“The Violence Policy Center’s … own data, when inspected closely, doesn’t dent the case for gun rights. Over the past four years, there have been more than 60,000 homicides in the United States. The slayings carried out by permit holders amount to fewer than one of every 200 murders. For every licensee who killed someone, there are more than 20,000 who didn’t.

Nor does the evidence indicate that allowing people to carry pistols causes crime. Many of the shootings done by permit holders took place in their homes—where you don’t need a concealed-carry license to keep a gun….

…When Florida captured national attention by legalizing it in 1987, critics forecast mass carnage. When other states followed suit, the same predictions were heard.

But they turned out to be false alarms. Instead of an epidemic of violence, the nation saw a drop. Since 1991, the murder rate has been cut nearly in half. You don’t have to believe that “shall-issue” laws caused the decline to grasp that they certainly didn’t get in the way.

“The record of the past two decades demonstrates that you can strengthen the right of law-abiding adults to protect themselves against crime without making the world more dangerous.”

http://reason.com/archives/2011/03/31/the-unconcealed-truth-about-ca