@article{ref1,
title="Concealed carry permit holders across the United States",
journal="Social Science Research Network electronic library",
year="2015",
author="Lott, John Richard and Whitley, John E. and Riley, Rebekah",
volume="2015",
number="online",
pages="ID 2629704-ID 2629704",
abstract="Since President Obama’s election the number of concealed handgun permits has soared, growing from 4.6 million in 2007 to over 12.8 million this year. Among the findings in our report: -- The number of concealed handgun permits is increasing at an ever- increasing rate. Over the past year, 1.7 million additional new permits have been issued – a 15.4% increase in just one single year. This is the largest ever single-year increase in the number of concealed handgun permits. -- 5.2% of the total adult population has a permit. -- Five states now have more than 10% of their adult population with concealed handgun permits. -- In ten states, a permit is no longer required to carry in all or virtually all of the state. This is a major reason why legal carrying handguns is growing so much faster than the number of permits. -- Since 2007, permits for women has increased by 270% and for men by 156%. -- Some evidence suggests that permit holding by minorities is increasing more than twice as fast as for whites. -- Between 2007 and 2014, murder rates have fallen from 5.6 to 4.2 (preliminary estimates) per 100,000. This represents a 25% drop in the murder rate at the same time that the percentage of the adult population with permits soared by 156%. Overall violent crime also fell by 25 percent over that period of time. -- States with the largest increase in permits have seen the largest relative drops in murder rates. -- Concealed handgun permit holders are extremely law-abiding. In Florida and Texas, permit holders are convicted of misdemeanors or felonies at one-sixth the rate that police officers are convicted.  Keywords: concealed handguns, crime",
language="en",
issn="1556-5068",
doi="10.2139/ssrn.2629704",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2629704"
}