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Introduction
In state legislatures across the country pitched battles are being waged to relax laws regarding the carrying of concealed handguns. In these battles, Florida's 1987 "shall-issue"[1] carrying concealed weapons (CCW) law has been hailed by organizations such as the National Rifle Association of America (NRA) as the model to be followed.[2] When faced with police and public opposition, proponents of relaxed concealed weapons laws often rely on the citation of select crime statistics or research that all too often fails to take into account the complexities of crime and violence. As James T. Moore, commissioner of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and head of the state's licensing program, has acknowledged, "No formula exists which is capable of establishing a link between the existence of Florida's Concealed Weapons Program to any increases or decreases in crime in the state." Although an ardent defender of Florida's law, his reticence to credit it with any effect on Florida's crime rate is understandable. Many factors affect crime. To argue that licensing a tiny fraction of any state's population[3] to legally carry handguns would outweigh all other factors is questionable. Yet the battle of dueling statistics continues, obscuring a basic question: What are the real-world effects of such laws? In November 1995 the Violence Policy Center (VPC) began to answer this question with the release of Concealed Carry: The Criminal's Companion. The study was a first-of-its-kind, in-depth analysis of how Florida's shall-issue concealed weapons law actually functions. The VPC study analyzed documents obtained from the Florida Division of Licensing regarding the issuance, renewal, and revocation of concealed weapons licenses in Florida and arrived at an inescapable conclusion: Florida's concealed weapons law puts guns into the hands of criminals. The study found that since the inception of Florida's law hundreds of license holders had committed a wide variety of crimes�including assault with intent to murder, kidnapping/attempted kidnapping, and shooting with intent to wound�either before obtaining the Florida concealed weapons license or after licensure. This study builds upon the previous VPC study by analyzing licenses revoked by the Florida Division of Licensing for the period May 31, 1995 to May 31, 1996. The analysis reveals that:
Even for those criminals who are identified by the Florida Division of Licensing and have their licenses revoked, there is always hope that they may once again legally possess a license:
While advocates of relaxed concealed weapons laws ask the public to accept on faith the benefits of such laws, the cases detailed on the following pages illustrate their real-world effect: they arm criminals and threaten public safety. At the same time, no evidence exists that these negative effects are offset by license holders legitimately and properly using their weapons in self-defense.
1. Prior to 1987, Florida, like most states, had a discretionary system for issuing concealed weapons licenses, commonly referred to as "may-issue" licensing. Under such systems, legal authorities such as a county sheriff, judge, or local police official may grant licenses to citizens who may or may not need to show a compelling need. In 1987, as the result of a campaign by the National Rifle Association and its Florida affiliate, the Unified Sportsmen of Florida, the Florida legislature enacted legislation creating a non-discretionary system under which state authorities must provide a concealed weapons license to any applicant who meets specific criteria. Such systems are commonly known as "shall-issue" licensing. With the removal of local discretion to deny licenses, a shall-issue system inevitably increases the number of persons with licenses to carry a weapon, almost always a firearm. 2. In 1995 10 states passed relaxed CCW laws, including: Texas, Virginia, and Utah. Currently, 31 states have shall-issue concealed weapons laws. 3. On average, one to three percent. 4. According to the Division of Licensing the 10 remaining non-crime related revocations involved either physical infirmity or commitment to a mental institution. The VPC received public hearing records for four of the non-criminal revocations. 5. According to legal counsel for the Division of Licensing, adjudication withheld means that judgment by the court was withheld on a charge and there was no conviction. The court may withhold adjudication in cases where the defendant pleads guilty to the crime charged, in plea-bargained cases, or for first-time offenders. Adjudication may be withheld for both felony and misdemeanor charges. For example, rather than going through a trial, a defendant may agree to plead guilty to a charge. In exchange, the court may agree to withhold judgment on that charge. The defendant is still sentenced and must serve all conditions of the court, however there is no conviction on the defendant's record. 6. For a detailed analysis of the ways in which criminals can obtain concealed weapons licenses in Florida please see the November 1995 Violence Policy Center study Concealed Carry: The Criminal's Companion.
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