For Release: Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Washington, DC–At least 319 people, including 11 law enforcement officers, have been killed in incidents not ruled self-defense involving private citizens legally allowed to carry concealed handguns according to the June update of the Violence Policy Center’s (VPC) Concealed Carry Killers on-line resource (http://concealedcarrykillers.org).
New cases include: a mass shooter in Arizona who killed five during an hours-long shooting spree before taking his own life; a Tennessee concealed handgun permit holder who was killed with his own gun after it was taken away from him by a man he had just shot following a road rage incident; and, a Kentucky two-year-old who accidently killed herself after finding her father’s permitted handgun in the family’s SUV. Updates include three new convictions, including that of Alabama cop-killer and CCW holder Bart Johnson.
“Less than a year after loosening its restrictions on the carrying of concealed firearms, Arizona has already experienced two major mass shootings. States with permissive concealed carry laws continue to rack up tragedy after tragedy. Wisconsin is now poised to join this list. If signed into law, it will only be a matter of time before Wisconsin experiences its first concealed carry tragedy,” states VPC Legislative Director Kristen Rand.
The Violence Policy Center’s Concealed Carry Killers database documents 216 incidents in 31 states since May 2007. In three quarters of the incidents (161) the concealed carry killer has already been convicted (69), committed suicide (87), or was killed in the incident (five). Of the 51 cases still pending, the vast majority (41) of concealed carry killers have been charged with criminal homicide, three were deemed incompetent to stand trial, and seven incidents are still under investigation. Four incidents were fatal unintentional shootings involving the gun of the concealed handgun permit holder. Nineteen of the incidents were mass shootings, resulting in the deaths of 84 victims.
Because most state systems that allow the carrying of concealed handguns in public by private citizens release little data about crimes committed by them, the primary source for Concealed Carry Killers is published news reports. It is likely that the actual number of fatal incidents involving citizens legally allowed to carry concealed handguns is far higher.
A detailed summary of each of the 216 incidents is available at http://concealedcarrykillers.org, clicking on each category leads to a state-by-state breakout for the incidents with current known status. To review all deaths involving concealed carry killers, click on “Total People Killed by Concealed Carry Killers.” While the incident summaries of the few concealed carry killers who were found not guilty or were eventually not charged are listed on the site, those numbers are not included in the Violence Policy Center’s totals.
About the Violence Policy Center
The Violence Policy Center is a national educational organization working to stop gun death and injury. Follow the VPC on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.
