Read Jim's April 9 story on the issue.

This discussion took place at 11 a.m. Tuesday, April 11, 2006, and is now closed.

-----

Moderator: Welcome back, Jim. In researching your story, did you find that that most law enforcement people you interviewed supported or opposed the concept of concealed-carry laws? Or were they indifferent?

JN: Most Triangle prosecutors and law enforcement officials I talked don't have a problem with permit holders. Folks like Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell see them as law abiding folks. The focus of law enforcement is on criminals illegally carrying guns to commit crimes, not permit holders. This is a marked contrast to the opposition from some quarters of law enforcement when North Carolina's law was up for debate in 1995.

Moderator: You quoted more than one official as saying there seemed to be no positive or negative effect from North Carolina's adoption of concealed carry. What do academics say about the impact of concealed carry permits on the rate of violent crime? And how can prosecutors say the permit law has had little impact on N.C.'s crime rate when it is falling?

JN: More than one reader of my Sunday Journal piece tripped over this point. North Carolina's crime rate is falling -- as it is across the country, more or less. What's difficult to prove is the impact of concealed carry laws on that overall decline. There's been a contentious academic debate on this point -- John Lott, now of the American Enterprise Institute, produced a study in the early 90s that shows a small, but measurable impact on violent crime rates in states that have concealed carry laws. But other academics such as John Donahue of Yale say Lott is off base and say some states with concealed carry laws have experienced an increase in crime, others a drop, still others a wash. National Academy of Sciences reviewed these studies and say the statistical models used by Lott, Donahue and others are too crude to parse out what they say is a small impact of concealed carry on such a vast and complex issue as crime.

Moderator: John B. writes: "This law needs no defense. I think you should not even need a permit to carry a handgun, concealed or otherwise. It is a matter of both state and national constitutional law. Just because people are irrationally afraid of a simple machine called a firearm does not mean that we should regulate the hell out of them. There are many more dangerous weapons on the roads today called automobiles. Case in point is UNC at Chapel Hill. There is a concealed carry law in every state except Illinois and Wisconsin and the drop in violent crime in every case is evidence beyond dispute of the wisdom of this law."

JN: Well, as I just said, the impact of concealed carry laws on the crime rate is very much a matter in dispute among academicians. Based on more than a decade of experience with NC's law, sheriffs and prosecutors in the Triangle say they don't see much of an impact -- nor do they see the Dodge City shootouts predicted by opponents of the law. I will say that the decision to get a permit and carry concealed is a very personal decision based on worries about personal safety or a practical view of being scrupulously legal when carrying a pistol to the range or on a trip. For many folks, the academic back and forth really doesn't enter into their decision. .... and if it does, it sort of in a secondary way.

Moderator: A reader asks: "Do you know how the federal concealed carry affects NC concealed carry ? For example does federal cc law for ret. police, recognized by NC?"

Next page >