), here are 2 scenarios:
1. if i was carrying concealed, would i have enough time or be able to unconceal my gun, draw, and kill the BG?
2. if i was carrying openly, would i have enough time to be able to draw and kill the BG?

the only one i can answer yes on is scenario #2.

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77zach said:

One thing that I find interesting is that in instructional self defense videos, the expert is always OCing. This is interesting, since it is always assumed you'll be CCing. Never mind that CC invalidates a great deal of said instruction. "Excuse me bad man, could you wait a few more seconds while get this pistol out of concealment or into a position that I trained in and have muscle memory for?"

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