States which passed concealed carry laws reduced their murder rate by 8.5%, rapes by 5%, aggravated assaults by 7% and robbery by 3%.
John R. Lott, Jr., 'More Guns, Less Violent Crime
Every year, as many as one-half million citizens defend themselves with a firearm while away from the home.
The Orange County Register, 19 September 1993
In the ten years following the passage of Florida's concealed carry law in 1987, there were 478,248 people who received permits to carry firearms. FBI reports show that the homicide rate in Florida, which in 1987 was much higher than the national average, fell 39% during that 10-year period. The Florida rate is now far below the national average.
Florida Department of State, Concealed Weapons/Firearms License Statistical Report (10/1/87-12/31/97) and 'Crime in the United States,' Uniform Crime Reports, (1988): 7, 53; and FBI, (1998):15, 77.
During the first ten years that the Florida law was in effect, alligator attacks outpaced the number of crimes committed by conceal carry holders by a 146 to 88 margin.
Memo by Sandra B. Mortham, Secretary of State, Florida Department of State, Concealed Weapons/Firearms License Statistical Report (10/1/87-12/31/97). Mark Trainor, Public Information Specialist for the Office of Information Services, Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission, Tallahassee, Florida (14 December 1998).
In 1987, when Florida enacted such legislation, critics warned that instead of the "Sunshine State", it would become the "Gunshine State". Contrary to the critics predictions, homicide and violent crime dropped faster than the national average. Further, through 1997, only one permit holder out of the over 350,000 permits issued, was convicted of homicide.
Kleck, Gary Targeting Guns: Firearms and Their Control, Walter de Gruyter, Inc., New York, 1997
"What we can say with some confidence is that allowing more people to carry guns does not cause an increase in crime. In Florida, where 315,000 permits have been issued, there are only five known instances of violent gun crime by a person with a permit. This makes a permit-holding Floridian the cream of the crop of law-abiding citizens, 840 times less likely to commit a violent firearm crime than a randomly selected Floridian without a permit."
"More Permits Mean Less Crime..." Los Angeles Times, Feb. 19, 1996, Monday, p. B-5
Courtesy of gunfacts.org