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Gun Safety: Violent Crime Drops as More Americans Pack Heat
RealClearInvestigations ^ | 4 Jun, 2026 | John R. Lott Jr.

Posted on 06/04/2026 7:58:46 AM PDT by MtnClimber

Alessandra Coote was walking on a trail with her 2-year-old daughter and dog two-and-a-half years ago when a man began yelling at her and threatened to kill her dog. When the petite single mom made it back to her Utah home, she decided she needed a firearm for protection.

A few months later, while living in what she described as a “shady part of town,” a homeless man threatened her. After that encounter, she began regularly carrying a firearm under Utah’s Constitutional Carry law.

Coote, who just graduated this spring from the University of Utah, says carrying the gun has given her the confidence to feel safe in public. “It’s been life-changing,” she told RealClearInvestigations. Although she has never had to draw or fire the weapon, she has faced a threatening individual when she was armed, but stopped the attack by merely letting the man know she was carrying.

Alessandra Coote says carrying the gun has given her the confidence to feel safe in public. RCI

Coote is part of a growing trend of strapped Americans. A new survey of 1,000 general election voters conducted last month by McLaughlin & Associates found that almost 30% of respondents said they carry a firearm. More specifically, the survey found that 13.2% respondents said they carry a firearm all or most of the time, while an additional 16.6% said they carry one sometimes or rarely. These results show a 5.5% increase in the number of respondents who said they carry firearms since a similar poll was conducted in December 2024.

Both polls were commissioned by the group I lead, the Crime Prevention Research Center, and have a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percent.

Since 2021, 13 states, covering 34% of the U.S. population, have adopted constitutional carry laws.

(Excerpt) Read more at realclearinvestigations.com ...


TOPICS: Society
KEYWORDS: banglist; cprc; crime; johnlott; lott

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1 posted on 06/04/2026 7:58:46 AM PDT by MtnClimber
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To: MtnClimber
Bradford County, FL, Sheriff Gordon Smith said lowering crime rates “isn’t rocket science.” He told RCI, “You reduce crime by putting more cops on the street, increasing arrest and conviction rates, and imposing meaningful prison sentences. But you also cut crime by empowering law-abiding citizens to defend themselves and their families through constitutional carry.”
2 posted on 06/04/2026 7:59:02 AM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

The wonderful thing about a nice pistol is that there are so many makes and models from which to choose. She can always regard them as part of a decent wardrobe.


3 posted on 06/04/2026 8:19:08 AM PDT by GingisK
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To: MtnClimber

“An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, Beyond This Horizon


4 posted on 06/04/2026 8:19:18 AM PDT by kawhill (Dywedwch Wrthbym because + Add translation Welsh-English dictionary 'Tell Us')
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To: MtnClimber

Everyone should carry. Especially petite and elderly women. I try to get my mom to carry but she refuses. She is a devotee of “The View” after all. But my sister does after I got her a pistol years ago.


5 posted on 06/04/2026 8:20:46 AM PDT by Organic Panic
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To: MtnClimber

XLNT job by John Lott.
.
“Constitutional Carry” is good
But not a “Be all End All” in the Real World meaning Know your State and Local Laws.


6 posted on 06/04/2026 8:21:56 AM PDT by Big Red Badger (Good SCIENCE is Not Faith BUT Curiosity. )
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To: MtnClimber

“An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.” - Robert Heinlein


7 posted on 06/04/2026 8:23:27 AM PDT by Red Badger (Iryna Zarutska, May 22, 2002 Kyiv, Ukraine – August 22, 2025 Charlotte, North Carolina Say her name)
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To: MtnClimber

People should not be allowed aboard public transportation if they are not well armed. As long as the homeless drug addicts and retarded are allowed to ride and commit murder for free on “public transportation” provided by the county coroners.


8 posted on 06/04/2026 8:29:05 AM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (Illegal Alien Border Invaders are the broken windows of America. Influencers of violence and crime.)
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To: MtnClimber
“...you also cut crime by empowering law-abiding citizens to defend themselves
and their families through constitutional carry.”


Know your states “deadly physical force” laws.

Get to the shooting range. Practice.

9 posted on 06/04/2026 8:45:57 AM PDT by Tommy Revolts
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To: Red Badger

Refuse to be a victim.
Be calm and carry always.


10 posted on 06/04/2026 8:46:56 AM PDT by paulcissa (The left hates you and wants you dead.)
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To: kawhill

Beat me too it. Cheers


11 posted on 06/04/2026 8:50:24 AM PDT by Vaquero (Don't pick a fight with an old guy. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you. )
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To: MtnClimber

Among its many other detriments, hoplophobia is anti-feminist.

This fact becomes more and more apparent to women as they see here and elsewhere how invaders get away with rape and murder of women who are rendered defenseless.

Combined with the displacement of women in women’s sports (and bathrooms, and locker rooms, and...) by the left’s tranny mania, this awareness (not the crimes!) is good for our side.

There’s an old phrase, “A conservative is a liberal who’s been mugged.” Modern women become AWFLs because they’ve been taught they’re better, smarter, more educated, more sensible, and so us regular people with our experience and real examples are easily dismissed as unlearned and misinformed. (today’s example says literally that: https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2026/06/03/democrat-sen-chris-murphy-suggests-trump-voters-are-ignorant-and-ill-informed/)

When real life happens to them or to friends that are numerous enough or close enough they can’t dismiss it.


12 posted on 06/04/2026 9:52:42 AM PDT by No.6
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To: GingisK
there are so many makes and models from which to choose


13 posted on 06/04/2026 9:54:29 AM PDT by NorthMountain (... the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed)
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To: NorthMountain
;-D

It makes us feel good about ourselves.

14 posted on 06/04/2026 10:05:11 AM PDT by GingisK
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To: GingisK

15 posted on 06/04/2026 10:06:45 AM PDT by NorthMountain (... the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed)
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To: MtnClimber

Good on her. She saw the threats and has taken responsibility for her and her family’s safety.

You have to stop, think and plan, you have to realize the truth. There is a reason most if not all police departments have removed the ‘protect and serve’ motto’s from their vehicles, web sites. You MUST take you and your families protection in to your own hands.

Arm your selves my friends, get a CCW, get pepper ball gun, pepper spray, bear spray, carry a pocket knife, a belt knife, be ready and when one of these barely human monsters try to attack you or your family or friends; let them be met by determination, steel or a hail of bullets fired in self defense.

We are a hands breath away from riot and destruction. The left has turned courts in to revolving doors, the woke are trying to de-fund the police and many department budgets have been reduced, fire safety has been left to rot and ruin slashed to the bone. You must be hyperventilate in the protection of your self and your family.

The lame stream media ignores it and they memory holed it but we must remember, we must band together for our own protection and stand against the bought and paid for tyranny of the the vicious left.


16 posted on 06/04/2026 10:55:58 AM PDT by BFW
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To: MtnClimber

“Snubbies” still have a place.
As do semi pistols. ‘Freedom of choice’!
Don’t forget, besides your chosen carry piece,there is your BBQ piece!

All genuflect at the mention of one of the Gods of Sci-Fi, ,Robert A Heinlein!!

(picture of his book, “The Moon is A Harsh Goddess” accompanied by a snubnose revolver, and a British dagger./


17 posted on 06/04/2026 11:01:18 AM PDT by Terry L Smith
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To: Terry L Smith; BFW

BBQ Piece...
If in Cammo definitely my MilSpec 1911.
If it’s casual Ruger Match Champion .357 !
.
Dress For the Occasion Amigos!


18 posted on 06/04/2026 11:30:55 AM PDT by Big Red Badger (Good SCIENCE is Not Faith BUT Curiosity. )
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To: MtnClimber

This is not rocket science.


19 posted on 06/04/2026 11:59:22 AM PDT by Midwesterner53
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To: Organic Panic
I try to get my mom to carry but she refuses.

I've told people who refuse to carry to get a black rubber gun or a broken one since many lives are saved by just presenting a gun.
Then they don't have to worry about shooting someone or if it is taken from them the bad guy gets a gun he can't use.
Still, some are too far gone to even do that.
Good luck with your mom.

20 posted on 06/04/2026 12:03:35 PM PDT by TangoLimaSierra (⭐⭐To the Left, the Truth is Right Wing Violence⭐⭐)
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